while i am woundering if you can get longer rods for this system i just got mine and i am loving it great system but im getting a lot of people asking if i can do swords and it got me thinking can i get longer rods or do you just do a small area and move to blade down and work on the next area please help i could use the advice also i heard that they were comming out with an atachment to sharping scissors can someone tell me when thank you very much

The WEPS can sharpen a blade up to 17 inches in length so it can do a short sword like a Roman Galadius. Clay I believe is working on modified arms for sharpening longer and broader blades, but I don't know where that project is at this time. Similarly with the scissor sharpener but both are coming.

Leo

I have to assume you could move a sword in hte vice and do it in parts, but blending hte overlap might be a problem. I'm just guessing here, since I don't have my kit yet...call me an overexcited newbie.

However, once I get a little comfortable with the new system, I'm going to try it on a sword I have. I'll post any results and pics.
I figure this will either work very well, or be a tragic mistake, with very little midground. Lucky me, I have a few swords to play with.

Yes, you can stitch up a sword in the WE ... it is painful though. Most of the people that actually want a sword sharpened bought their item at the flea market and the steel is shady at best. Those that buy a real Japanese sword (or any real item) tend to have them hand sharpened. Hand sharpening a sword is painful as well and many after they see the cost say: Ummmm, OK ... I will get back with you.

A typical Wakizashi (small or short sword) is around $150.00 for me to do it by hand and is easily a six to eight hour job with hand stones.

10 minutes on the belt grinder...

Phil

I have a decent functional katana (hanwei practical plus xl light), and decided to at least see how feasible it was to try and sharpen it on the WEPS. Clamping is next to impossible, you have to prop it up or it just falls down. It's also so wide that it barely fits in the vise while still being able to tighten. Mine also has a bo-hi (groove) on the spine, making it even more painful to try to clamp. And then there's the problem of blending the different sections you sharpen together.

I had previously tried a two zone sharpening on a 12" bowie; sharpening the back completely, and then the tip half. It works "ok" but there's a very obvious transition that I had to work on for a long while with the strops to get even partially acceptable.

Overall, I have to say "no, the WEPS cannot sharpen swords"

....Yet.

does it tip down even with the tsuka and tsuba dissembled?

I didn't try disassembling it, but I would have to assume it would still tip down. The clamp is just too small to hold out against the leverage of a blade that long.

The best you could do would be to prop up both ends of the sword with some books or something on a large table, and sharpen it in segments, then just spend alot of time polishing out the transitions when it's finished.

The other thing to remember is that most swords are fully flat ground, and only have one bevel. The correct way to sharpen them (especially a katana), is to sharpen the entire face of the bevel on a stone.