Wicked Edge for Small Blades---Gen. I or II (or III)?

AFAustin

AFAustin

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I own and sharpen mainly pocket knives, usually traditionals in simple carbon and stainless steels. I like sharp and symmetrical edges and am interested in giving the Wicked Edge a try. I love my WSKO and get very good edges with it, but would like to try something more precise for the prettiest and most even possible bevels on small knives.

I want to use the WE to set an initial bevel at or slightly less than 15 degrees per side, as I do touch-ups on my Sharpmaker UF stones at the 15 degree setting. I understand that 15 dps on very small blades (e.g., pen blades on traditional slip joints) is normally impossible with the WE (even with the Low Angle Adapter) but am told that it's possible if you add a Tormek SVM-00 Small Knife Holder.

So, my question is: do I need the Wicked Edge standard arms (Pro Pack I) or upgraded "ball joint arms" (Pro Pack II) (or maybe the upcoming Gen. III WE?) to set a 15 dps or less bevel on my small blades? As I said, with either one, I'd also be using the Tormek small knife jig.

Any advice from WE users/experts would be welcome.

Thanks,

Andrew
 
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AFAustin said:
So, my question is: do I need the Wicked Edge standard arms (Pro Pack I) or upgraded "ball joint arms" (Pro Pack II) (or maybe the upcoming Gen. III WE?) to set a 15 dps or less bevel on my small blades?

Any advice from WE users/experts would be welcome.

Thanks,

Andrew
Click to expand...

You are correct in that the Tormek small knife holder jig is the way to go on small blades, even over the low angle accessory. You can use any of the joint arms/vise combos you want, but whatever you use, I would suggest upgrading to the 10-11" rods instead of the standard 8" rods. This will give you the extra reach you need on both the LAA and the Tormek jig. Hope this helps!

Here's a video i did recently... may or may not help, take it for what it's worth.

[video=youtube;rkMAo2eztpY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkMAo2eztpY[/video]
 
Josh,

Very impressive---6.5 dps on that Spydie!

I'm not familiar with the 10-11" rods---are those available from most WE dealers?

I'm really looking forward to the video you plan to do on getting a 15 dps or less edge on that small Case jack I sent you. I am staying tuned!

Thanks,

Andrew
 
Yeah I am really sorry I haven't gotten to it yet! I will post it up when I get it done! Hopefully tonight =)

You can get the longer rods from Bob at Oldawan tools or you can make them yourself if you have a way to thread them... they are pretty simple.
 
Here it is! [video=youtube;LjadFGSSC2c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjadFGSSC2c[/video]
 
Josh, great video and great teaching tool---thanks! Terrific to see my little Case jack with a pretty 12 dps edge---good stuff!

Did you use the longer rods on this or are those the stock rods? At the end you cut to the final results---what grit progression did you use to get there?

This video is so helpful because the vast majority of the time you see sharpening systems being demonstrated on larger knives. To see the WE go to town on a small slippie---and at such an acute angle---is great.

Thanks again,

Andrew
 
AFAustin said:
Josh, great video and great teaching tool---thanks! Terrific to see my little Case jack with a pretty 12 dps edge---good stuff!

Did you use the longer rods on this or are those the stock rods? At the end you cut to the final results---what grit progression did you use to get there?

This video is so helpful because the vast majority of the time you see sharpening systems being demonstrated on larger knives. To see the WE go to town on a small slippie---and at such an acute angle---is great.

Thanks again,

Andrew
Click to expand...

Dude so sorry!! I didn't realize that happened... my phone messed up apparently. I went 100-1k grit and finished edge leading passes from heel to tip.
 
AFAustin said:
Thanks. And were those the longer rods you used?

Andrew
Click to expand...

Yes, the stock rods are 8" and mine are 10". You can also get them in 12" if you wish, from Oldawan tools I believe.
 
I received my little Case folder back from from Josh, and I got a close-up look at Josh's fine work. He even did the little pen blade at an acute angle! The grinds are beautiful and symmetrical, the edges are perfectly apexed, and even with stopping at the 1k diamond stones, the blades slice like crazy.

Acute angles on very small and narrow blades can be a real problem for guided systems, but Josh's combination of WE + Tormek small knife jig + 10" (longer) WE arms appears to solve the problem.

Josh, thanks for the very impressive demo and lesson. :thumbup:

Andrew
 
razor-edge-knives said:
Yes, the stock rods are 8" and mine are 10". You can also get them in 12" if you wish, from Oldawan tools I believe.
Click to expand...


Yeah I do have them currently in 9 and 10 inches of usable length (2 and 3 inches longer than stock) and am having some in 12 inches made up - (just waiting in line still on those Josh). They only fit onto the Pro Pack II upgrade arms just to clarify - they are threaded so you just unscrew your old ones and thread in the length you want.

And as far as I know Josh is right - The tormek attachment is the only way to get these low angles on smaller blades. It is great since there is no clamp on the blade so that you don't have the vise getting in the way. A couple challenges I had with it so far and that it is good to be aware of - it can be hard to get the knife straight up and down - I put a mark top dead center on mine so that I can eye ball it prior to testing with the angle cube. Also if you are using muti-blade patterns then the blades are off center to the handle so will be off center to the system as well. Neither of these is a big deal since they are something you have to watch for with on the basic kit as well.

The low angle adapter is great on larger blades but on smaller ones the vise still gets in the way. I tested on my Kershaw 6500 which has a 1 5/8 long by 0.25 wide blade and I could get down to around 12 degrees but only on the right side. On the left I end up at around 22-23 before I was hitting the vise. The cutting edge is just too close to the vise for the width of the vise on the left side. I tried the original arms as well at the pro pack II upgrade arms with the low angle adapter either with or without the vise riser and this was the best I could do
 
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