As a newcomer myself I've been pretty impressed and pleased with the sort of duty edge I've gotten with the Pro pack, just using the 5 micron diamond paste. For seeing how shiny I can get edges I spend extra time in each step to help clean up scratches, and a LOT more time on the 5 and 3.5 micron strops. The only real issue there is there's a fair jump in fineness from 1000 grit to 5 micron from what I understand, so I'm looking forward to getting some ceramics and another set or two of strops in the future to bridge that gap while expanding the final finish.

It's a lot of fun experimenting though, I'm going to be grabbing box lots of old knives at local auctions for a while to see what sorts of angles and finishes work best in different situations. I think an expanded general guideline like the manual has for various knife types might be pretty useful, just as a starting point to build on.

I think that the abrasives from either HA or Ken Schwartz <www.chefknivestogo.com/kenscorner.html> just have more abrasives in them per unit volume than the pastes from WE. I personally can't see much difference in CBN versus Diamonds in the sprays. I also have not been able to really tell any difference between the mono and poly crystaline diamond sprays...

With Clay's new microscope we might be able to quantify this, but this is not something that I can do. Besides when getting to these levels of sub-micron abrasives, I think we are dealing with the laws of diminishing returns anyway.

If you check closely that link on the theory of how the strops work, you will see pictures with the WEPS diamond pastes and then adding some HA diamonds in the same grit rating... you judge.

www.wickededgeusa.com/index.php?option=c...art=30&Itemid=63
Half way down the page. Check the pictures.
Clay says

"There are clearly a LOT more diamonds than when I was using the strops with just the paste. Additionally, most of the 'stiction' was gone from the strops after spraying with the HA spray. I decided to do another 100 passes and started getting back to good 'stiction'"

Read the entire thread. Eventually Clay gets to the Kangaroo and Nano cloth strops. Very impressive !!

Clay says "Okay, I just got my mind blown and now I'll share; Ken sent me some kangaroo leather for strops along with some nano-cloth. Here is a nice progression going from 1um Diamond on Cow Leather (Top) to .25 Diamond on Kangaroo Leather (Top) to .125 CBN on Nano-Cloth"

Again check the pictures on pages 16 and 17 of that thread...

Ken Schwartz told me to use the Kangaroo and or NANO cloth strops with the finest abrasives that I could get (or wanted to use) to realize the advantages to either. Leather or balsa both have a small amount of abrasivenes inherent in each. With courser grits this is not as important. With the finest grits, you don't want your spray to be overwhelmed by the substrate being intrinsically more course.

Maybe get some leather or balsa strops for intermediate abrasives, say between 0.5 and 3 microns, then think about 'Roo or Nano cloth with some of the finer sub-micron abrasives. Maybe 0.25 micron and below...

Much of the joy of the WEPS is derived from being able to try different things with a high level of control at the edge and to see what works for you.

BTW, I would sugest that you get some kind of magnification to be able to look at your edges. A 10X loupe is a good start, but marginal. You can find them on Ebay from a few dollars to well over $100. You can also get very cheaply one of these little lighted 60X pocket microscopes. For instance:

www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-60x-Mini-Pocket-...;hash=item4d0230a68c

Works great, but not sure it is really 60X.

I also have one of these:

www.ebay.com/itm/CARSON-MM-200-MicroMax-...;hash=item232047584d

A bit more fiddly and less depth of field, but more real magnification.

It really helps to be able to see what is going on when you sharpen!

Phil

Thanks guys for all the help. I've got the 1200/1600 stones and the 5/3 micron pastes on balsa. I got balsa instead of leather because I thought I might not round the edge as much but I think I'm going to try the kangaroo with 1 and .5 sprays next and see how that goes. I'm definitely going to have to get a loupe or something to see the edge better too. The list keeps growing. Lol Thanks again. I've got a lot of reading to do.

Welcome to the mystical rabbit hole..
I see you starting to disappear down it right now..



Seriosuly, I would not worry much about the tiny bit of convcexing that the leather causes. At 800X it may seems significant, but it really is not. If it does worry you, try the Nano Cloth with the 1.0 and 0.5 micron sprays. It "gives" even less then the 'Roo and adds virtually nothing of its own to the process. Besides, it is cheaper...

Just a thought.
BTW, I added some to my last post. You may not have seen it because I was editing when you last posted.

Phil

I think I've jumped in head first. I did some reading then I pulled out my benchmade 940 in 154cm and went through the 1600 ceramic stones then I dropped 1 degree and went through the 5 and 3.5 pastes on balsa. I spent a little more time on each step and whoa baby it passed the hht!! Now I'm excited so I got out my spyderco in cpm m4 set it up at b on the top notch at 16 degrees with the angle cube and went to work. I did the same progression on each step I did scrubbing then sweeping strokes then dropped 1 degree and when through the pastes. Oh my does m4 get stupid sharp!!! It passed the hht no problem but it still won't push cut toilet paper. It does slice paper towel though. Anyway now my wife thinks I'm crazy but she was impressed.

Congrats on your success!
Nothing nicer than a sharp blade, one that you sharpened youself, in your pocket..
Well possibly nothing other than using the blade..


Phil