This is such great content, thank you. It is so much easier to see what is being described in this format with illustrations. I hope you do more of these!
I have watched many videos on this subject. This is by far the clearest explanation and visual presentation on the concept. This is the best instruction video I've seen. Thanks.
Taking notes and pictures with the gauges available will help you return to the edge you found upon initial sharpening. Come over to the wicked edge forums if you want specific guidance.
I've had my WE for about seven years now and I'm just now really starting to understand these concepts. Wish I'd understood this before I put a wide bevel on the belly of my hinderer. Anyway, excellent video.
You can thin that wide bevel down by positioning the knife with the tip closer to the vise and then sharpening from there. Whether it's worth it would be up to you - it will take some work and remove some metal. The other option is to let that process unfold naturally over time as you resharpen the knife.
Same here - I bought one of their first gens - the stand is very flimsy compared to their new ones - I agree there’s a definite learning curve “no pun intended”. Also / I feel you should go to the 800/1000 grit for a truly sharp utility knife.
Just to clarify, is this necessary because the angle of the sharpening stone changes as it moves down the blade toward the tip, which is a shorter height than the middle of the edge?
Sort of. The curve of the blade and the lowered height make it so the stone no longer travels in a single plan like it does down the straight portion of the blade. Throughout the curve, the stone rotates on the guide rod and creates a conical shape which can mean either a lower angle if the curve is far away from the pivot of the guide rod are a higher angle if the curve is closer to the pivot point. The technique in the video helps you pin down the best position of the blade to minimize the angle change along the curve. The shape of the belly, whether the curve is gradual or looks more like a circle has a lot to do with where the sweet spot ends up being on a given knife.
They are the best! The biggest complaint that I hear is the price. But USA quality is not cheap. Funny how those complaining about the price probably have 1000's of dollars worth of knives and want to cheap-out over a sharpening system..😒
@@robertcalkjr.8325 or they complain about the price bcz they don't realize knives can actually exceed $50. Would I buy this to just sharpen my SAK and a Cold Steel? Absolutely not... but I have many more knives worth a lot more than those and would never want to be without my WE now!
@@dropzone01 I use my WE130 for scissors and chisels also since I have the attachments. I probably have scissors and chisels that are sharper than most peoples knives. lol
Setting angle. Using a Leatherman as example. Leatherman sharpens all their knife blades to 32 degrees. When setting up the wicked edge, would that be 16 degrees on each side or would the angles be set to 32 degrees on each side?
I'm thinking, without knowing for sure, that the angle should be 16 degrees per side. Most Leathermans I've seen have pretty narrow angles. 32 degrees per side would be pretty extreme. I would start at 16 dps and test with the marker method to be sure.
I just bought your sharpener and love it been hand sharpening for 40 years and I can't come close to the sharpness of the wicked edge only thing is small knives like Swiss army can't sharpener even with the extender you guys should make a sharpener that can do this .
Thank you for your comment. You definitely can sharpen small knives like you mention but there is a little bit of a truck to it. We'll try to pay a video showing how ASAP.
I went from Edge Pro to Tormek to freehand, and now I can’t understand why I wasted my time with a fixed system. The muscle memory in our hands are amazing, if you can learn to text you can learn to keep an angle on a stone. And you will probably learn that quicker than figuring out all the details of any fixed system.
So everything you said all makes sense but what bout when the spine is not even and does not want to hold in the clamp? I run into that kind of often because the spine has dips and bevels.
@@My_Bow_L.Y.F you can wrap the blade in a little bit of paperboard like an old business card top of a cereal box. We also provide shims here: wickededgeusa.com/collections/accessories-all/products/vise-shim-pack
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners Oh ok. I'll try that out next time I run into that situation. One more thing I own a Benchmade 537 Bailout aluminum. The tanto part is not an even bevel. It goes from thin to wide. I have a chip in the blade and I want to keep the factory bevel look to it. Any way to make a video of you sharpening one?
So the first time using my cam lock vice with my hinderer, it is difficult to lock down the vice. It feels like I'm going to damage it. The hinderer blade is .165" thick. Is it ok to crank down to lock it in or should I be worried about damaging the vice?
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners Awesome, that’s what I figured. I watched just about every video twice now and took notes so I’m going to get my Pro Pack 1 setup and get to sharpening this weekend. Do you recommend taping the Vice or spine of higher end pocket knives with painters tape to possibly prevent scratches on the blade? Thank you so much for your reply, super excited about my WE.
