Deba on Tormek

[Scotty]

I have been asked to restore some knives for a friend.
They were her husband's (passed away).
One of them is a Deba.
Heavy tapered blade, concave back.
I watched Wootz's video and gave it a try.
Could only get 123 BESS and the bevel was noticeably wider at the heel
Used popsicle sticks to help even the concave on the back.
Anyone else have any luck with Deans?
Would be interested in your technique.
Thanks

[tgbto]

I've sharpened a not-so-expensive deba on the Tormek following most of Wootz's technique.

It worked: the bevel is consistent from heel to tip, but it required some pivoting of the blade. I basically set it up so it would be ok at the heel, then pivoted/lifted as required to get a consistent bevel. Very little pressure at first to just calibrate the movement, then reproduced it until I was satisfied.

I worked on the backside with the benchstone. I also created a microbevel at a much higher angle around the heel, as I always do with a deba that's supposed to handle heavy duty work. With the benchstone as well.

In my opinion, it is not worth the trouble to do that on a Tormek. These knives are made for benchstones, and I have little love for the result with this huge secondary bevel, however sharp it may be.

[tgbto]

I've recently been re-re-re-re-rewatching the Tormek video on advanced knife sharpening, and there is a small detail that I did not notice earlier : on the "chisel grind" picture, there is a small secondary bevel at the very bottom of the picture.

It's funny, because although it will be what you end up with when sharpening such a knife on Tormek, it's not what japanese cooks want for their knives at all. They only put that kind of secondary bevel at the heel of debas, which they us to cut large fishbones. And a very small bevel at that. They would not use it for the rest of the deba edge, nor anywhere on a usuba or yanagiba.