Standard SG 200 wheel vs. DE 200 diamond wheel

[Per_DK]

I have been sharpening with my T4 for a while now, and it works very well :-)
Its been around 300 kitchen knives-some scissors and some chisels. Im thinking about buying a diamond wheel in the 200 series for my T4.
What do you think would be the advantage/disadvantage  with these diamond wheels? Compared to the std. SG 200 wheel. :-)

[Ken S]

Per,

When considering diamond wheels, I would recommend giving serious thought to what you think you cannot do with your SG-200 and if you really need to do these things.

Kitchen knives, chisels, and reasonably priced pocket knives are generally made with carbon or stainless steel. These steels are well within the design scope of the SG. My advice would be to stick with your SG until you find you need something else. At that point, you will probably only need one, at least initially.

Ken

[tgbto]

From my personal experience, about the diamond wheel

Pros:
- you can sharpen carbide-rich and other fancy steels
- diameter stays constant so you can have a set of 8 kenjigs for 135 and 150 projection lengths, for 12.5/15/17.5/20° and never again need to measure anything or use a calculator
- the flat side allows for flat grinds, albeit slowly and with an intrinsic speed difference that you have to somehow compensate with your technique

Cons:
- it doesn't come cheap
- it requires extra care (low applied pressure, anti-corrosion solution)
- it has a significant break-in period
- it is expensive
- the scratch pattern is not as nice as the stones (uneven roughness of the diamond crystals combined with their hardness)
- I like the feedback of the stones a LOT more
- it comes at a price, or did I mention that already ?

I'd second Ken's comments 100%, if you don't find a situation where you're stuck without it, you probably don't need to bother.

[Per_DK]

Ken and tgbto
I thank you both for sharing your opinion and experience :-) The SG wheel does a very good job. I think i will keep with it.

And BTW merry X-mas to all who reads this.

[Ken S]

Per,

I have a concern with a common practice in grinding wheel replacement ("upgrading"). In an effort to be frugal, many Tormek users wait until their Original grinding wheel is completely worn down. This may seem logical; however, it robs the user of some of the versatility of the Tormek. It is true, as noted by tgbto, that the diamond wheels have some unique abilities that the SG does not have. It is also true that the SG has some abilities the diamond wheels do not have. The SG can be reset (trued and dressed). It can be reshaped by adding a radius to the corners to sharpen knives with inside curves. It can be modified with the stone grader to cover a range of coarseness. The stone grader can produce more than just "220 and 1000 grits". It can produce in between grits. On a practical basis this is a middle grit, useful for sharpening knives, often called "600 grit", although the number is approximate.

I recommend that if a second different wheel is added, that it be done while there is useful life remaining in the Original wheel, thus providing the advantage of being able to choise the ideal wheel in different situations.

Ken

[Per_DK]

Ken,
Yesterday i had the opportunity to sharpen 9 knives for a customer on my Tormek 2000-and for that i was lucky to burrow a DE 250 wheel. I did the sharpening with only the DE 250 to get some experience in using diamonds. I think the result was good-( i had to do some "first aid to my finger" ) the knife was sharp!
I think that the more experience you get as a sharpener you will be more able to decide wether to use the std. wheel or to use diamonds or even maybe both.
I agree with you and tgbto s point of views.
Currently i have not had that many "fancy steel knives"  One thing i noticed is that the diamond  is qiuck when it comes to getting rid of knicks on the cutting edge. The SG wheel is a bit more slow, and sometimes need to be dressed during this process. Many of the knives i have sharpend have been handled pretty rough by the customor, so they needed extra care from the sharpener.