@@pete3347 you can wrap the blade with some cardstock from a business card, cereal box etc.. to protect the blade. The jaws themselves don't usually scratch a blade but if you get metal filings or diamond dust between the jaws and the knife the blade can get scratched. Remember to start with some cheap knives. Your stones need considerable time, between 10-30 knives to fully break in. You can develop your technique while practicing on those knives before graduation to the knives you care about. That way the learning process is fun and stress free.
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners yup, it’s getting some debris in between that worried me but now we have a quick solution to that. Thank you very much for your responses, they’ve been super helpful. I will start off with some old kitchen knives and will take on some old kitchen knives from relatives to break the stones in before moving on to my personal cutlery collection. I’m getting my pro pack setup as we speak, going to be very fun and exciting to learn the process! Have a great weekend and thanks again for your help!
Using a shim is your best bet for these types of blade shapes. Either a piece of cardstock or leather wrapped around the spine at the heel of the blade will help keep it secure. We see ZTs pretty frequently at trade shows and that small flat spot is big enough to keep the knife steady.
Great question. You might need to clamp the knife on the only flat spot and then tilt the tip downward until you get the sweet spot. You'll still use the marker in the same way but substitute tilting the knife for moving it back and forth.
This is such great content, thank you. It is so much easier to see what is being described in this format with illustrations. I hope you do more of these!
I have watched many videos on this subject. This is by far the clearest explanation and visual presentation on the concept. This is the best instruction video I've seen. Thanks.
Great video, very thorough explanation of every step.
Excellent video, great visual aid...nice job guys!
that was well done, very clear. Nice job!
Love my wicked edge, always room to learn new things and improve, thanks for the video
Great video!
Super simple!
Thank you I needed this how to video very well done!
So happy to see these new how to videos
Great video!
Great information…waiting for my we66 to arrive in a few days so definitely reading (watching) up on how to use it correctly
I want that WE-66 sharpener will be keeping an eye out for it.
Thanks, Clay!
Excellent video. Had my Wicked Edge for 2 years now and have struggled with this. Hopefully no more!
Taking notes and pictures with the gauges available will help you return to the edge you found upon initial sharpening. Come over to the wicked edge forums if you want specific guidance.
Exactly what I needed to know!
I've had my WE for about seven years now and I'm just now really starting to understand these concepts. Wish I'd understood this before I put a wide bevel on the belly of my hinderer. Anyway, excellent video.
You can thin that wide bevel down by positioning the knife with the tip closer to the vise and then sharpening from there. Whether it's worth it would be up to you - it will take some work and remove some metal. The other option is to let that process unfold naturally over time as you resharpen the knife.
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners Thank you. Probably let it happen over time.
Same here - I bought one of their first gens - the stand is very flimsy compared to their new ones - I agree there’s a definite learning curve “no pun intended”. Also / I feel you should go to the 800/1000 grit for a truly sharp utility knife.
Great video thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
Just to clarify, is this necessary because the angle of the sharpening stone changes as it moves down the blade toward the tip, which is a shorter height than the middle of the edge?
Sort of. The curve of the blade and the lowered height make it so the stone no longer travels in a single plan like it does down the straight portion of the blade. Throughout the curve, the stone rotates on the guide rod and creates a conical shape which can mean either a lower angle if the curve is far away from the pivot of the guide rod are a higher angle if the curve is closer to the pivot point. The technique in the video helps you pin down the best position of the blade to minimize the angle change along the curve. The shape of the belly, whether the curve is gradual or looks more like a circle has a lot to do with where the sweet spot ends up being on a given knife.
Wicked Edge is the best sharpening system available. Those who think it's no good just don't understand how to use properly.
They are the best! The biggest complaint that I hear is the price. But USA quality is not cheap. Funny how those complaining about the price probably have 1000's of dollars worth of knives and want to cheap-out over a sharpening system..😒
@@robertcalkjr.8325 or they complain about the price bcz they don't realize knives can actually exceed $50. Would I buy this to just sharpen my SAK and a Cold Steel? Absolutely not... but I have many more knives worth a lot more than those and would never want to be without my WE now!
@@dropzone01 I use my WE130 for scissors and chisels also since I have the attachments. I probably have scissors and chisels that are sharper than most peoples knives. lol
Excellent!
Setting angle. Using a Leatherman as example. Leatherman sharpens all their knife blades to 32 degrees. When setting up the wicked edge, would that be 16 degrees on each side or would the angles be set to 32 degrees on each side?
