Wicked edge and CRK

jacobconroy75

jacobconroy75

"Brain Cloud" is real.
BANNED
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
860
Ok fellas,
I got my Wicked Edge Pro Pack II today and set it all up. After two giant boxes were opened and everything was unpacked, I was pretty disappointed. Just a jig with a little-old chunk of granite with chipped corners and out-of-square edges fitted into a waterproof plastic suitcase for nearly a grand. Bummer man!

Then I used it. This thing is awesome! As a kid I spent months of my life messing around with a Lansky, so the theory behind this thing isn't too tough for me. I didn't expect messing around with diamond stones to be this fun. This is a lifetime purchase for me, and worth every penny IMO.

As suggested by others, I'm still sharpening my kitchen knives and have thus far resisted the urge to dive into my money knives. I was worried about how long it might take to sharpen on this thing (while having Lansky flashbacks), but it's fast. I enjoy it. The first paring knife was made sharp, but not impressively so. The second 8 inch Chopper is now the sharpest knife in my home after 35 minutes of sharpening.

The question is, what angles do you CRK nuts put on your "keepers". The sticky said all CRKs are 38 - 40º inclusive. Do you folks tend to stick to the factory angle, or have you found a sweet spot? I have a Mnandi, small 21 Insingo, and a 2010 Annual. The first two are in need of some attention...dull as hell. Have you found that 17º angles are awesome? Do they dull too easily? Are they too much work?

Just wondering what the experts have already figured out. I keep the knives I buy, so resale value due to sharpening is of no concern to me. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
I have the same set up and I just use a sharpie and follow the factory angles. I purchased extra 1000, 2000 stones and I'm able to get a real nice mirror finish with a bit of stropping. The thing to remind yourself is to tape the blade when you are using the Edge Pro or it scratches on the base.
 
orixa said:
I have the same set up and I just use a sharpie and follow the factory angles. I purchased extra 1000, 2000 stones and I'm able to get a real nice mirror finish with a bit of stropping. The thing to remind yourself is to tape the blade when you are using the Edge Pro or it scratches on the base.
Click to expand...

Do you use blue painting tape to cover the spine or something else? Are the 1000, 2000 stones ceramic, diamond, or the expensive Japanese ones?

Thanks.
 
Is what I do to prevent scratching is to clean the clamps really well. I usually use some spare leather and rub it down real well. Once its clamped I use some tape, electrical, painters, or whatever you have around. Altho electrical can leave residue if you leave it on long. I tape it by covering the clamps and the knife. When I do that as pieces if metal fall they won't get in the gap of the clamp and with microscopic shifting over the process cause scratches and such. I also wrap up the rest of the knife to prevent dust from getting in the pivot and other parts. I've had to take apart knives due to metal shavings making the knife hard to open and close.

Another major tip that I learned is to measure in between each stone. There is a small measurable difference and will affect overall edge.
 
jacobconroy75 said:
Do you use blue painting tape to cover the spine or something else? Are the 1000, 2000 stones ceramic, diamond, or the expensive Japanese ones?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

As with the tape, I suppose anything will do. Just think clean....the stones are the OEM ones! Works great!
 
Ok here's the deal. My qualifications to answer this are that I have a WE and have owned a few CRKs.

CRKs are generally make using the some super steel (S30V, S35VN, etc...). For pocket knives, which you likely won't be using to punch a hole in a tank door, or pry open too many jelly jars, but more used for slicing open envelopes, cutting some rope, etc..., I would put on a rather low angle, which will slice and keen to a much sharper edge. So, that would be something like 15dps with a possibly micro bevel at 17dps at a lower grit for some bite.

If you get more of the fixed and bushcraft type blades, you would want a higher dps and a steel that is tougher, not stronger (tough meaning the edge will bend, not chip/break under stress). Those are 1095, A2, O1, 4140, 3V, etc....

