Awesome info Clay. Given these findings, I wonder if you have any tips to simplify my sharpening regimen?

Currently (mostly sharpening stainless such as VG-10, CPM 154, S30V, ZDP189, S90V, etc), I am coming off the 1000 grit, through both ceramics, and then onto 5u, 3.5u, 1u leather strops. I often finish with some clean paddles that have just a touch (looks like regular leather with a couple of diagonal crayon marks on it) iron oxide jewelers rouge which seems to increase the polish . I should probably stop doing that last step, I may be imagining the benefit.

Is there a step or two I could reduce? Maybe coming off the ceramics and just doing 3.5 and 1 u? I am doing about 150 strokes on each side.

I'm not looking for mirror perfection, All of my blades are users, but I do like a wicked edge

cows?

Sorry, couldn't resist

Based on the original leather, I would think a quality 6oz veggie tanned but not dyed leather (the type used in crafts and for tooling) would be great. I'd look on eBay (I bought some great 10oz armor leather on there a few weeks ago that I use as a mat and when cleaning guns). That said, I have many small nicks in my WE leather strops, and I have no plans to replace it any time soon, then again I am not going down to sub micron sprays.

Here's my small matrix that I print and keep with my WEPS:


Knife Depth Position Angle
Spyderco Military CF S90V 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Navaja CF S30V 2 C 15
Spyderco Superleaf CF VG-10 2 B 15
Spyderco Manix 2 CF CTS-XHP 2 B.25 15
Spyderco Manix 2 CF S90V 2 B.25 15
Spyderco Paramilitary 2 CF S90V 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Stretch 2 CF ZDP-189 2 B 15
Spyderco Sage 1 CF S30V 1 B.5 15
Spyderco Lum Chinese CF VG-10 2 A.5 15
Spyderco Caly 3 CF ZDP-189 1 B 15
Spyerco Chaparral CF S30V 1 B 15
Spyderco Kiwi CF VG-10 1 A.5 15
Spyderco Ladybug VG-10 1 A 15
Spyderco Temperance 2 VG-10 2 B.5 15
Spyderco Schempp Rock VG-10 2 B.5 18
Kabar NextGen 440A 2 C.5 18
Lone Wolf Lobo CF S30V 1 B 15
Leatherman Charge TTi S30V 1 A.5 15
Richmond Remedy CPM154 2 D 15
CRKT Minimalist 5Cr15MoV 1 A.25 15

Yes, I have a Spyderco problem

The stealth factor with the wife is pretty good . Looking around a bit, the one I have is exactly the larger of the two listed on the hobby lobby website:

shop.hobbylobby.com/store/item.aspx?ItemId=167326



But I only got the larger one and it was $15 (maybe it was on sale - it was on the floor with their other storage chests in the middle of the store surrounded by all the other "smelly stuff" ). It does a nice job of blending in. I like the 3-inch depth (it's actually 2 3/8 interior) because it will hold 2 rows of paddles, but a base system WEPS only would not need it. As it is, there is room for me to expand, should I ever see the Shapton paddles in this lifetime

Dave

I don't worry about trying to store the base and everything else as one set. The base is just too bulky (especially in granite) for me to consider that.

For the "Everything else" part of the equation, I stumbled across a kinda neat fake book case at Hobby Lobby one day that works pretty well (I think it cost 15 bucks):



It holds my diamond and ceramic stones well


And my other wicked edge "junk":


I keep my strops in ziploc bags to keep em clean and the pastes separate:


The whole kit packs up nicely:


And I store it upright on a shelf next to the base in my office:

First I would steel it to see if any was just rolled. Next step, I know nothing other than removing material to get back to the burr. It doesn't look like that much will be needed to me from your pics. Should be much easier if it's already seen the wicked edge once and the settings were recorded. If it were me personally, I would back down to 600 to try removing material (depends on the steel, of which I know knotting about Hitachi Aogami) and, see if 400 was needed, and then work my way up normally.

Enjoy the great knife I say, after all they are tools meant to be used foremost. A few knicks and chips along the way are just badges of pride.

Just a quick post to say how much I love doing maintenance on my Wicked Edge.

