Is there a way to modify the vise so small traditional pocket knives can us the set pin. Maybe if the holes for the set pins were smaller there could be more of them closer to the top of the vise. After all the set pins themselve don't really need to be larger in diameter because it's not like they support a lot of weight.

This way very narrow traditional pen knives, small stockmens, etc can be sharpened without having to draw a line on the inside of the vise with a silver sharpy. I heard this technique from someone, eventhough it makes sense a set pin would be nicer.

I just bought the pp2, but this was a aspect I didn't like about it. Hopefully when I get it I'll be happy anyway.

Anyway just thought I'd ask Clay.

Looking forward to an outstanding knife sharpener.

We didn't put additional holes closer to the top because it's already thin up there and we didn't want to take away more material which would possibly permit the jaws to bend under the amount of force they experience. That said, I'll play around with it and see how much force they can stand with another set of holes.

tomcreasia wrote:

Not a bad idea, but I've found the ruler part more beneficial than the height/location of the holes... for smaller blades, it's pretty easy to duplicate where you clamp it... it ends up being about 1/2 way from the top of the clamp to the top of the top hole (haha... just had to say it that way), keeping the main part of the edge parallel to the clamp, and using the ruler to position the horizontal location. It's easy to accurately duplicate.

Knives come in so many shapes now that I prefer lining the main part of the edge parallel vs. using the two pins to set the knife on. (On regular knives, I'll still use at least one pin to set the depth though.)

Figuring out a method that works for you and being consistent is what's important.

Welcome to the forum

Welcome to the forum!

Interesting thought, be interested to see if you can make it work Clay. I find with most of these knives I center them and then only grab as much metal as is necessary in order to keep them from "squirting" out of the vise when you clamp - sometimes this means having the handle pushed all the way against the vise so that you can grab at the choil as you can't hold them otherwise.

BTW keep ahold of the knife while tightening as I have had some go flying pretty far and fast when snugging the bottom vise screw

Since the steels in these small pen knives, jacks, whittlers, toothpicks, etc are relatively soft as a rule, to make the edge last the angle is pretty wide and they sharpen up pretty quickly. I've never found repositioning to be an issue - just get it (up and down) where the clamp will hold hit it with the sharpie and adjust the angle to match. You can raise a burr pretty quickly even with fine stones, that combined with the angle control means even on the first sharpening you seldom remove much metal when working them on the WE.

I'm sure you'll be happy with your set up. Get a chisel point sharpie, take your time, develop your technique by practicing on some knives you don't care about and give your diamonds a chance to break in. Ask if anything comes up we all like sharing our experiences and what we have figured out. Lots of great advice on here and lots of folks have slightly different methods to make things work - find what works for you

Clay,

Thank you for the reply. If the holes were smaller maybe that would help. Anyway I am looking forward to recieving my WE and sharpening knives. I'll start with kitchen knives because they are ones I don't collect, then move on from there.

BobNash and cbwx, thank you too for your advise. One of my small pocket knives is in d2, a queen small stockman (handle length 3.25) the small spade blade is only 3/8 inch tall and d2 is kinda hard, but by time I get to it I'll have sharpened a few knives and believe it won't be too bad.

I look forward to reading this forum and chatting more with experienced WE sharpeners in the future. There seems to be a ton of information to read, so that's great.