Welcome! Nice WEPS

Hi all,

I thought I’d give you an update. I love being a knife sharpener .

I went to the restaurant I talked about that weekend. During dinner I asked a waiter if I could have a chat with the chef/owner. We could and a week later I went there with two sample knives…

The situation in this restaurant is not as bad as I thought it would be (based on stories by professional knife sharpeners). Every cook has their own knives and they try to care well for them. Their only problem (and it was for me to explain that) was that they didn’t know what proper sharpening is. For example, the chef had a problem with his petty knife. He showed it to me. Black in some places. Sharpened with a belt grinder at about 200 grit, which completely ruined the heat treatment of the blade. I didn’t need any more sales arguments…

We agreed I’d sharpen two of his knives: his chef knife and his petty (ruined or not). When I returned he was pretty impressed. Because his knives were sharp, but also because I returned within two hours. So on the same evening we agreed I’d sharpen all of his knives.

When I came there next week, we had lunch together. (Well, not at lunch time obviously.) He introduced me to another cook who appreciated his knives. He was the only one with a carbon Japanese knife. I agreed to sharpen that one, too. And his petty.

One week later. I come there to pick up their knives. Then it appeared the WEPS had made an impression. They asked me if I could sharpen the chef knives of all of the cooks. (I thought there were six, but there are nine…) Uhm, yes, I couldn’t say no. But I was smart enough to say I’d only do this temporarily.

Back home I had more than 15 knives to sharpen. From scratch: I reprofiled all of them. Mostly using my 100K diamonds, but I did some with my 50K diamonds. (Sometimes you get less picky, but some knives were also damaged and really needed major reprofiling…) I finished every knife with at least my ceramic stones. (And the Japanese knife and the petty of the chef went up to my Shaptons 15K.) I still have to ask them whether they prefer this fine sharpening or a more toothy edge. (What I do know is that they all marvel a mirror edge - looks are important.)

This reprofiling was not really Zen. But the great thing is, and that is what I really like about the WEPS, that next time it’ll be a breeze. I don’t know how heavily they use their knives, but I think I don’t have to start with something more coarse than the 800 grit diamonds.

So now I am the sharpener for a Michelin star restaurant. Hahah, the WEPS brings you to territory you never imagined you’d ever be.

The thing I like almost just as much is that I was able to teach them a few things. (And I didn’t need the celery pictures, Curtis…) They’ve said goodbye to the knife sharpening service that ruined the chef’s petty and finished knives at 200 grit. He has actually bought a new petty. He wanted exactly the same knife I showed to him as a sharpening sample, a Konosuke. And they now know what a sharp knife is.

And the best thing (well, I can’t choose)… They don’t pay me for sharpening, other than the “voluntary” contribution to a charity. But I can eat there for free occasionally. Next month I’ll take my parents there to celebrate my father’s birthday. And I know almost for certain that they’ll be treated as special guests.

Jose, I once had similar difficulties to yours and did a blog post on it. I don't know if it helps you, but here's a story and some pictures on the use of a goniometer: moleculepolishing.wordpress.com/2012/05/...n-the-fallkniven-a1/

Ah! A fellow Japanese kitchen knife lover. I am currently in the process of deciding on a 240/270 mm workhorse knife. Which type and steel of Kikuichi do you have? If you cut a melon with it, this sounds like a workhorse knife. How does it cut onions and tomatoes? (Obviously I want my workhorse knife to cut almost like a laser. )

And... with a WEPS and Shaptons you've definitely got the best tools to get it sharp.

cbwx34 wrote:


That's a big part of the fun of the WEPS. But in cases you don't want to experiment and just build on other people's experiences, try microfine coarse -> 1200 -> 1600 -> microfine fine -> stropping. This will get you a mirror edge that is truely wickedly sharp.

Welcome to the forum, Gary! Have lots of fun with your WEPS. And if you want to learn... a lot of material here. And stupid questions don't exist.

PhilipPasteur wrote:


Good point. However, my 5K+ stones are all waterstones. The first thing I do before using my Choseras is soaking them and rubbing them together (same grit) in order to flatten them and then soak them again. That sort of cleans contaminations, I imagine. Shaptons are slightly different, but I use water on them, too.

What was the scrupulous lapping and cleaning you had to do?



Hahah. (I'm allowed to laugh, since I was in the same boat. Once cracked a Shapton 8K. Ouch. You feel that in your wallet.)



What's your system? Mine consists of little plastic sandwich bags. And using both sides of the paddle strops for the same grit. (Works, but kind of expensive.)



Hahah, that's funny. Is this a standard English expression or did you make it up?

Ah! Now I can finally see what that small picture depicts. Amazing job. Beautiful! Is it a dog? That is my imagination... This is why I love art. If you say they WEPS might unlock more, I am more than curious.

Hey TekMiami,

Welcome!

I completely agree with Curtis. Just ask Ken or Tom nicely. They are the experts. Obviously they have a commercial interest in this sort of information, but I know them personally as very nice people.

I also find your photograph very intriguing. Interested in follow-ups!

PhilipPasteur wrote:


So first decide on the purpose, then decide on the architecture, then the detailed design. This is what I try emphasize in my work all the time...

The purposes of avoiding strop cross-contamination and protecting stones are different. I've never felt the need to protect a stone, even though I have some pretty expensive ones. However, I do feel the need to prevent strops from cross-contamination.

Great topic. Crowdsourcing in a way I've seldom seen before. Crowddesign?

The cover for my tablet computer is made of a sort of plastic. It is flexible enough to snap around the (back of the) tablet. The material doesn't have to be hard if the only purpose is to prevent cross-contamination (and/or protecting stones).

Welcome to the forum! Enjoy your WEPS when it arrives. And in the meantime, don't hesitate to ask any questions. There's a wealth of information here to spend your time on... .

Have you taken any creativity pills lately, Clay?

It looks great. I'd definitely use them on my strops, but not on my stones. (One thing to consider is the added size. I use a Plano box to store my stones and there is not much room left for wider/thicker stones.)

I happened to have to the same question. So I had a Skype call with Ken Schwartz a few days ago. What I recall from it (my interpretation, not his literal words) is that CBN and poly diamond are about as effective. The advantage of CBN is that it is cheaper, but it isn't available in very fine sizes.

Ken preferred poly diamond over mono diamond, since poly diamond had less of a tendency to clutter. That said, I've mainly used mono diamond until now and I'm very happy with it. (I did order some CBN and poly diamond, though )

AdrianKing wrote:


Did you order from Benoit Membre? I didn't know any of the European dealers sold bases!

I know Benoit as a reliable guy, by the way.

Three cheers, many kudos and a hug for Curtis!

I know I'm an impatient guy, Clay, but have you got any idea when you could bring this on the market? (Hoping I don't have to ask the if-question...)

Hurray and cheers again!

Welcome! And enjoy your WEPS!

Hey Adrian,

Welcome! You're on the right side of the pond (I'm European myself).

You've come to exactly the right forum. I guess all of us here are at least a little OCD. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

PhilipPasteur wrote:


Thanks! Even more good news... Is there nothing negative you guys can find?

PhilipPasteur wrote:


I understand. But what I mean is the following. In what order do you close the two vises:

• do you first clamp the knife in the vise extension and then clamp the vise extension in the standard vise, or
• do you clamp the vise extension in the standard vise and then clamp the knife in the vise extension?

In the first case, you would have to unclamp and the re-clamp both vises if you wanted to move the knife. Correct?



Excellent news! I guess that this guy who has been trying to sell JNats to me for some time will finally be successful . The knives are double-beveled by the way, but removing the burr from a single-beveled knife is easy enough (indeed, by hand).