New to using the WE, and while trying to sharpen a knife for a friend (that had shipped totally unsharpened by Scottish regulations) I have ended up scratching up the body of the blade while trying to get it sharp. What am I doing wrong? I am going to have to order another knife for him to replace this...

That is a hard one with so little information. I find it quite hard to harm a knife using the WEPS. Can you tell us a little more? Where on the body are the scratches? If it is like an extended edge, you might have chosen a too acute angle. Or did some screw get loose during sharpening?

In order to answer your questions, we need to see pictures of the knife and how you had it clamped. We need to see where the scratches were on the blade/edge. I can't tell you what you were doing right or wrong with out more facts and visuals.

As to replacing the knife, that is between you and the knife owner, but it probably was not a wise decision to sharpen a knife for pay until you had mastered the rig . Although the learning curve for the WEPS is not steep, there are skills to be learned preferably on your own knives first before trying to do it 'professionally', that is in this case for pay. People's knives are special to them and one must approach each blade differently and this requires some broad experiences. Hopefully, your customer will be understanding.
Put up some pictures of the knife and its postion in the clamp and we can probably be more helpful. I suspect that the blade has a deep belly and you may have placed it in a less than optimal position. It would also help to know if the blade was full flat ground or some other difficult blade geometry.
If you are going into business, it is essential to clearly lay down some legal decisions as to warranty and liabilities and the responsibilities of the customer and those of the sharpener. A few bucks to a good lawyer will pay off in good dividends for you, instead of trying to set up your own. Legalize can get quite complex so that you think you are protected but you really are not.
I hope this helps in some way, at the least show us the pictures of the scratches and where you clamped the knife with the actual knife.
I caution here about the use of the word professional...at its simplest it means doing something for pay, but it's true meaning is know the craft you are carrying out with wide experience and knowledge and charging a rate commensurate with your skills.

Leo

Not done for money, and not setting up a business. I will try to post pics tomorrow...BTW I never used the word professional in the original post.

Good, that simplifies matters.
Sorry Stephen! I am not too bright of a light tonight...too many pain killers for my kidney stone. My reading should be better you would think after teaching English for 40 years! My apologies for the misunderstanding.
Pictures would be very helpful, especially one with the knife in question in the clamped position you used.
Now I will do what I should have done in the first place and go back to my bed.

Leo the totally embarrassed:blush:

Just shooting from the hip here (since I haven't seen any pics yet), but if you scratched the flat, main part of the blade, it would seem that diamond particles got in between the vise jaws and the blade where you clamped it. I have sharpened a decent number of knives on it now, including some that I could not allowed to get scratched. There are many technniques for this, but I just stick a couple of pieces of duck tape where the vise will be clamping it and then crank down so it won't move. Haven't had one scratched yet. Hope this helps!

Sorry about the long hiatus, but between work and everything else I finally had a chance to take two (bad) pics...

I have seen worse my friend...glad to see you posting and using the WEPS. What knife is that mounted in the vice Steven?

All the best
Leo

It is a sgian-dubh (pronounced skeen dhu) According to Wikipedia, it's a small, singled-edged knife worn as part of traditional Scottish Highland dress along with the kilt. It is worn tucked into the top of the kilt hose with only the upper portion of the hilt visible.

I thought so! When I was 15, I was a tenor drummer in a pipe-band and many of the older guys had them tucked in their socks...I did not but I always meant to get one.

Cheers
Leo