From what I can see in your video, you probably haven't worm out your stones, you've just finished the "breaking in" process. One shouldn't compare their stones with new stones as they are two very different animals. New stones have an excess of diamond grit bonded with nickel plating. The "breaking in" process is the knocking off of those particles sitting proud of the base layer. When completed, the stone will seem to have lost its grit, but in fact the scratch pattern has become uniform as the remaining diamond particles are uniformly and densely distributed and securely bonded to the platen steel. A new stone will feel like a new sheet of sandpaper, biting beautifully into the steel. When it's broken in, it will feel like a very fine grit sandpaper. It will sound different too. In use, the stones evolve through four phases: new (not broken in), ideal, dull and worn out. Ideal is when the excess diamond particles have been shed, leaving the solid matrix of particles across the entire surface of the stones. Dull is when you've broken off most of the sharp edges on the diamonds - it will still cut, but not as well. This happens only after many knives - several hundreds at a minimum. Under a USB microscope, a "broken in" Wicked Edge stone will look like a uniform scattered field of black and white spots. If you find an area where the white and black spots are spread out from each other or completely absent, the stone is worn out. If not, the stone may be dull, but still usable. After watching this video, I pulled out my collection of used stones. I have four pairs of 400/600 stones. I use my 400s more than any other stones, as I hate the damage that the very coarse stones can do. Of the eight stones, only one was obviously worn out. The base steel actually was scratched where there were no diamond particles. Two pairs were still serviceable, but had been replaced because of perceived loss of performance (going dull?). Of the series of stones you use, the only one which can be expected to wear out is the first one you use - mostly to cut new profiles. Once you produce a full-length apex, subsequent stones should only require a minimum of strokes to refine the bevel for the next grit up. e. g. - While you might put your 200 grit stones through hundreds of strokes, stones after that should requires many fewer. On an average 4" folder, after profiling, I probably take only 20 to 30 strokes with each subsequent pair of stones as I work through the progression. This means that although your first stones may wear out after 100 knives of heavy profiling, the other stones may only need replacement after 500 or 600 knives. Additional strokes with any grit will be to excess and will reduce the effective life of the stones and needlessly remove perfectly good steel. Using thousands of strokes of any grits on a given blade is way beyond reasonable. This all being said, you can abuse your diamond stones by applying way too much pressure against very hard or tough knives. Some recommend applying little more pressure than the weight of the stones, but I know this will drive you nuts during heavy profiling and you'll probably apply 5 to 10 lbs of force. I know, because I'm guilty of it myself. It's human nature to want to see progress. But try to keep the pressure down to about one pound or less. Imagine the weight of a pound of butter in you hand to get a feel for it. More pressure will tend to knock diamond particles from their nickel plating foundations. Last, you can abuse your diamond stones by deliberately or accidentally allowing them to rub against each other. Diamonds against diamonds will knock off the sharp edges of the particles, making them much less effective and possibly even rendering them useless. I suggest that you visit the Wicked Edge Forum, as it's a treasury of information for new and old users alike.
Tom Meyer ... WOW! Thanks Tom! I didn’t throw away my older Wicked Edge stones so good for me. I have the kids microscope so when I have time, I’ll break that out and maybe do a little video on the old and new. Ah yes... the pressure. Sadly yes, I am guilty of that. I’ve always tried to pay attention to that but have to say in my haste I’m sure I’ve applied more pressure that needed. Thanks for the forum info. I didn’t know there was such a group. Will have to check that out. Thanks for all the info and for taking the time to share this with me. I hope it also helps others that stop by here. ~Chad
@@CKKnifeandTool Listen mate, I watched the entire video and you bring up a valid point; the system is expensive. Can we please stop the passive aggressive BS, please? It's a wear and tear system like so many others. When the wear parts are no longer useful, you buy new ones. Why not just call Clay Allison and speak to him directly? Instead of trying to "strong-arm" him into changing prices. Diplomacy and offering benefits to Clays company by lowering prices on wear and tear parts might serve you better.