I'm thinking, without knowing for sure, that the angle should be 16 degrees per side. Most Leathermans I've seen have pretty narrow angles. 32 degrees per side would be pretty extreme. I would start at 16 dps and test with the marker method to be sure.
It's been a year!!!
I just bought your sharpener and love it been hand sharpening for 40 years and I can't come close to the sharpness of the wicked edge only thing is small knives like Swiss army can't sharpener even with the extender you guys should make a sharpener that can do this .
Thank you for your comment. You definitely can sharpen small knives like you mention but there is a little bit of a truck to it. We'll try to pay a video showing how ASAP.
Get yourself a Tormek SVM-00 small knife holder. They work great! The only problem is that they are more expensive now because of C19.
@@robertcalkjr.8325 thanks for the info but I don't have a tormak so the adapter won't do me any good
@@sal1964 It will fit into the Wicked Edge clamp. Works great!
@@robertcalkjr.8325 ok thanks
I went from Edge Pro to Tormek to freehand, and now I can’t understand why I wasted my time with a fixed system. The muscle memory in our hands are amazing, if you can learn to text you can learn to keep an angle on a stone. And you will probably learn that quicker than figuring out all the details of any fixed system.
So everything you said all makes sense but what bout when the spine is not even and does not want to hold in the clamp? I run into that kind of often because the spine has dips and bevels.
Which style vise do you have - standard (WE50, WE100, WE120) or cam-lock (WE130, Gen 3 Pro)?
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners BEVELS.
I have Gen 3 pro.
@@My_Bow_L.Y.F you can wrap the blade in a little bit of paperboard like an old business card top of a cereal box. We also provide shims here: wickededgeusa.com/collections/accessories-all/products/vise-shim-pack
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners
Oh ok. I'll try that out next time I run into that situation. One more thing I own a Benchmade 537 Bailout aluminum. The tanto part is not an even bevel. It goes from thin to wide. I have a chip in the blade and I want to keep the factory bevel look to it. Any way to make a video of you sharpening one?
@@My_Bow_L.Y.F can you email some pictures? clay.allison@wickededgeusa.com
So the first time using my cam lock vice with my hinderer, it is difficult to lock down the vice. It feels like I'm going to damage it. The hinderer blade is .165" thick. Is it ok to crank down to lock it in or should I be worried about damaging the vice?
Is the tension adjust turned all the way down?
@@ClayAllisonNM yes, all the way down.
You should be fine to clamp it. I'll double check mine tomorrow and let you know what I find.
@@ClayAllisonNM Thank you sir; much appreciated.
I just tested 2 Hinderer XM18s in the cam lock vise. It's a good fit and should not harm the vise in any way.
Should you find the correct angle of the edge before trying to find the sweet spot?
Great question. It works either way but I think it's easier to find the angle first and then get the sweet spot like you're suggesting.
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners Awesome, that’s what I figured. I watched just about every video twice now and took notes so I’m going to get my Pro Pack 1 setup and get to sharpening this weekend.
Do you recommend taping the Vice or spine of higher end pocket knives with painters tape to possibly prevent scratches on the blade?
Thank you so much for your reply, super excited about my WE.
@@pete3347 you can wrap the blade with some cardstock from a business card, cereal box etc.. to protect the blade. The jaws themselves don't usually scratch a blade but if you get metal filings or diamond dust between the jaws and the knife the blade can get scratched. Remember to start with some cheap knives. Your stones need considerable time, between 10-30 knives to fully break in. You can develop your technique while practicing on those knives before graduation to the knives you care about. That way the learning process is fun and stress free.
@@WickedEdgePrecisionSharpeners yup, it’s getting some debris in between that worried me but now we have a quick solution to that. Thank you very much for your responses, they’ve been super helpful. I will start off with some old kitchen knives and will take on some old kitchen knives from relatives to break the stones in before moving on to my personal cutlery collection.
I’m getting my pro pack setup as we speak, going to be very fun and exciting to learn the process! Have a great weekend and thanks again for your help!
What if your knife has a very small Amount of a true flat surface.? Zero tolerance folding knife... Hinderer design
Using a shim is your best bet for these types of blade shapes. Either a piece of cardstock or leather wrapped around the spine at the heel of the blade will help keep it secure. We see ZTs pretty frequently at trade shows and that small flat spot is big enough to keep the knife steady.
Great question. You might need to clamp the knife on the only flat spot and then tilt the tip downward until you get the sweet spot. You'll still use the marker in the same way but substitute tilting the knife for moving it back and forth.