HTK

[RustD]

I got my HTK from the April "USA only" promotion on Sunday May 12th. It might have arrived Friday or Saturday. I have been in and out of town a lot lately. I'm trying to get work wrapped up for a fishing trip this Friday, so I won't get much of a chance to play with the new jigs.
I have read almost every post on this forum and the yahoo group. I didn't understand how beginners could have so many problems. I have read the manuals and watched the DVD and the internet movies. So I thought I would be an expert right off the bat. Wrong. I hand sharpened my Wenger Swiss Army Golf Pro, my everyday pocket knife. Nice and sharp, but a couple of variations in the bevel. So Sunday night when I should have gone to bed, I threw it in the newly arrived, small knife jig to touch it up. I had checked the stone and the support bar earlier. It seemed square and true right out of the box, so I didn't do anything to the stone. I used the marker method to set it to the existing bevel. First pass raised a nice burr, took out all of the ink and corrected my hand imperfections. Now the other side, same thing, it was looking good. Could have stopped right there or graded the stone fine, but noooo. I had to try to even the bevels perfect. I made another pass on the wrong side first, dang, now it's really uneven. Can you see where this is going? Now I see that it needs a little more near the bolster (all of this on a little red Swiss Army). I made a couple more passes. Then I noticed that the tip looked different. My head sank; half of the blade was gone. My large full blade is now a thin pen knife blade. Rats.
I did better on a one half inch chisel in the Short Tool Jig, but the angle came out about 22 ½ degrees instead of 25 degrees. The back is flat and shiny and the bevel is square and sharp.
Oh well, when I get back next week, I will reread all of the instructions, start off with a fine graded stone and practice with some old two dollar Ecko knives. I have a 1 ½ inch chisel that just fits in the Square Edge Jig. I am going to be very careful to try and keep it at 25 degrees. My good knives will wait.
I am also going to shop on the internet for a new pocket knife. That will be fun. I'll probably have to buy 2 or 3.  

[Jeff Farris]

RustD,

Though it doesn't say this specifically in the instructions, you rarely, if ever, need the fast cutting action for a knife of any kind, and most certainly not for a Swiss Army knife (thin blade, relatively soft steel).

[RustD]

Thanks Jeff, I knew better. I am really amazed at the difference the grading makes. I can even feel and hear a low spot that the fine grader missed the first time. I resharpened the 1/2 inch chisel from 22 1/2 degreees to 25 degrees with the stone graded fine and it took a while. Thats what I wanted this time. It's a big difference in the speed of metal removal. Thanks for all of your knowledge. I have been reading about Tormek for years and now I finally have one. I'll be back on the forums in a few weeks to let everyone know my progress.