So what is the general consensus on finding an angle with the angle gauge?
Specifically, when I zero the gauge, if I get the angle, move the stone to vertical and check again, I get as much as a degree variance.
So is this my OCD raving, a bad gauge, or operator error?
What do you do?

Do you mean a whole degree or a 0.10 difference?

I routinely get 1 or 2 tenths (0.10 to 0.20) difference doing the same. If the gage powers off you have to re-zero. I make sure to place it exactly the same way on the stone every time and to place the stone exactly in line with the vice each time. I notice some difference when the stone is in difference places. If I saw a full 1.0 degree difference I would check that my set screws are tight.

FredHermann wrote:


I guess it's your OCD .

I usually put my angle cube flat on the WEPS base and then set it to zero. As Geo said, in practice during sharpening you may get a 0.1 or 0.2 degree difference even if you think you hold the arms absolutely vertical. I guess the angle cube is more precise than the human arm/eye/mind. In practice a difference of 0.1 degrees makes no difference at all. Tom once recommended that I try to keep the error < 0.5 degrees (this was before the new ball joint ). Indeed if you do so, things work out fine.

So maybe my off is making me crazy, but I need to look again. it might be .1 Bah. I'm pretty consistent in how I measure though. I blame the gods of late night posting.
Maybe what I'm looking for is what's acceptable variance on the angle....

0.5 would make my life much easier, as I try to be spot on, but when that gets overly troublesome, I settle for 0.05.

Check the accuracy of your angle cube the one they sell with the system is only accurate to +\- 0.2 deg. Harbor freight brand Pittsburgh angle gauge is only accurate to +\-0.3 deg. if your within that tolerance you should be good just move it and check again and it may settle out but a full degree is weird. The hundredths of a degree (0.01) spot is useless.

FredHermann wrote:

A few more notes on this:

I have to zero mine every time I turn it on. The right side of my table is at 0.0. The left side is 0.2. So it depends on where I sit.

I find the strop thickness (leather) can vary a little. So I always place the gauge in the same place and place the strop or stone in line with vice every time to be consistent. Also when measuring the leather and holding the cube at the same time it is easy rock the strop a little. I have noticed about 0 to 0.2 or so difference based on how I hold the strop and the gauge.