Wicked Edge and Convex Edges

T

ThaFlash_LA

Joined
Mar 28, 2004
Messages
25
So I think it goes without saying that I'm not the most active member.

I just got my Wicked Edge in, after years of contemplating the worth, and buying new knives whenever one dulled. It's a great system, and I'm thinking about making my own set of "pro pack II" arms, but I don't have that much of an issue with the stock setup, it's probably more accurate than most people can utilize.

I've read about how to do convex edges:
WE themselves recommend 3 bevels and then smoothing them out with a leather strop, I'd assume with a coarser paste than 5 micron.

I've also read on another forum where a member placed sandpaper on top of the leather to mimic the "sandpaper and mouse pad" method of sharpening a convex edge.

My initial thought was to merge the two
Has anyone tried to adhere a rubber/mouse pad to a WE blank, and then stick sandpaper on top of that with double sided tape? I'd be concerned about too much cushion on the rubber leading to a rounded edge, but if a mousepad works on a table it should work on the WE right?
 
It seems like a pretty sound idea to me I'd just try it with a cheaper knife first and see if it works.
 
I bought 2 sets of leather strop blocks with mine. I use one set with double sided tape and strips of wet/dry sand paper on it to do my convexed edges.
 
I just saw that I can get strips of rubber at work, anything from super soft silicone, to sorbothane to viton. I'll have to get around to trying this... and buying a cheap knife to try it on. Might be the time to try out some CRKT and Becker knives.
 
I did the exact thing you are asking about.... Got a mouse pad, cut it up and fit it into the weps paddles. I then put some 45um (course) psa backed lapping film on it. It worked great! Allowed me to have a toothy convex edge. The only thing I ran into was that you probably need to increase the angle a degree or two when doing your final passes to remove the burr (very lightly).
 
Very cool. Do you just touch up the knives like that? So you'd hit it at 20 degrees for example and do. A couple last passes at 21 to get the last burr off?

And you probable do this on an already convexed edge right? Or are you repel filing with that also?
 
I bought a CRKT Tuition to try this out and it seemed to work out great. I bought this foam : http://www.mcmaster.com/#93695K46 which fits perfectly into the wicked edge slots. I started at 320 grit wet/dry sandpaper to create the convex and worked my way up to 2500. It took a couple hours but it shaves pretty clean now and there is a very smooth convex bevel. I'm thinking if I were to do it again, maybe I should set my angle with a stone, and then convex it with the foam instead of using all sandpaper.
 
Thanks for the followup and info on what you used.

Starting with a stone should definitely speed things up... or you could also start with more coarse sandpaper... I think I started with 120g when I tried this.
 
I always forget about reprofiling. I took it down to about 16 degrees per side and didn't think that it would take a while. I'll get some aluminum oxide sheets from McMaster and pre make some strips.

Another thing I did was to use a stiffer rubber on the other side for a more subtle convex, next knife I'll see if that produces a different result.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top