Wanted to see if what I am seeing with my Wicked Edge is an issue or if it's just a byproduct of something I am doing incorrectly.

The issue I am having (now that I have sharpened 20+ knives with the WE) is that the anlge of the bevel on one side always seems steeper than the bevel on the other side.


I mount the knife and after sharpening, the bevel on the right hand side always ends up larger than that of the left and it's been consistently that way for every knife I've done. At first I thought maybe it had something to do with the original grind of the factory bevel but now that I am around 20 knives sharepened, I am thinking it's something else entirely.

It's almost as if the angle for the right side is one or two degrees steeper than it is for the left. This wouldn't bother me as much if working with some cheaper knives but now I've started to sharpen some of my CRK and ZT knives and I feel like I may be messing up my bevel.

Any suggestions?

Hi Jeff, this is quite a common question, so here are some links you might find useful:

• Full flat ground blades
• Clamping blades
• Using an angle cube
• Linkage play

Success!

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Just a few things related to the posts you mentioned:

1) Some of the blades (but obviously not all) are FFG. However, for every knife I do pad the top of the vice as mentioned in Clay's video where he's working on a FFG Spyderco. I started doing this after the first 6-7 knives.

2)There's no deformity that I can see with the vice itself that would cause the blade to be canted to one side or the other. Given that it's consistent on one side that might indicate something slightly off but I can't see it through visual inspection.

3) I have also tried using an iPhone app or two to determine angle on the last few that I have sharpened. It does show an angle variance on either side when a knife is mounted but short of changing the angle on the right side to be more than that of the left (i.e. 19 on the left and 20+ on the right) I am not sure how to address the differences. Again, this is consistent regardless of the knife or the type of grind.

4) I have addressed linkage play by the way I hold the stones as I am working them. I will grip the stones with my thumb, index finger, and middle finger. I place the ring and pinky fingers towards the bottom on the side of the stone facing away from the blade and apply just a little pressure. This keeps the stone from rocking as it transitions upwards. It's not as comfortable to hold as just relaxing your hands into the slots on the sides of the stones but it's not too bad.

Again, I appreciate you posting links to those threads and there may be something there that I can improve upon but I think I am using (hopefully correctly) the suggestions other have posted there.

Here are a few pics illustrating the left and right side differences...

ZT 0560 Left Side




ZT 0560 Right Side (Notice even the difference in the tip sharpening between left and right)





ZT 0350 Left Side




ZT 0350 Right Side





Spyderco PM2 Left Side


Spyderco PM2 Right Side

JeffSimmons wrote:


How much difference was there in the measurements?

Usually 1 + degrees. (i.e. 1.x) Sometimes it approached 2 degrees but not often.

JeffSimmons wrote:


Hi Jeff,

Thanks for jumping on. Can you please look at the photo below and take the measurement indicated on both sides of your sharpener with the angles on both sides set to the same setting?

Will do! I'll be back in town tomorrow night and will take the measurements then.

Thanks for being so engaged with your product. It's refreshing!

JeffSimmons wrote:


My pleasure - looking forward to your pictures.

Hi Clay,

I took the measurements with a caliper with the set screws in on both sides at 20 degrees. When measuring the right side it came out to 1.06 (where .01 = 1/64 of an inch) On the left side the measurement came out to 1.09.

That would certainly be enough to make the right angle at least somewhat steeper than the left but while 3/64 of an inch difference seems like it might be the issue, I am not sure if it's enough to be contributing to what I am seeing or not.

Thanks!