Hey guys.
Sorry if this has been answered. If it has I missed it, and I have read most everything here. Recently I tried to sharpen a little paring knife for a friend. It is maybe two inches long and the blade width is not much over half an inch. When I put it in the vise I found that I couldn't get the right hand paddle to adjust much under 21 degrees without the stone hitting the vise clamp upper screw. I ended up putting three thickneses of a business card stock on either side of the blade. This allowed me to sharpen at 20 degrees. I really wanted to go to about 17 degrees on this particular blade.

I thought that using a shorter screw would have helped. I think I could have decresed the angle by at least a degree if the screw was not stiking out the right side more than flush. Anyone know the exact type and tread of the screw so maybe I could find one maybe .25" or so shorter for situations like this?
I could trim the screw, but that would likely cause problems with thicker blades...

I might also look for some a bit longer for those occasional real thick spines.

Has anyone run into a similar situation. If so, how did you handle it?

Any ideas on where to get shorter (and maybe longer)screws?

I know that the narrow angle attachment that has been talked about would probably solve this, but we have no idea exactly when that may be available.

Thanks,
Phil

Hey Phil,

We stock the shorter screws at the office. You can call in tomorrow and we can get one headed your way. You can also position the knife higher in the clamp, just as close to the spine as possible and this will get you down several degrees.

PhilipPasteur wrote:

Clay,
Thanks.. I will give you good folks a call tomorrow.

I thought of raising the blade in the clamp a bit, but thought also that I would not likely be able to do it the same amount next time around. Not critical I know, but real handy to be able to do for a quick touch up.

I think the shorter screw will do until we get access to the low angle attachment.

Thanks again !!

Phil

I created a little mark on my vise jaws, just a tiny little pencil mark, so that the spine of the knife always hits the same spot. In the next batch of sharpeners, I'm going to have some marks engraved or screened on.

PhilipPasteur wrote:

Sounds like a great idea, the index marks that is.
Get some extra jaws made if you do that... I can see a run of folks wanting to have the feature retrofitted on their existing systems.


I just talked to Kyle, a short screw is on the way.
Much appreciated.

Phil