On the WE, the directly of your sharpening makes a huge difference, therefore, if you plan to draw back to slice (like most do to cut boxes and rope), then start from the heel with the bottom of the paddle at the heel (these are edge leading strokes vs edge trailing strokes), then go down as you move toward the tip (be careful to not round the paddle around the tip or it will round it). This will give you a nice back draw bite to your edge. If you want something in the middle, then do some both ways. Clay Allison's videos show he generally uses edge trailing strokes (up and away starting at the top of the paddles at the heel, then an up and away stroke). You can also do up and down strokes, but just keep moving along the edge from heel to tip to keep from creating a dip in your edge bevel.

Ensure you are apexing your edge and use the sharpy and a 20X loop will serve really well to show you whether you have hit it. For a few times getting used to the WE, I have found I couldn't see the sharpy anymore with the naked eye, but could with the 20x loop. It sounds like, though, you already have this down if your knives are getting rather sharp.

Also, ensure you are stropping when done to make the edge keener as the metal at the edge is still rather rough.

Hope this helps.
 
Hope I'm not too late to the party before you take your new system to your good knives. I've sharpened over 100 knives on the WEPS and these are my suggestions.

Sharpen at least 15 knives before putting those stones on your CRKs. It's not mandatory, but the stones do have a break in period plus it gives you time to work on your technique. Thrift stores and Walmart has very cheap knives perfect for this. Mine are very broken in at this point, and I get a good shine and great sharpness after 600 grit. The 1000 grit basically feels like glass on the steel now and is ridiculously sharp, no real need for strops or anything, great EDC edge. For those first 15 knives or so, after 1000 grit my knives honestly weren't that sharp based on what I was used to. My 1000 grit edge sharpness at that time felt less sharp than edges I was getting with a 220 grit Edge Pro stone (could've been technique too). It's also harder to get really clean mirror polishes with new stones as the scratches are more difficult to get out. I'd recommend starting no lower than 400 grit on your CRKs, especially if you're going for a mirror polish, and that's true on any knife. If you're going for 20 dps, it won't take long at all with this steel to apex the edge with your 400s. I'd recommend getting close to apexing with the 400s and then finally apex with the 600s but YMMV.

If the stones aren't broken in, you may also have some problems with micro chipping. Poor technique can lead to this too. I put my thumbs in the second from the top groove on the stones. Holding too high on the stones can cause the stones to rock over the edge and dull it or micro chip it.

I do not recommend taking your CRKs down to 15 dps. I really don't know that the steel could handle it unless you're cutting absolutely nothing but paper. IMO 20 dps is perfect for these knives, functionally and aesthetically. I don't mind a larger 15 dps bevel on my Spydercos, but I prefer a smaller, cleaner bevel on my nice knives and it cuts just fine too.

If you choose to strop with the system, lower the angle at least a degree to 2 degrees so that the leather does not round off the edge. If you record your settings, it's very simple to put the knife in the vise and strop out rolls in the edge without having to remove any metal with the stones. If you're going for the best mirror polish possible, you'll at least need the 1200/1600 ceramics as a go between before the strops or either some kind of homemade sandpaper setup to help get the diamond scratches out before going to the strops. Mirror polishes are pretty and all, and are addictive when getting new sharpening systems, but through trial and error you may find that you prefer a toothier edge for real world use. As your stones get more broken in, you may prefer a 1000 grit EDC edge, then maybe even a 600 grit edge for EDC.

I measure my angle between every grit change because I've found there is enough variance in some of my stones to create up to over a half degree of difference. This isn't mandatory, but it can prevent faceting of the bevel and IMO sharper edges.

This is all just my 2 cents, but just doing what I can to help. It's a great system, but there are some tips and tricks that can help you get better results. I'm probably leaving some things out, but for the sake of brevity, this will help you get off to a good start.
 
Wow you two! Thanks for taking the time to type that all out. I'm going to have to read it all very carefully, and a couple more times. I appreciate it.

