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- Sep 19, 2017
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- 1,612
OP here. I spent a while yesterday on the KME because it was the first time I used it. For years, I've been using the Ken Onion Work Sharp with the blade grinding attachment. Anyway, for my first knife, I used a knife from the Dollar Store. To make the process idiot proof, I installed two collars on the guide rod to prevent the stones going too far in either the up direction or the down direction. (Thanks @Daniel and
CasePeanut
. I picked up a pack of drill stops from Amazon; it's cheaper than going through KME, and you get 7 of them instead of one, so you can control both the up stop and the down stop.) The sharpening process was easy peesy.
Well, I should say that the stone work (that is, through the included 1500-grit stone), was the easy part. The lapping films were trickier. They kept ripping, and it was hard for me to get them to stick with soap and water (which is what the directions said to use.) In the end, I used a spray adhesive. I also find the lapping films challenging because, since the grit is so fine, it's difficult to know when you're done say, with a 3-micron round of polishing. The changes are too minute for my eyes to see, and the burr is too fine for me to feel at that point. But all the stone work was very easy.
After the Dollar Store knife, I did a Kizer T1, and that one was easy, too. I'm not sure why everyone says that you're going to ruin your first few knives on the KME. Maybe I didn't have a difficult time because I'd already cracked my teeth on the Worksharp blade grinder, which is more difficult to use. Because of my (intermediate-level) sharpening experience, I didn't start with the 140-grit on either knife, by the way.
I used a 30-degree angle stop on the machine. We know that that doesn't equate to exactly 30 degrees, but it's a fairly wide angle, nonetheless. I was able to get both knives to slightly shave the hair on my hair, meaning that it wasn't exactly painless, and you had to go through several passes to get all the hair. Then again, I've never been able to do better than that on my WorkSharp, either. All in all, I'm happy with the result, and it was far easier than people seemed to indicate. And I didn't use tape, either, though I did sometimes spray the blade to remove the diamond dust and blade filings.
Well, I should say that the stone work (that is, through the included 1500-grit stone), was the easy part. The lapping films were trickier. They kept ripping, and it was hard for me to get them to stick with soap and water (which is what the directions said to use.) In the end, I used a spray adhesive. I also find the lapping films challenging because, since the grit is so fine, it's difficult to know when you're done say, with a 3-micron round of polishing. The changes are too minute for my eyes to see, and the burr is too fine for me to feel at that point. But all the stone work was very easy.
After the Dollar Store knife, I did a Kizer T1, and that one was easy, too. I'm not sure why everyone says that you're going to ruin your first few knives on the KME. Maybe I didn't have a difficult time because I'd already cracked my teeth on the Worksharp blade grinder, which is more difficult to use. Because of my (intermediate-level) sharpening experience, I didn't start with the 140-grit on either knife, by the way.
I used a 30-degree angle stop on the machine. We know that that doesn't equate to exactly 30 degrees, but it's a fairly wide angle, nonetheless. I was able to get both knives to slightly shave the hair on my hair, meaning that it wasn't exactly painless, and you had to go through several passes to get all the hair. Then again, I've never been able to do better than that on my WorkSharp, either. All in all, I'm happy with the result, and it was far easier than people seemed to indicate. And I didn't use tape, either, though I did sometimes spray the blade to remove the diamond dust and blade filings.
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