Using the leather wheel without grindstone

[Pep]

Is it possible to run the leather wheel without having a grindstone mounted? I'd like to remove it so I can use my knifejig on the leather wheel, but my kitchen knife will hit the grindstone. When I removed the grindstone and turned it on the leather wheel's axle came out of the machine.

[Drilon]

Just put a 50 mm long tube in place of the grindstone to avoid slipping of the axle.

Drilon

[Pep]

Good idea, I'll give that a go tomorrow.

[RickKrung]

If you still have the plastic sleeve that came on that side of the shaft when new, you can use it. Otherwise, a piece of PVC pipe that fits over the shaft, cut to length would work.  Some of us machine spacers.  Not sure if any are out there to purchase.

Rick

[tgbto]

Sorry if this has been covered extensively, but a question comes to my mind every time I remove the grinding wheel, put the white piece of tubing back on the axle etc. before I switch to the honing wheel :

Why on earth is the honing wheel not 250mm ? Would save the hassle of resetting the US, just flip it and you're done. OK, it might not be EXACTLY 250mm but still, make it 248 mm and you hone at a slightly higher angle.


Gone too would be the issue with the 250mm stone getting in the way when you hone. And if the stone diameter decreases significantly ? Well you're back to today's process except I am sure there are more people with stones in the 235-250mm range than below this. With diamond wheels more than ever.

I made the assumption that the few additional cents on leather length and plastic would not put too heavy a burden on the buyer. Am I missing something ?

[micha]

The only thing you are probably missing is that a 250mm honing wheel would get in the way when grinding longer knives. I use 250mm wheels from MDF and felt even with some space between the leather/drive wheel and I regularly have to take it off for longer knives. (Which takes yet less time than removing the grinding wheel).

Mike

[tgbto]

Yeah, I felt kinda dumb yesterday night when sharpening a 300mm suji...

[Ken S]

Twelve years ago, Tormek grinding wheels meant only the SG, and in the US, primarily the SG-250. Since then, we have seen an explosion both in Tormek grinding wheels and third party wheels for the Tormek. Tormek sharpening is a dynamic, growing technology. We are just starting to see a similar explosive growth in honing wheel technology.

The grinding wheel spacer is a leftover from the single wheel, pre EZYlock days. It is too easy to regard it as disposable shipping material. Tormek should redesign it to be more substantial and more recognizable as a "keeper" part. Educating users about this should be part of the handbook and videos.

I have made spacers out of plastic pipe. It is easy and cheap to do. It is an ideal project for a home 3D printer. A member of the facebook Tormek users group posted a program for making one on thingiverse. As Rick stated, machining one is an easy project for a machinist.

My favorite spacer, by a wide margin, is the substantial delrin spacer designed by Alex and marketed through schleifjunkies. It is not inexpensive; however, it works exceedingly well. I am reluctant to post this on the forum; however, it is an outstanding, useful tool.

Ken

[tgbto]

... schleifjunkies ...

Noooooooooooooo ! What have you done ? Yet another substantial amount of my money that unexpectly got spent on a leisure some would at the very least dub "suspicious". Because they also have strops, and laser holders, and wheels, and sprays, and...

Sigh. I can't wait to receive all of this.

[Ken S]

I regret having posted my last reply. I did not mean to encourage you to purchase a bunch more stuff. This is not directed at any one vendor; I include Tormek in this list.
What you need is knowledge and skill. At this point, new toys will only short circuit your development. If you have money you have to spent, invest in good practice knives and tools. Victorinox fibrox chef's knives and 3/4" Irwin Blur Chip chisels are reasonably priced good quality tools to learn how to sharpen.

Ken

[tgbto]

Well, no worries, it was essentially a joke on my part. My personal situation is such that i'll gladly part with a reasonable amount of my money (rather than eventually die with it) if I feel it makes a difference in the end result and my technique. I guess it comes down to the time/money/effort/result compromise.

I had been trying to fix a wooden knife measuring jig but I would either have had to spend a considerable amount of time sanding, routing, glueing, dominoing, etc., which i'd rather spend sharpening knives. It speeds up my setup for each knife, I can either use it to measure the length of to set it to the now famous 139mm.

Same thing for the laser line, I feel it really gives valuable feeback, improves the end result dramatically and helps develop muscle memory for the pivoting/lfting combination. All in all, I don't regret, and I think it rather helps me spend time and concentrate on areas which deserve it, such as putting several very different types of knives to the stones and practicing on them. I have some Victorinox, Opinel and Sabatier which are good - albeit very different - candidates for my practice sessions.