Not sure if you did it just to emphasize the problem, but your bottom screw is definitely cranked in too far.
I try to start with the knife sitting in the vice and the inside surfaces of the vice being parralell. I do put blue painters tape on the blade and use a piece of Chamois or the soft kind of medical gauze wrapped all of the way around the spine of the knife and extending towards the edge of each side well past the tips of the jaws on both sides, this gives a layer that can be compressed at the spine but still gives support to the tapered sides of the knife. I then tighten the top screw down hard while making sure the blade is centered. Then I tighten the bottom screw, but no more that I have to to keep the knife from movingj, just snug. I try to keep the gap between the fixed and movable vice jaws equal top and bottom. The only time I ever saw my vice look like your pictures (pushed out that far at the bottom) was when I had bent the tip on one side of my vise.

Anyway, after I do things as described above, I get virtually identical bevels. Using the proper technique, you too can get that blade pretty close to dead on centered!!

Phil

PhilipPasteur wrote:


That's a good point. First tighten the top screw, only then the bottom one.

Billabong wrote:


Hmmmm. I looked at the info that was linked. It was pretty specifically about how to properly clamp a FFG (triangular) blade in the WEPS properly. Isn't that what you want to be able to do?

What other purpose did you think it was for?
Phil

mark76 wrote:


I always do, is there another way?

The top screw sets the clamp angle and the bottom tightens the grip.

I pinch the clamp from above to match the blade angle on both sides, then bring the top screw in to gently hold that grip.
Then tightly secure it all with the bottom screw, which spreads the clamp out at the bottom and therefore in at the top.

Is this wrong?

edit - Can I suggest you kind people try this, you will see the knife leans to the left?
It's no surprise, I'm just trying to work out the best way to counter this so I get an even bevel.
Not angle, bevel width the same on both sides.

Billabong wrote:


No, that sounds right. But I still don't understand your problem .

I would be very surprised if Clay doesn't know what I'm talking about here.

It's something I am sure he is working on.

Billabong wrote:


Maybe...

Billabong wrote:



On FFG blades, don't pinch the clamp to match the sides. Hold the blade vertical, and tighten the top screw. If you don't pinch it, the clamp will grab at the base on both sides. Then tighten the bottom screw to secure the blade.

If you use a thin piece of leather (I like), or some foam tape (I didn't like as much, I could get it to slip, but others have had success), it will help hold it. But, you can actually clamp it without anything.

I took a couple of pics.... the first one shows the blade clamped with equal spacing on both sides (you have to look at it for a sec... maybe a little too close)... the 2nd one shows the position of the clamp sides on the same blade. No leather or foam, and the blade is tight.

Mark, if you pull your clamp off its mount.
So you have a left and a right side.

Then clamp any tapered knife so the sides touch the clamp "flush" top and bottom, no gaps.
Now sit the clamped knife on a bench, with the left side (base) of the clamp flat.

Your knife will have a lean to the left.

But, if you were able to attach this clamped knife back onto the mount with the knife at a perfect vertical, then life would be good!

Billabong wrote:


I tighten the top screw down hard and use some kind of material to help center the blade (as mentioned). The less you have to tighten the bottom screw the less potential you have of moving the blade off center. This has been discussed at length and techniques to mitigate the problem discovered. One approach is to do what I do, it works (did you even read my previous post).

Clay has discussed several design changes that might take some of the currently required attention to detail out of the process. These have ranged from mounting some kind of rubber tips to the vise to making a vice where both jaws are moveable and self centering. I guess my point is that you can position the knife so that you get equal bevels with the current system if you develop the proper technique. Some of those techniques are illustrated in Clay's video, I offered one that works. If you check the forum, you will likely find others that have worked for other members. Point is it can be done.