Ken,

Great job! I'm sure the finish level shows the newness of your stones. The more they break in, the better the finish will get.

Thanks Clay. Took about an hour. Most of that time was on the 100 stones, getting the bevel to apex. Went very quickly from there.

Ken

Hey folks,

Long time lurker, but I only recently got my kit in. I apologize in advance for this being a long winded intro post, but all things considered I think we've got quite a story here for anyone interested!

About me: My name's Tom, and I'm a self employed, formally trained gunsmith out in the woods here in southern PA. I'm just a youngster in my early 20's, which is far from the norm in the gun world. Our farm here was host to three generations under one roof until about two years ago, and we've always been the self-reliant types running multiple family businesses for as long as I can remember.

I started looking into the Wicked Edge completely by accident. I began researching knives more seriously just out of curiosity, and because guns and knives tend to cross paths often in the sporting world. I happened to encounter the youtube videos Clay posted, and was extremely impressed by the system, for many reasons most of the folks here can relate to I'm sure! But one reason in particular came to mind which wasn't for myself, but rather for my father.

My dad John is a disabled veteran, who spent 16 years in law enforcement before losing his career to a car wreck that left him with a form of epilepsy and serious mobility problems. His back and neck injuries were so severe that doctors predicted he would be wheelchair bound within the year... but he's still up and walking 15 years later! During that time, we've gotten the epilepsy under control, but a side effect of the trauma from the crash was short term memory loss that has plagued him ever since. I've tried to involve him with the gun shop as much as possible, but some things just don't "stick" and it really frustrates him when he can't recall some order of operations doing a clean and oil or how to access our dealer catalogs online. That's what motivated me to jump on board with the Wicked Edge.

Clay, Kyle, Kay and the whole gang here are just awesome people to deal with and helped tremendously in figuring out where to start. I managed to keep the order a secret through the whole backorder and got my kit in just over a week ago. Dad was speechless, and more than a little uncertain about this contraption and how technical knife sharpening can get. I showed him the basics, explained how to record settings and he was floored by how straightforward everything is. He took to it like a duck to water, no longer afraid of forgetting the details or being overwhelmed by being too technical. In no time he was practicing on some old junky knives, and in just a few days the two of us have gathered up a pile of stuff to practice on and are getting great results! It's been a great experience passing along the tips and tricks from Clay's videos and having both of us share our own discoveries back and forth. He can't wait to get to the next gun show and set up!

I really can't say enough. Clay and the crew are great, the forum here is awesome and full of great folks too. I'm thankful I stumbled on it! I'm looking forward to contributing here and learning everything I can.

P.S. - Still working on those pictures, Clay. Neither of us are very photogenic though

Tom,

Thanks for sharing your story. Hope things continue to work out for your Dad. Tell him THANKS for his service for me.

Curtis

Welcome Tom ...

I've been living here in the Lake Erie region of PA since I retired 17 years ago .... but grew up in southwestern PA and attended college in Philadelphia. Traveled quite a bit along the southern section of PA. Good to have you join in.

You think you are long-winded, you should check out mine! LOL!
Glad to have you aboard Tom and your Dad as well. What an inspiring story to hear of a son who sticks with his Dad when he really needs help. Thumbs up to you sir. Anything we can do to help mate! This forum and the guys at WE are very helpful as you have discovered already. We are kind of like a big family too.
Looking forward to hearing about your experiences in the sharpening field.
Best to you and yours Tom
Leo

Thanks guys, we'll be sticking around a long time I hope! We're having a blast figuring out what works for oddball knives around the house, and I found a big honkin' Puma machete in the garage I didn't even know we had. That one is proving a challenge to clamp, I'll make a new thread about it later.

Curtis: Will do. He always says he was just another supply sgt keeping things moving, but that work ethic sure carried over

Dennis: We're down south of York, so we're almost the epitome of centrally located. Lots of folks I talk to online are east and west of us, so it's a blessing and a curse sometimes.

Leo: I'm very thankful for the kind of relationship I have with both of my parents. It's been a bumpy ride most of my life but we're a tenacious bunch, and we've always stuck together to turn things around.

Howdy, just found out about the forum on YouTube and thought I'd join to get some tips and such. Was so impressed with the possibilities of the sharpening kit that I purchased one immediately on Ebay.

Needless to say I've gone a little crazy and sharpened everything from an old swiss army knife to a 22 set Wustphof knife set. Just spending hours perfecting my technique and sharpening once dull knives to razor sharpness has been lots of fun. It's an impressive system, and I have to say I've finally found a sharpening system that really works.

I'm excited to find out more about the system and too see if I can improve my technique a bit more to get those glistening edges that some of you have demonstrated. Mine are still a bit scratched up and dull, but they are 10x better than they were originally.

And Clay, thanks for the welcome!
DAUG

Hello men,
Some of this will be a repeat from the welcome mat, however, I am 44 years old and I have been a collector of knives since the age of 7 and have been sharpening since the age of 12, I have improved quite a bit from my beginning efforts. My first stone was an Arkansas soft stone and I have been improving how I sharpened from that time. I am sure some of you have seen or read "The Razor Edge book of Sharpening" by John Juranitch. That book set me on fire at the age of 15. It helped me understand the science of sharpening, and helped me on my technique.
I have owned just about every system that there is to own, including the Juranitch "Razor Edge" system which I have been using for years. After building my confidence us I got away from that system and got back to hand sharpening so that I could get a prettier finished product, but was still not satisfied so now I am on the WEPS train going full speed ahead.
I am very satisfied with the edges that I am getting and now trying to see what direction I want to go in customizing (stone, leather, etc.) so I can produce an even better edge.
I am also a huge fan of the 1911 and have owned 12 Kimbers, 4 Colts, and 1 Wilson. Trouble is I always find someone who wants the ones I have worse than I wanted them. I also like Benchmade, as well as Chris Reeve knives, Spyderco, Strider, and my most recent purchase and my current EDC is a Hinderer XM-18 3.5".
As DAUG has already mentioned I have sharpened everything I own, except for one bowling ball that I intend to get to, as well as sharpening for some of the people I have already sharpened for in the past. Let's let the fun really begin.

Jerrie

JerrieBarber wrote:


I got the same inspiration from Mr. Juranitch as you... from a Popular Science article he did (in the 70s I believe). But it took me a long time to act on it.

BTW, even for those that are a Wicked Edge user, I highly recommend this book. It has a lot of info on what makes a knife sharp!