i bought a paper wheel sharpening system from WASCO. i just cant seem to get the hang of it. i am running the blade on the grit surface first till i get the little "burrs" ill call them for lack of another word. then on to the paper. the "burr" goes away, but so does the edge. fortunatly i am practicing on a pocket knife, not my work ones. any tips. thanks in advance.
bob
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I think your holding it too long on the grit side if you're getting a burr. I rarely run the knife across the grit side if the blade is in good shape. Make sure you dress the paper side with rouge and make a couple passes. It will be as sharp as a razor!
maybe i am putting it on the paper too long. you said a couple passes. i was more or less pollishing it. also the instructions said to use the grit wheel till you got that "burr" then paper. what do they know LOL . any other things i may be doing wrong or is it just practice makes perfect. thanks again
bob
You should get a very fine burr. Your problem just might be the angle you are putting on your knife. You need to have the same angle from the wheel with grit to the polishing wheel. You also need to run your strokes with out keeping the kinfe in one spot. I dought if I have the blade on the wheel longer then 3/4 of a second. Everyone complains that I get the blades to sharp.
Bob, I have found the esiest way to get the angle right is to hold the blade on the back of the wheel. The wheel is turning toward you, so if you hold the blade on the back of the wheel at about 1 O'Clock, then you can see the edge of the blade as it contacts the wheel. Try this with the wheel off, and see the blade touching the wheel, and the angle. Also, don't use the grit very much. It's good for a dull blade but after it's sharpened once the paper side is all you need. Make sure you keep the paper side well conditioned. After every 4th or 5th use. Haven't been using one very long, and I get my blades as sharp as a razor. Good Luck !
I also use a paper wheel and it works excellent. I turned my grinder around so the wheels turn away from me, as I found it easier to get my angles correct.
I do have one question for all of you out there that use these. Do your wheels turn black? I dress them often with the rouge and so fourth, but they are as black as can be.
As soon as the first blade touched it it turned black.
I too have difficulty with the paper wheel system. I've tried all of the above advice and apparently I'm still something wrong. I can't get a razor's edge. Occasionally I get lucky and get a pretty decent edge on my knives. But I'm very inconsistent. I've got one of those "Y-shaped" hand held sharpeners that I pretty much use now instead. It takes all of about a minute to sharpen a knife with these (and I CAN get 'em sharp!). About the same time it would take me to walk over to my grinder/paper wheels, turn it on, (attempt to)sharpen, turn off and back to my fleshing table. I still get the itch to try it occasionally as it now is a challenge to me. But, I always end up bowing to the paper wheel. It has officially WON - lol!
I think you either figure it out, or you don't - and it'd be nice to have somebody in person to show me what I'm doing wrong. Maybe there's a new market there? Somebody could do 1 on 1 training on how to use these darn things - lol!
a class with on hand training sounds great. i have always been one to figure out things real easy. maybe im thinking too much about it. i will try what all you have suggested. i know i will get it sooner or later. thanks again for your help.
bob