FVB for t-4?

[chiamsi]

Guys,
I am waiting for my t-4 to be delivered hopefully by end of this week.
In the meantime I am looking at all kinds of materials here and have a question:

Is it required for honing on the leather wheel to keep the angle right or is free honing sufficient??
http://knifegrinders.com.au/Manuals/Software_for_Tormek.pdf

If so, where can I buy it (I am based in Germany)

Best Regards
Ernst

[cbwx34]

Guys,
I am waiting for my t-4 to be delivered hopefully by end of this week.
In the meantime I am looking at all kinds of materials here and have a question:

Is it required for honing on the leather wheel to keep the angle right or is free honing sufficient??
http://knifegrinders.com.au/Manuals/Software_for_Tormek.pdf

If so, where can I buy it (I am based in Germany)

Best Regards
Ernst

Unless you're sharpening for some arbitrary BESS score... free honing is sufficient (and easier).  Just takes a bit of practice.

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Ernst.

I agree with CB about freehand honing. However, there is an inexpensive, effective fix available to allow in jig honing with the T4. Your local hardware store should have M6 socket set screws. Length is not critical; 10mm is fine. These thread into the tapped holes in your knife jig and the horizontal sleeves on your T4 using a 3mm Allen (hex) wrench.
The reason that Tormek says the T4 can not be used to hone knives in the jig is that the plastic locking knobs stick up too much. The socket set screws solve this problem.
You may also need to grind off a bit of the knife jig. You will see where this bumps into the support bar. Fortunately, your T4 is a grinder and this is easily done freehand.

It is worthwhile to learn freehand honing.

Ken

[chiamsi]

Thank you guys, I will start to learn free honing first.

Ernst