@@ameliajasmin4957 - So true! I find that Clay Allison is one of the nicest people I have ever talked to. I am saving up for his most expensive device. For the time being I am using my Spyderco Sharpmaker. Way to many critics out there.
@tmeyer103 Mate this info was fantastic. In all the time I have sharpened knives and researched, I have never heard this. The info is very much appreciated. Wicked Edge should pin this on their site somewhere
The price of their stones actually are not bad. When you consider, you essentially get 4, and bc you only use each one on 1 side of the blade opposed to 1 stone on both sides, they should last twice as long as something like a kme stone. At least on paper they should. If their not, then their stones have to be a lesser quality or something.
I called Wicked edge today asking about this topic of stone life expectancy. They said the 100 grit should last for 700 knives which is the shortest life and the 1000 grit should last between 1300 and 1500 knife sharpening....
The actual grit throughout the life of the stones should get finer and finer as they get "older" remember the diamond doesn't get selected by the length of diamond when its laid down its sieved through multiple fine meshes. So the gritty part you're feeling is like a corner at the beginning and when you feel it as its "warn down" should be the actual mesh size in microns (diameter). The actual diamond is about halfway encrested into the nickel plating with the most common way the plates are made.
you need to contact kyle of Wicked Edge and see what he recomnends regarding number of strokes per grit to sharpen especially when using softer steels..
if your 600 is as smooth as the granite then they wore out LONG ago, in which case you got maybe 30 sharpening s out of them which is insanely quick. you must be doing something wrong or all 65-75 of those knives must have been maxamet or s110v or something like that.
Have you tried cleaning some of the build up that's filling your stones in a bit? I've heard of some folks cleaning them with a light soapy water solution and toothbrush to get the build-up out of them... Maybe that would work for your stones as well??
Jim Howard ... Hi Jim! Yes, I usually try to remember to clean after or even during each use but sadly I think it was perhaps a bit too much pressure on my part. Trying to move fast to be more efficient may have cost me the longevity of the pads. The set I bought to replace these are still going strong and it’s been around 75 blades and over a year
I would still do a Wicked Edge over a KME and that’s because I find the Wicked Edge faster and sharpening with two at the same time rather than one also flows good. You get into a rhythm.
Hi there and yes, I am. I do not use it as frequently as I use to simply because of time and need. I still have it and it has been seen in a few videos on mine this year if you watch. Is it the fastest? I can't say but that would also depend on how bad the blade is or how poorly it is prepped before using the Wicked Edge. No matter... YES I still have it and YES I still like it. BUT... it's not the only thing I have or can use now. ;)
Those plastic parts cost what, a dollar? Those frames cost nothing and the stones probably cost them $10 to make. They sell their kit for a "reasonable price", and make their big money on selling the stones. Keeps people in their ecosystem. I love the system and I think it is the best one out there but just like with anything, if its designed to last a long time its gonna be big money. I wish an aftermarket company would make some at a more reasonable price. They always seem to be able to give us longer lasting stones at a cheaper price point.
This is fake news. The most expensive stones on the wicked edge site is the micro fine ceramics which only people serious about mirror polishes purchase. Your average stones cost $70. Amazon mirrors the wicked edge site in price and sometimes is lower. With prime free shipping amazon usually wins. No stones on either or any site for that matter is $150+. For that price you can get two sets of stones. Don’t believe he hype!
Well, I did leave links to what I found to be reasonable sources to buy. I did find a set of strips on Amazon that were quite over priced. I did think it was worth leaving a link to those. The above links were at the time, good prices. As for fake news, I’m. It sure if I should be flattered being thought of as a CNN reporter?
From what I can see in your video, you probably haven't worm out your stones, you've just finished the "breaking in" process. One shouldn't compare their stones with new stones as they are two very different animals. New stones have an excess of diamond grit bonded with nickel plating. The "breaking in" process is the knocking off of those particles sitting proud of the base layer. When completed, the stone will seem to have lost its grit, but in fact the scratch pattern has become uniform as the remaining diamond particles are uniformly and densely distributed and securely bonded to the platen steel. A new stone will feel like a new sheet of sandpaper, biting beautifully into the steel. When it's broken in, it will feel like a very fine grit sandpaper. It will sound different too.
