Wear and tear on the stone using Stone Grader SP-650

[Herman Trivilino]

Generally speaking I would say almost always grind knives at 1000 grit and away from yourself as you don't want to remove much steel at all.

I almost always grind towards the edge and find that the 1000 grit is usually not enough to sharpen a dull knife blade.

[Rob]

Really??  Have you got those posh Japanese very hard knives or are we talking about just regular ones?

I sharpen the vast majority of knives freehand in the away from position.  I've got a set of 5 global knives which I always use the jig and in that case I go topside towards me but I always use 1000 grit for fear of taking too much off (this is the SB wheel by the way).  Obviously you cant really freehand with the wheel coming towards you.

Having said that, I also got given a ceramic "steel" (poor choice of words but you know what I mean) for Christmas and that really keeps them keen so I'm not taking much off on the Tormek at all.

[Herman Trivilino]

These are just regular knives, nothing fancy. Perhaps I wait too long to sharpen.

[Ken S]

Grind toward or away? I believe an experienced craftsman has mastered both and uses whichever suits the immediate task better.

Ken

[Jimmy R Jørgensen]

Well i'm going to use it, but if it is overkill to use the grind stone everytime why would i do it?. And that is the question in a nutshell. Is it needed, and how ofte, not IF it is needed .  If money is not a object get the knifes sharpende some where else and just pay the man.

[Fineline]

  If money is not a object get the knifes sharpende some where else and just pay the man.

But then, you might miss out the fun, the challenge and sometimes the frustration 

[SharpenADullWitt]

Well i'm going to use it, but if it is overkill to use the grind stone everytime why would i do it?. And that is the question in a nutshell. Is it needed, and how ofte, not IF it is needed .  If money is not a object get the knifes sharpende some where else and just pay the man.

It is needed.  How often, will depend on the tools.  A great old post by our old forum admin:
http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=41.msg0#new

Why, to fracture the stone to the 1000 grit, and clean particulates from it. Example from another post: http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=47.0

[Ken S]

Good posts, SADW.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

Well i'm going to use it, but if it is overkill to use the grind stone everytime why would i do it?. And that is the question in a nutshell. Is it needed, and how ofte, not IF it is needed . 

You use the stone grader to refresh the surface of the grindstone. You do it as often as necessary. When the grindstone is prepared coarse it needs to be refreshed every few minutes or so, depending on how much steel you're removing. It takes practice to tell how often, it's not an exact science, and there is plenty of latitude. The longer you wait to do it the less effective the grinding becomes. When the grindstone is prepared fine it has to be done more often.

[Jimmy R Jørgensen]

Generally speaking I would say almost always grind knives at 1000 grit and away from yourself as you don't want to remove much steel at all.

I'm finding this difficult. the bar on the erhhr.. then thingy on the jig hits the stearingbar , maiking it impossible to sharpen the full length of the blade. Well that is if i understand you correct, and i do it correct.. By sharpening in the direction of the stone, the use of the stearing bar is reversed and the tightening bolt is in the way.. danm i find this hard to explaine.. hope the picture tell the story lol


By the way.. i do have a feeling that is it me doing something wrong, and that i soon will have a AAA HA moment..

[Rob]

try sharpening it topside if using the knife jig (as you are).  I should have qualified my response....I rarely use the jig, I freehand it with the wheel running away from me.  Using the jig, it's going to work better with the wheel coming towards you in the top position.

[Jimmy R Jørgensen]

Ohhh a freestyler huh.. isn't that pretty tuff to get a nice and even erhh burh (trying to use exprections i'm not all comfatable with lol)

[Rob]

It takes a little bit of practice to get used to holding the knife at a steady angle and in particular as you "turn the corner" towards the tip but to be honest.....it's really not that bad.  I would say if you practice it on about 20 knives over a couple of hours you're going to get the right muscle memory quite quickly if you're naturally of an engineering mind set.  This stuff really isn't rocket science.

The other thing is it wont give you as uniformly a "pretty" bevel as using the jig....how could it.  But if its a regular "jobbing" kitchen knife and it is sharp, personally I don't fuss about whether or not it's going to win a beauty parade!  It's function over form for me.  Getting a continuous burr along the entire edge really is quite simple once you've got the hang of holding it steady and at the right angle.

I also own a set of global knives which are a little more expensive than the average supermarket tat and they go in the jig on the rare occasion I Tormek them.  Most of the time (every use) 4 swipes with a ceramic "steel" keeps them tickled enough to rarely need any expensive gadgetry.  They slice tomatoes like there's no tomorrow :-)

[Ken S]

Interesting, Rob. You are the second person I have encountered who sharpens knives with the Tormek both handheld and with the SB-250. To see pictures of the mystery handheld sharpener, go to
sharpeningmadeeasy.com and go to the photos tab.

Ken

ps He told me he can often sharpen knives with only one pass with the SB-250. So, I have not given up hope for the SB-250........

[Rob]

LOL.......I did (look at the photos) and that technique is EXACTLY how I do mine which is to say 4 fingers spread out to steady the knife along its length.  But it's like I said, it really isn't rocket science, I would imagine most level headed people are going to naturally find a holding technique which satisfies the control needed to maintain the bevel angle while being sufficiently flexible to navigate the curve at the tip.  A little experimentation and that grip will suggest itself over and over again because it works.

I find this on other forums I frequent, people are so afraid to dump the jig and just try it by hand like in the old days.  Somehow we've become increasingly convinced that free handing anything is just out of reach for the amateur.  I'm convinced it's because of the veritable onslaught of gadgets, jigs and wotnot by the manufacturers to convince us that we simply cant do anything without parting with a huge amount of cash first.

The younger they are, the more they seem dependant on the idea that a specialist tool is needed to achieve anything.  I'd be the first to admit I don't want to go back to the oil stone days because my fingers would just be too sore but with the Tormek, it's so slow and water cooled....it's an absolute gift for free hand grinding.  I can even understand to some extent folks not wanting to freehand on a fast speed regular bench grinder...they are more scary for sure.  Wood turners will be more confident as they use them all the time but your average weekend warrior trying to make a coffee table, perhaps not.  The Tormek though....I think it should be compulsory as a confidence building exercise that for the first 2 hours of its inaugural grinding....freehand only :-)

Perhaps I should write a book.....