I did do my Mnandi and Insingo this morning. I went with 19 degrees, and it didn't take all that long. I have been stropping them on another system for some time (and poorly), so there was a bit of re-profiling that needed to happen in order to correct rounded edges. A couple things I may have done wrong:

I went trough a wire edge from 100 up to 600, then stopping worrying about it through the rest. I finished on the .5 micron strop. They are pretty darn sharp (shave hair like a scalpel). I've also noticed that: to my untrained eye, the bevel looks slightly different from one side to the other and looks to be the same on both knives. I zeroed the digital gage and set each side to 19 "even" at the 100 grit only. Is it possible that my clamp is not holding the blades perpendicular to the granite? I might need to clamp a deeper blade and check that.

Also, I managed to put my back out halfway through the second knife. If you are old and tubby I recommend doing only one knife a day when starting out. :)
 
jacobconroy75 said:
And...nobody cares now. Thread completed. Thanks a bunch yall.
Click to expand...

Oh I care a lot. But have nothing to offer that hasn't been said. I have neglected my blades and will sharpen my CRKs today. Only thing different I do is to take the blade off the knife before sharpening. Just makes it easier in my opinion.
 
Here's my Insingo taken up to 1K and lightly stropped on chromium oxide. Too sharp, apparently!

 
I have used a few clamp type sharpeners over the years. One thing that I've used to reduce scatching of the blade is to line the clamp with moleskin. Moleskin is usually used to cover sorespots on a foot.
 
jacobconroy75 said:
And...nobody cares now. Thread completed. Thanks a bunch yall.
Click to expand...

It is not that nobody cares, probably.

I think that there is probaby a decent sized group of posters here that utilize CRK for their sharpening, and so they are not highly interested in this thread.

I think there is probably a decent sized group that trusts that CRK has a pretty good idea of the steel and the best edge geometry for the blade (so they stick with a slightly convex edge (and therefore are not super interested in guided systems for their CRKs).

And I think there are a few of us that custom taylor our edges to our own needs. Of those, some like V-edges, and some have found fault with them and therefore go with more specialized edge geometry.

So as you may see, some care, but it is perhaps a small component of the population here.

If you check out Maintenance, Tinkering, & Embellishment, I am sure you will find a bunch of fellow Wicked Edge enthusiasts to learn with.
 
I'm getting ready to sharpen my Sebenza 21 for the first time on my wicked edge. I'm planning on keeping the original convex edge. I plan to start off at 20% and then go 17%. Then I'll work back up through 18, 19, and back to 20%.
Go back down to 17 or 18% and use strops to blend all the facets into one continuous convex bevel.
 
Last edited:
unit said:
It is not that nobody cares, probably.

I think that there is probaby a decent sized group of posters here that utilize CRK for their sharpening, and so they are not highly interested in this thread.

I think there is probably a decent sized group that trusts that CRK has a pretty good idea of the steel and the best edge geometry for the blade (so they stick with a slightly convex edge (and therefore are not super interested in guided systems for their CRKs).

And I think there are a few of us that custom taylor our edges to our own needs. Of those, some like V-edges, and some have found fault with them and therefore go with more specialized edge geometry.

So as you may see, some care, but it is perhaps a small component of the population here.

If you check out Maintenance, Tinkering, & Embellishment, I am sure you will find a bunch of fellow Wicked Edge enthusiasts to learn with.
Click to expand...

Ah, until know I had no idea that they shipped with a partially convex edge. That might explain why I have trouble keeping them razor sharp for very long after the Wicked Edge.

I just tried one of my "new" CRKs and put a 19 degree edge on it, then put a 20 degree micro bevel on it. Easily the sharpest one I've done yet...but we'll see how it is in a couple of weeks.

This is why I asked. Thanks.
 
I've read here about the convex sebenza edge, but in the CRK FAQ, they don't say it's a convex edge and the sharpeners they recommend, Sharpmaker and Lansky don't do convex. I've been told that any knife may have a slight unintentional convex edge if a belt was used for final sharpening and I believe my small sebeza had such an edge. I use the Sharpmaker and except for a little extra work on the tip, it's been "easy cheesy" :)
 
Any sharpener can address a convex edge by means of a micro-bevel as long as the micro-bevel is done at an angle larger than the effective angle of the apex.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top