In use, the stones evolve through four phases: new (not broken in), ideal, dull and worn out. Ideal is when the excess diamond particles have been shed, leaving the solid matrix of particles across the entire surface of the stones. Dull is when you've broken off most of the sharp edges on the diamonds - it will still cut, but not as well. This happens only after many knives - several hundreds at a minimum. Under a USB microscope, a "broken in" Wicked Edge stone will look like a uniform scattered field of black and white spots. If you find an area where the white and black spots are spread out from each other or completely absent, the stone is worn out. If not, the stone may be dull, but still usable.
After watching this video, I pulled out my collection of used stones. I have four pairs of 400/600 stones. I use my 400s more than any other stones, as I hate the damage that the very coarse stones can do. Of the eight stones, only one was obviously worn out. The base steel actually was scratched where there were no diamond particles. Two pairs were still serviceable, but had been replaced because of perceived loss of performance (going dull?).
Of the series of stones you use, the only one which can be expected to wear out is the first one you use - mostly to cut new profiles. Once you produce a full-length apex, subsequent stones should only require a minimum of strokes to refine the bevel for the next grit up. e. g. - While you might put your 200 grit stones through hundreds of strokes, stones after that should requires many fewer. On an average 4" folder, after profiling, I probably take only 20 to 30 strokes with each subsequent pair of stones as I work through the progression. This means that although your first stones may wear out after 100 knives of heavy profiling, the other stones may only need replacement after 500 or 600 knives. Additional strokes with any grit will be to excess and will reduce the effective life of the stones and needlessly remove perfectly good steel. Using thousands of strokes of any grits on a given blade is way beyond reasonable.
This all being said, you can abuse your diamond stones by applying way too much pressure against very hard or tough knives. Some recommend applying little more pressure than the weight of the stones, but I know this will drive you nuts during heavy profiling and you'll probably apply 5 to 10 lbs of force. I know, because I'm guilty of it myself. It's human nature to want to see progress. But try to keep the pressure down to about one pound or less. Imagine the weight of a pound of butter in you hand to get a feel for it. More pressure will tend to knock diamond particles from their nickel plating foundations.
Last, you can abuse your diamond stones by deliberately or accidentally allowing them to rub against each other. Diamonds against diamonds will knock off the sharp edges of the particles, making them much less effective and possibly even rendering them useless.
I suggest that you visit the Wicked Edge Forum, as it's a treasury of information for new and old users alike.
Tom Meyer ... WOW! Thanks Tom! I didn’t throw away my older Wicked Edge stones so good for me. I have the kids microscope so when I have time, I’ll break that out and maybe do a little video on the old and new. Ah yes... the pressure. Sadly yes, I am guilty of that. I’ve always tried to pay attention to that but have to say in my haste I’m sure I’ve applied more pressure that needed. Thanks for the forum info. I didn’t know there was such a group. Will have to check that out. Thanks for all the info and for taking the time to share this with me. I hope it also helps others that stop by here. ~Chad
Thanks for the info!
@@CKKnifeandTool Listen mate, I watched the entire video and you bring up a valid point; the system is expensive. Can we please stop the passive aggressive BS, please? It's a wear and tear system like so many others. When the wear parts are no longer useful, you buy new ones. Why not just call Clay Allison and speak to him directly? Instead of trying to "strong-arm" him into changing prices. Diplomacy and offering benefits to Clays company by lowering prices on wear and tear parts might serve you better.
@@ameliajasmin4957 - So true! I find that Clay Allison is one of the nicest people I have ever talked to. I am saving up for his most expensive device. For the time being I am using my Spyderco Sharpmaker. Way to many critics out there.
@tmeyer103 Mate this info was fantastic. In all the time I have sharpened knives and researched, I have never heard this. The info is very much appreciated. Wicked Edge should pin this on their site somewhere
The price of their stones actually are not bad. When you consider, you essentially get 4, and bc you only use each one on 1 side of the blade opposed to 1 stone on both sides, they should last twice as long as something like a kme stone. At least on paper they should. If their not, then their stones have to be a lesser quality or something.
