Which EP angle setting do you use?

[skarcher]

EP recommends 18 degrees for Japanese knives, which they say puts a 17 degree bevel on them. When freehand sharpening, I've tried to stay close to 15. What's the general recommendation here for the EP?
I have the sharpton glass stones and a number of quite nice carbon steel knives (the Konosuke laser Gyuto is probably the fanciest), all Rockwell>= 61.

I do own angle guides, but seems a bit silly to use them with the EP setup? Thanks for any suggestions/tips!
Sebastian

[Radar53]

Plus or minus 1 degree per side (dps) is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things.

What ever angle you would choose freehand would be fine as set up on the EP.

Here's a great rule of thumb I got many years ago from a forum member; the edge angle = 75 minus the hardness (HRC). So above for your HRC = 61 a starting point for your edge angle would be 75 - 61 = 14dps.

HTH

[Radar53]

Just a further thought on "equipment" to use for setting angles. There's many things from spacers to angle guides etc, but a couple that are quite quick and useful are the "Angle Cube" and if your mobile has a flat edge there are apps that will do a pretty good job.

CKtG used to stock the former but no longer - a quick search gave a number of suppliers eg https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Angle-Cube-P684.aspx. It's worth checking if the later versions are still OK. Can be used freehand or on the EP.

The latter, I use for knives I sharpen on the EP. I have an old iPhone 5s and the app, which I find very good, is called "Clinometer".

[skarcher]

Great, thanks so much both!

[Radar53]

no probs ~ let us know ow you get on