Honing Wheel and Compound

[RobinW]

Somewhere recently I noticed a comment, possibly by Herman, that he had only used 2 tubes of honing compound over several years or so. (I think I have that right - apologies if incorrect.) I've used that in just over a year, and I'm a low user of the machine.

I find that I have to apply honing compound every time I use the machine, and keep topping it up if I am honing a few chisels. I did use some oil when the machine was new as per the instructions, but I feel that the honing wheel is very firm or dried out. It does say in the book of words that oil can be added, but I haven't tried that yet.

How do you find your wheels? Is there any give in the feel of the leather? Should there be any give in the leather? How often do you apply compound? Anyone added any more oil?

[Herman Trivilino]

I bought two tubes in 2002 but have not yet finished using one!

If the honing wheel is really dry, you could add some oil.  I had mine over-oiled for many years and have only recently gotten it dried out enough that it's now working properly.  I usually add a dab of compound every sharpening session.

I don't know how to tell if the wheel needs oil.  I can tell you that if it has a shine to it, and when you touch it you leave behind a finger print, it's over-oiled.

[Mike Fairleigh]

+1.  I greatly over-oiled mine as well.  It's getting better but is still oilier than it should be.  I think you want the leather to have enough oil so as not to be "bone dry" but very little more.

Sort of related, I'm always amazed to see in Jeff's videos where he holds the tube up to the rotating wheel and it takes a long strip of compound directly from the tube.  When I do that, the wheel just pushes the compound into a big mess on the end of the tube, and picks up none of it on its own.  Whether that's because my wheel is still over-oiled, I'm not sure.  So I have to squeeze it out onto my finger and "push" it into the rotating leather (which carries a bit of risk, once the wheel starts to accumulate some steel residue over time).

[Herman Trivilino]

Mike, with the top of the wheel rotating towards you, rotate the top of the tube towards you so that the end of the tube meets the wheel at a slight angle.

[Rob]

Mike....simply place the tube at dead right angles to the leather ( while moving of course) and also as far left as it will go before falling off the wheel.

You then squeeze and drag to the right quite quickly...sort of like a print head in an inkjet printer.  By keeping the nozzle square on to the wheel....it squashes the paste quite evenly across the leather.  The right movement combined with the speed prevents the residue building up around the neck of the threads

[Mike Fairleigh]

Pretty sure I've tried it that way, but I'll do it again.  Thanks.

[Rob]

Somewhere recently I noticed a comment, possibly by Herman, that he had only used 2 tubes of honing compound over several years or so. (I think I have that right - apologies if incorrect.) I've used that in just over a year, and I'm a low user of the machine.

I find that I have to apply honing compound every time I use the machine, and keep topping it up if I am honing a few chisels. I did use some oil when the machine was new as per the instructions, but I feel that the honing wheel is very firm or dried out. It does say in the book of words that oil can be added, but I haven't tried that yet.

How do you find your wheels? Is there any give in the feel of the leather? Should there be any give in the leather? How often do you apply compound? Anyone added any more oil?

Hi Robin

Jeff's advice was very clear on this in an earlier post.....if you oiled the wheel at the start....dont oil it again.  Just use honing compound each time you use it.  One charge of compound is good for a few tools worth of honing. Basically the compond provides both the lubrication and of course the very fine abrasive you need

[Herman Trivilino]

It may be necessary to add some oil to a really old leather wheel that's dried out.  especially if it was never conditioned properly to begin with.

[Rhino]

So when you are using the honing wheel, should the paste come off as a paste on your knife?  Or should it flake off as powder? 

Also, can you use the honing wheel as a quick touchup?  Sort of like a mechanical sharpening steel?

I am not sure I am using the honing wheel correctly.  It never did much for me.

[Herman Trivilino]

Anything that omes off my honing wheel is a wet paste.  I've never really tried to use it bring an edge back.

Can you polish freshly-ground steel to a mirror surface with your honing wheel?

[Rob]

I've used the honing wheel to touch up both kitchen knives and carbon steel bench chisels but only when they're still quite but not very sharp

The strop seems to be able to rescue a during edge just a bit because there is just noticeable performance improvement. However once they're even close to blunt you'll never hone them back

[Rhino]

Thank you for your answers.  Much appreciated.

Right now, I use a diamond honing steel if I don't want to bring up the Tormek.

[Herman Trivilino]

I'm thinking about getting something like that to sharpen my pocket knives.  I need something that'll help me maintain a constant grinding angle because I can't do it reliably when I freehand with either the Tormek or a wet stone.  Never tried the diamond honing steel.

[grepper]

Hey Herman,

Have you ever seen the hand jig systems like this?
http://www.gatcosharpeners.com/product/sharp_systems/edgemate_pro_sys.mgi

I'm not recommending this, just the first one I found for an example.  There are a bunch of similar devices ranging from $25 to $300 bucks.

[Herman Trivilino]

Thanks grepper, that's just the kind of thing I'm looking for.  Price seems right, too.  I bet a follow up on the Tormek honing wheel would be just dandy.  And what's it ya say?  Bob's your uncle!

Anybody else have any recommendations?