The learning curve...

[Hogdog6]

Even though he is a Edge Pro guy I'm sharing this link because I think some of solutions will work for the Tormek also. IMHO There is some very good information here from someone that has sharpened many knives professionally. I will definitely be including some of these tips in my arsenal of tricks.
https://youtu.be/T9HzJM7IKPg

[cbwx34]

I thought this quote from another thread had some interesting points...

I would humbly suggest that if you want to learn to sharpen knives, get a bunch of cheap sacrificial knives from your local thrift store to practice with and have at it.  At least that's what I did.  If you are sharpening for other people, no doubt sooner or later you will need to:

Learn to sharpen so that you don't concave the blade at the center.
Learn to sharpen the tip and maintain an even bevel.
Learn to fix a broken off tip.
Learn to deal with chips on the edge that you will see all of the time with hard steel knives like Shun.
Learn to flatten the edge if it's not flat.
Learn all about using the stone grader and how various levels of abrasiveness grind an edge.
Learn how you need to constantly use the stone grader to maintain a particular level of abrasivness.
Learn all about the truing tool and keeping the wheel flat.
Learn how to sharpen curved knives like a bird's beak knife.
Learn how to sharpen very hard steel (RHC 60+) knives.
Learn how to sharpen cheap, crappy steel knives without the edges chipping away.
Learn about toothy vs smooth ground edges.
Learn how smooth edge roll and get dull quickly.
Learn how to sharpen very small blades like pen knives.
Learn how with small blades the knife jig hits the wheel.  Learn to deal with it.
Learn about sharpening blades with unequal or single side bevels.
What about serrated blades?
Learn how to sharpen very long knives.
Learn how to sharpen cleavers.
Learn when to bail and recognize knives you can't sharpen.
Sooner or later someone will ask you to sharpen a pizza cutter.

Take a knife, grind the edge completely flat and then sharpen it.

Last, but maybe it should be first on the list, learn about deburring and how important it is.
Learn how much compound you want to use on the leather wheel.
Learn how much the compound smoothes a toothy edge if a toothy edge is what you want.
...

[RickKrung]

I thought this quote from another thread had some interesting points...

I would humbly suggest that if you want to learn to sharpen knives, get a bunch of cheap sacrificial knives from your local thrift store to practice with and have at it.  At least that's what I did.  If you are sharpening for other people, no doubt sooner or later you will need to:
...snip...

Last, but maybe it should be first on the list, learn about deburring and how important it is.
...
Grepper

From what I've been learning, here but also from the BESS Exchange (http://bessex.com/forum/), it all comes down to burr removal.  Without that, the rest doesn't mean much. 

Rick

[Scott an Edge]

Gday,
Like Y-Not's original post, I've had my T-8 for about a week and the learning curve has been steep!
Firstly, I have never posted on a forum so if I stuff it up I hope you will all understand.

Hmmm, after reading the info in this thread and many others I have made a few errors, but had some successes. In all honesty I was too excited to start sharpening stuff to read everything first and just want to 'play' with the T-8 

One thing that bugs me is the 'thump' from the seam in the honing wheel. Is there anything that can be done to smooth this out?
Regards
Scott an Edge

[cbwx34]

Gday,
Like Y-Not's original post, I've had my T-8 for about a week and the learning curve has been steep!
Firstly, I have never posted on a forum so if I stuff it up I hope you will all understand.

Hmmm, after reading the info in this thread and many others I have made a few errors, but had some successes. In all honesty I was too excited to start sharpening stuff to read everything first and just want to 'play' with the T-8 

One thing that bugs me is the 'thump' from the seam in the honing wheel. Is there anything that can be done to smooth this out?
Regards
Scott an Edge

Welcome to the forum.

The bump should go away with a bit of use... if it doesn't, try lightly sanding it with some sandpaper... see if that helps.

Enjoy!

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Scott.

I doubt you will have made or will made any missteps with your new Tormek that most of us have not made. Fortunately, the Tormek is a hearty species and very forgiving.

One of my oopses comes to mind. I forgot to lock down my TT-50 truing tool once. My Tormek came to a grinding halt with a gouge in the grinding wheel. I thought I had ruined the truing tool diamond and even ordered a spare.Later, after some quiet reflection, I realized my error and boldly returned to truing my grinding wheel. Everything worked fine; no harm, no foul.  It was a valuable learning experience; I have never repeated the error, and hope you will avoid this error. (Don't worry, there are plenty of other errors. 

CB is right on about the leather honing wheel bump. CB and I enjoy some good natured bantering when we have differences of opinion. Don't tell him,  but I always give his posts a serious read and would recommend the same for you.

I hope you enjoy your new Tormek as much as we do. You will find the forum friendly and always willing to help. We are polite and not competitive. Please do not hesitate to post both your questions and your observations. You are among friends.

Ken

[Y-Not]

One thing that bugs me is the 'thump' from the seam in the honing wheel. Is there anything that can be done to smooth this out?
Regards
Scott an Edge

Yeah, the thump, thump, thump was somewhat alarming/disturbing to me as well.
This is a known issue and is addressed in the manual.

As others have said, it "should" go away in time.  As the manual states, it's the adhesive that is used to bond the leather to the wheel and can be sanded down if it desired. Or...Just sand it now if you want.  No harm either way.

I didn't sand down mine and I can't tell you when it stopped but it has.

[Y-Not]

One of my oopses comes to mind. I forgot to lock down my TT-50 truing tool once. My Tormek came to a grinding halt with a gouge in the grinding wheel. I thought I had ruined the truing tool diamond and even ordered a spare.Later, after some quiet reflection, I realized my error and boldly returned to truing my grinding wheel. Everything worked fine; no harm, no foul.  It was a valuable learning experience; I have never repeated the error, and hope you will avoid this error. (Don't worry, there are plenty of other errors. 

This sounds like it could be a fun thread.
"Tormek Bloopers" or something to that affect. 

[Ken S]

Agreed. That would probably be our topic with the most replies, and also our most useful topic.

Ken

[Y-Not]

Agreed. That would probably be our topic with the most replies, and also our most useful topic.

Ken

I'll start it in the General area.  You can move it, make it a sticky or whatever...
Thus far, my bloopers aren't nearly as good as the one you posted but...I've got one or two.