This past weekend, I sat down with my morning coffee and 10 folding pocket knives, all EDC rotations in varying steels (probably 3 VG-10, 2 ZDP 189, 3 S30V and 2 S90V), plus 1 kitchen knife (Richmond Remedy in CPM 154 CM) that my wife had run through hell and back.

The knives hadn't been touched up other than occasional hand stropping in about 6 months. They ran the gammut from barely used to major chips and rolled edges (on s90V no less) through medium heavy usage.

Man did I have a good time in an hour and a half getting all 10 back up to a razor sharp polished 15 degree angle. With the depth gauge settings recorded and a quick check with the sharpie, I was back to the exact same angle back to front in seconds per knife. On the lighter used knives I started on the 1200/1600 ceramics and went straight to strops. On more damaged ones (s90V chipping) A had to back down to the 800/1000 diamonds, and in one case (the Remedy) down to 400/600. But it just seemed to go so smooth and got the knives back in action in no time (I shouldn't let them go that long). On all my edges I work through the ceramics, then 5u/3.5u/1u/.5u strops.

The maintenance just seemed to go so fast, I think because of the precise angle recovery of the WEPS.

Thanks for making the Wicked Edge Clay, it really makes re-sharpening fun!

Dave

Yep, I just scrub in some barkeepers friend (cause I have it sitting around, I wouldn't go out and get it just for this - just use dishsoap) and then let air dry. I Do it every 10-20 knives or so, really just to keep the dust/dirt down.

I do the same for the ceramics.

I find my 50/80 combo get's through the S90V, S30V and ZDP189 pretty good for the big reprofile (I wouldn't want to do it with just 100 though).

I have some M390 knives on pre-order that should be in in a few months. Can't wait to try that. I hear the Bohler K390 is real fun stuff too (not ).

After using them for a while, I would say the strops only get good when they are not slippery at all.

Let them get dry, crusty and black. Use them far, far longer than you think you should, and then they are starting to get good in my experience.

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but give it a try.

As for sound - I would not go by it at all - I have no idea what they should "sound like".

edhead35 wrote:


I love hand stropping, I don't know why but I find it really relaxing and a great way to give my EDC knives a little attention. I even strop in my office during the day when stuck on long conference calls (a little weird, I know).

I have bought few strops from a fellow on eBay (apluslandscape) and been real pleased with Robert, even had him make a custom small 2 sided block strop (2x2x6) that I use at work). He also got me into trying out whittling. All his strops are rough side out (unless you ask for smooth), but to be honest I would probably prefer smooth for the red compound as it takes a lot of breaking in and I'm on the lower grits these days (due to the WEPS).

After using the wicked edge for a bit though I am thinking of switching to just a smooth dual sided 5/3u or 3/1u diamond paste strop for hand touchups. The diamond paste seems quite a bit more efficient.

I started with the Black/Green before the wicked edge, but since using the wicked edge I have switched to Green/Red and I mostly use just the red for a quick touchup. I felt the black was too aggressive (I come off the WEPS at 1u), and I like the red for a quick hit after using the knife for a bit to set the edge or polish off a little tape residue. The red seems to me to be very focused on literally just polishing and not very abrasive at all.

I will just add for color that I have not seen any factor edge that did not need a complete and total reprofile, and some of them are just wicked screwy (admitedly on my cheap spyderco's not a strider). I didn't need to take off a ton of steel, but the edge was either really skewed, or inconsistent. What I love about the wicked edge is it sets a very scientific edge (as long as you record your settings).

I can't say I blame you waiting for the 800/1000 on the Strider. I would maybe hand strop it for no and then reprofile when you feel confident you have the stones you need.

komitadjie wrote:


Ditto on the Remedy, I love mine and it is sick sharp after some time on the wicked edge. All of that CPM154 took a little elbow grease though.

Just wondering what the smallest blade is you've done on the Wicked Edge?

I just got 2 CRKT Ritter RSK MK5's that I was going to toss into some kits. The factory edge is not impressive. I was just sitting and debating clamping them in for a reprofile. Pretty sure I won't need the depth gauge

My favorite folder would be a toss up between my Spyderco Military and Paramilitary both in S90V. If I have to pick one - it's the Military.