I called Wicked edge today asking about this topic of stone life expectancy. They said the 100 grit should last for 700 knives which is the shortest life and the 1000 grit should last between 1300 and 1500 knife sharpening....
Kenneth Kuhlman ... That’s awesome!
CK Knife and Tool so what do you think? Seems to me that’s extremely exaggerated.
I have been gluing leather on my old ones and it works great..
Awesome. Thanks!
Does the angle change as the stone approaches the tip of the blade?
The actual grit throughout the life of the stones should get finer and finer as they get "older" remember the diamond doesn't get selected by the length of diamond when its laid down its sieved through multiple fine meshes. So the gritty part you're feeling is like a corner at the beginning and when you feel it as its "warn down" should be the actual mesh size in microns (diameter). The actual diamond is about halfway encrested into the nickel plating with the most common way the plates are made.
I know this is an old vide, but what Plano Box size is this for holding the stones?
3” tall x 14” wide x 8-3/4” deep
you need to contact kyle of Wicked Edge and see what he recomnends regarding number of strokes per grit to sharpen especially when using softer steels..
if your 600 is as smooth as the granite then they wore out LONG ago, in which case you got maybe 30 sharpening s out of them which is insanely quick. you must be doing something wrong or all 65-75 of those knives must have been maxamet or s110v or something like that.
Great review. Thanks. Tony
Have you tried cleaning some of the build up that's filling your stones in a bit? I've heard of some folks cleaning them with a light soapy water solution and toothbrush to get the build-up out of them... Maybe that would work for your stones as well??
Jim Howard ... Hi Jim! Yes, I usually try to remember to clean after or even during each use but sadly I think it was perhaps a bit too much pressure on my part. Trying to move fast to be more efficient may have cost me the longevity of the pads. The set I bought to replace these are still going strong and it’s been around 75 blades and over a year
so should I just buy a kme ?
I would still do a Wicked Edge over a KME and that’s because I find the Wicked Edge faster and sharpening with two at the same time rather than one also flows good. You get into a rhythm.
I like to see if this guy still this happy in 2020
Hi there and yes, I am. I do not use it as frequently as I use to simply because of time and need. I still have it and it has been seen in a few videos on mine this year if you watch. Is it the fastest? I can't say but that would also depend on how bad the blade is or how poorly it is prepped before using the Wicked Edge. No matter... YES I still have it and YES I still like it. BUT... it's not the only thing I have or can use now. ;)
I just got the pro pack 2 can’t wait to get it Thursday, still today what is your thought on it?
I still have it but I am looking at faster more efficient ways to sharpen.
Those plastic parts cost what, a dollar? Those frames cost nothing and the stones probably cost them $10 to make. They sell their kit for a "reasonable price", and make their big money on selling the stones. Keeps people in their ecosystem. I love the system and I think it is the best one out there but just like with anything, if its designed to last a long time its gonna be big money. I wish an aftermarket company would make some at a more reasonable price. They always seem to be able to give us longer lasting stones at a cheaper price point.
Content starts a few minutes in.
glue wet and dry to your used stones.
steveydent ... Thanks
Verbos
If I spent that much on a knife sharpening system, I would probably make a video to justify my purchase as well.
Well, this is a 1 year review and I never felt I needed to justify my purchase with anyone. Thanks though.
This is fake news. The most expensive stones on the wicked edge site is the micro fine ceramics which only people serious about mirror polishes purchase. Your average stones cost $70. Amazon mirrors the wicked edge site in price and sometimes is lower. With prime free shipping amazon usually wins. No stones on either or any site for that matter is $150+. For that price you can get two sets of stones. Don’t believe he hype!
Well, I did leave links to what I found to be reasonable sources to buy. I did find a set of strips on Amazon that were quite over priced. I did think it was worth leaving a link to those. The above links were at the time, good prices. As for fake news, I’m. It sure if I should be flattered being thought of as a CNN reporter?
CK Knife and Tool
There’s no such thing as a CNN reporter.
blaise mosley .... Ha!
@@TheNarratorx15 How True that statement is!!