Wicked Edge question

S

socalkid

Joined
Apr 8, 2011
Messages
216
Hello,

Im thinking about getting a Wicked Edge but I've read that full flat ground blades, like what most of my knives are, can be a problem because you dont have a flat for the jaws to clamp onto and getting the knife 90 degrees can be difficult. Someone told me you can add something to fill the gap but its not a guarantee your blade is perfectly straight. Is it possible to take the blade out of the knife and clamp on to the flats that the washers would normally ride on? Im kind anal about my edges being as even as possible. Any info would be great!

Thanks,

Chris
 
You have a couple of options that are not as drastic as removing the blade from the knife.
Set the blade against the fixed part of the clamp and then tighten the floating clamp to hold the blade firmly.
The blade will NOT be sitting straight up due to the full flat ground.
Now adjust the pivot rods separately, one side at a time, and check the angle with a sharpie or one of those angle cubes.
A bit fiddly but with care you should be able to compensate for the blade not sitting perfectly straight.

Second option is get an EP. Once the angle is set, it will be exactly the same when the blade is flipped over to sharpen its other side.
The blade table the blade rests on is fixed. Of the 2 systems, the EP might suit you better due to the blades you have.
 
The WEPS seems to clamp any knife just fine. You have to tighten it a bit, but if you clamp towards the spine and check the angles with an angle cube to make any adjustments you'll be fine.
 
Fanglekai said:
The WEPS seems to clamp any knife just fine. You have to tighten it a bit, but if you clamp towards the spine and check the angles with an angle cube to make any adjustments you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

The WEPS can clamp a FFG fine, but you need to use your eye to check it is vertical.
Ideally the gap in the centre of the clamp should be roughly the same at the top and bottom and the knife clamped "somewhere" down from the top.

You will have gaps at the top of the clamp on both sides that are once again "roughly" equal.
In other words you clamp the knife like it has parallel sides, by eye.
WE advise you put two pieces of foam tape in the top gaps prior to clamping to assist in this setup.

The angle guage wont help here as it will only determine your bevel angles.
You can have a knife leaning to the left and still put 20˚ (or whatever) on each side.
This is how you get uneven bevels.

I think people can understand what this means. ;)

If you could clamp both sides following the knifes faces, measure the knifes lean to the left somehow, then calculate the two different angles needed to get an even bevel.
Less on the left and more on the right, then it would be too easy.
Like this is going to happen. :)

Line it up by "eye" is the way it's done!

Are links to WE's site allowed here?

http://wickededgeusa.com/index.php?...flat-ground-blades&catid=31:general&Itemid=46

Apologies if not.
 
Last edited:
I cut a piece of soft leather to fit inside the vice jaws. I just eyeball the blade vertical and clamp it down with the leather wrapped around the spine of the knife. Works fine.
 
An EDGE CUBE will help you set the edge equally on both sides of the knife. Check YOU TUBE for instructional videos.
 
Jeff328 said:
An EDGE CUBE will help you set the edge equally on both sides of the knife. Check YOU TUBE for instructional videos.
Click to expand...

An edge cube will help you get the same bevel degree angle on each side, but it wont prevent a wider bevel on one side. ;)

Even with a knife in the exact vertical position it's possible to remove more from one side and have uneven bevels.

But ultimately you want the knife clamped perfectly vertical.
 
socalkid said:
Hello,

Im thinking about getting a Wicked Edge but I've read that full flat ground blades, like what most of my knives are, can be a problem because you dont have a flat for the jaws to clamp onto and getting the knife 90 degrees can be difficult. Someone told me you can add something to fill the gap but its not a guarantee your blade is perfectly straight. Is it possible to take the blade out of the knife and clamp on to the flats that the washers would normally ride on? Im kind anal about my edges being as even as possible. Any info would be great!

Thanks,

Chris
Click to expand...

It's not hard to clamp a full flat ground blade... it's pretty easy to tell when a knife is vertical (or not). I seldom use anything to help, or I'll use a thin piece of leather. Even though it contacts a small area... it holds well enough you can pick up the entire sharpener, and the knife won't move during sharpening.

Also, to answer your original question, in most cases you couldn't clamp the knife like you were wondering. Part of the setup is positioning the knife horizontal so that the stone contacts correctly as it approaches the tip. So, unless the knife was straight, or fairly short, it would result in an angle change as you moved around the belly towards the tip, to clamp it that far back.
 
Perhaps we wait for the newer version of the Wicked Edge that will solve this problem?

I'm told that a prototype is is being tested now, Curtis (cbwx34) above has seen this and speaks highly of it.
As a moderator on the WE site and spokesperson for WE I'm sure his opinion is not biased. ;)

cbwx34 said:
It's not hard to clamp a full flat ground blade... it's pretty easy to tell when a knife is vertical (or not).
Click to expand...

I guess you're saying "near enough is good enough", as a few swipes with the paddle and everything old is new again?
 
I use 2 pieces of foam rubber on the inside of the jaws at the top. Really good for only 1-2 knives but makes it easy to do full flat grinds.
 
Using a leather pad makes it easy. Also, when you're sharpening, look at the
size of the bevels. If they don't match, and aren't the same size,
adjust the angle guides so they do. Just "tweak" it.

If the point isn't showing the same size bevel, move the blade rearward in the
clamp or tilt it. I found with the WE that sometimes on a longer blade,
you may have to sharpen it in sections to keep the bevel the same size.

BUT IT'S WORTH IT!! Great edges.

Bill
 
I guess I'm just part of the choir - if I can't get it to set up straight with nothing but the clamp then I wrap the spine with a small square of chamois and check the alignment visually. I've never had any issues with bevel width. Billabong is right that the angle cube won't help setting the angle to keep the bevels even if the knife is leaning. I match the angle on the knife using the sharpie trick so that the stones are contacting the existing bevel along the full blade length. Then if I want to reprofile I adjust from those angles
 
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