stone grader

[Ken S]

I believe my evolution with the stone grader may be typical. At first, I was reluctant to use the stone grader for fear of wearing out my precious grinding wheel. This nonsense ended when I finally realized that grindstones are consumables. Long lasting, but designed to be worn out. Then I advanced to the stage where the stone grader seemed to slow down my grinding. While this may be a valid concern for someone sharpening a hundred knives on a Saturday morning, it did not materially effect my typical work session of three knives. I finally reached the stage where I began to feel comfortable going back and forth between coarse and fine.

I consider this the digital stage. The grinding wheel is either graded maximum coarse or maximum fine. (For the moment I am ignoring the even coarser option of using the TT-50 truing tool.) This is the basic technique of using the Tormek. In my humble opinion, it is related to trying to sell the Tormek as an easy to use tool, with very little finesse required. This stage is solid, but limited.

Very recently I have been working on a technique suggested by Stig. Admittedly, Stig is involved in selling Tormeks. However, he does not end there. He has a genuine fascination with knives and chisels, and sharpening them. He does not do the every Saturday morning rush of sharpening at farmers markets. He does sharpen a lot of knives, including his personal knives. He told me he uses the stone grader to condition his SG grinding wheel to 600. This caused a lightbulb to light up in my brain.

I have found the full fine 1000 grit wheel to be slow cutting. Smooth, but slow. Full coarse, 220 grit is faster, but not really smooth. Grading to a middle grit, approximately 600 grit (and probably slightly different every time) seems nice for knives.

I call this the analog stage, which includes the very useful middle range. It certainly increases the possibilities with the Tormek.

Thanks, Stig.

Ken