Tormek Stop Or Hand Strop?

[darita]

I'm sure I'm not the first to ask this question.  After honing on stones and using a flat stop, I'm wondering if the Tormek strop is just as good.  By just as good, I mean, I'm always so careful when I hand stop on my flat leather strop, as I don't want to roll over the edge of my chisel or plane.  With the Tormek, I'm always wondering if I'm going to far with the angle or not enough.  That's really an issue on chisel backs where flatness is key.
What's the consensus here?

[RichColvin]

Derek,

I've not found there to be any issues, especially when using the jig to assist.

Kind regards,
Rich

[RickKrung]

I'm sure I'm not the first to ask this question.  After honing on stones and using a flat stop, I'm wondering if the Tormek strop is just as good.  By just as good, I mean, I'm always so careful when I hand stop on my flat leather strop, as I don't want to roll over the edge of my chisel or plane.  With the Tormek, I'm always wondering if I'm going to far with the angle or not enough.  That's really an issue on chisel backs where flatness is key.
What's the consensus here?

I cannot speak to any comparison with other stropping methods, as I've never really used any.  But...   I can say that the Tormek honing wheel really works well, particularly when used with the jigs and precise angle control.  As far as going too far, I was very cautious and uncomfortable with this too, for the longest time and my use of the leather honing wheel was ineffective.  During this time, I preferred using the SJ stone followed by very light stropping on a SharpPad (no longer available). 

However, a couple months ago, Wootz (a significant Tormek and BESS Exchange contributor) showed us that for honing knives, it works best when an angle about 2º greater than the sharpening angle is used (and the knives are held in the jigs and angles are set precisely).  Wootz posted his findings on the BESS Exchange and I reposted it here, back in Sept.

Finer Points of Burr/Wire Edge Removal,
on: September 07, 2018, 05:13:23 pm
https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=3732.msg24679#msg24679

The last link within the above post lays out using honing angles greater that used for sharpening and concluding using an angle 2º greater is optimal (it is a thick read, skip to the bottom for the summary).
Wire Edge Removal Discussion on Bess Exchange Initiated by KG
http://bessex.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=372

Ever since, I have been using the 2º greater angle for honing and my edges have never been so well deburred and polished.  Since late Aug. this year, I was doing weekly farmers markets and used this method with excellent results on knives.  I did use it when I sharpened four plane blades, but for them, I used the 2º greater angle for the bevel side but kept the back flat on the honing wheel.  To the extent that using it flat on the back, I alternated sides to work the burr back and forth.  I did not measure the sharpness, but I think it worked excellently. 

Also, after adopting the 2º greater honing approach, I ceased using the SJ stone and SharpPad stropping entirely. 

Rick

[Ken S]

Derek,

You ask a good question. Wootz' knife sharpening technique is certanly formidable. A good chisel sharpener can become better by implementing parts of it. This is another example of the training value of having a couple (or more) Blue Chip 3/4" sharpening chisels. Sharpen one with your flat routine. Sharpen one using traditional Tormek, using freehand sharpening. Compare the sharpness, using either paring into end grain or cutting paper.

Then sharpen one on your Tormek keeping your chisel in the jig for stropping. Normally the back is stropped handheld. I think  there is a more reliable method. Strop the bevel using the jig. Having a second support bar is convenient for this. No problem if it does not have the microadjust. After stropping the bevel, leave the chisel in the jig. I use a small very fine grit ceramic stone laid on the bench to strop the back, working carefully. General practice is to alternate back and forth a few times. Do the same comparison sharpness tests.

This gives you all the benefits of the Tormek leather wheel with the security of a flat stone for the back. (I purchased my ceramic stone from chip carver, Wayne Barton, many years ago. It is the ultra fine stone he uses to "refresh" his tools.

Along your Tormek journey, you should also develop skill freehand honing. It is a good skill to have in your arsenal for occasions when jigs are not convenient.

Ken

[wanderingwhittler]

I can't speak to chisels, but I really like stropping with the honing wheel for knives. I frequently strop my whittling knives—pocketknives and small carving knives—and I've been getting better results more quickly with the honing wheel than I was with flat strops. I suspect this is because (1) the wheel ends up giving more distance traveled over the leather and (2) I can hold a more consistent freehand angle when the knife is relatively stationary.

I'm also very happy with the results I'm getting on my kitchen knives. So much so that I'm going to try an experiment and stop steeling them and instead give them all weekly stroppings on the honing wheel. I've curious to see how that goes. Does anyone else do that?

In the interest of full disclosure, I should report that I did round the edge of one non-whittling pocketknife blade, so your concerns are not unfounded. In this case I was working in dim light, without my reading glasses, and rushing a bit.  The lesson has been learned and I don't expect it to happen again.

I haven't tried stropping with a jig yet, but I'll have to read those wootz reports and give it a try. Thanks for the links, Rick.

Update: I decided to try more careful stropping of the knife I mentioned that had a rounded edge. It's now back to cleanly slicing phone book paper in both directions, so I don't think I did too much damage to the edge before.

[Ken S]

Greg,

When you combine bad light, no reading glasses, and being in a hurry, you have most of the necessary ingredients for disappointing sharpening.     I worked for several years in a poorly lit garage. One day I set up my Tormek on my Workmate outside. What a difference! Good lighting is a must. Lately I have been using LED work lights.

Give muscle memory a chance, and try the jig, too.

Ken