Question to those of you who sharpen multiple knives...

[Ken S]

I worked for the Bell System, the major telephone company in the US. Starting in 1984, we were required to purchase a certain amount of our switching equipment from other companies. The requirement was that the other companies make their equipment to confirm to our office equipment. This was a wise ruling. In the case of the Tormek main shaft and grinding wheels of whatever manufacturer, it also seems reasonable to have all grinding wheels conform to Tormek specifications. If a shaft is modified to fit a grinding wheel with an undersize bore, wheels with a standard size bore will be a loose fit.

Ken

[Pietje]

Hi highpower!
It is the link user cbwx34 has posted.
For the offered solution in this video I have a different point of view.
You may loose your 8-year garantee grinding the shaft.
If you have only one Tormek T8 my way is to hone up the hole of the disc.
with a reamer and special honing oil or with a adjustable handreamer you will get an proper hole with a diameter you need.

Pietje

[Pietje]

Hi Ken!
The industrial rule of construction is:
A hole can only be greater and a shaft can only be smaller. Thats ISO.

Pietje

[Ken S]

Hi, Pietje.

The problem with grinding the shaft or reaming the bore of the grinding wheel is that neither corrects the real problem. The grinding wheel has been manufactured with an undersized bore. The real solution is to return the wheel to the vendor for replacement or refund. This assumes that the wheel was purchased new with the presumption that it would properly fit on a Tormek.

We have probably all modified parts to work together for special projects. A brand new, expensive product when used for its intended purpose should function properly without need of user modification. I would expect this of Tormek or any third party.

Ken 

[JustADudeInSweden]

Hi, Pietje.

The problem with grinding the shaft or reaming the bore of the grinding wheel is that neither corrects the real problem. The grinding wheel has been manufactured with an undersized bore. The real solution is to return the wheel to the vendor for replacement or refund. This assumes that the wheel was purchased new with the presumption that it would properly fit on a Tormek.

We have probably all modified parts to work together for special projects. A brand new, expensive product when used for its intended purpose should function properly without need of user modification. I would expect this of Tormek or any third party.

Ken

+1.

[highpower]

+2

[Ken98660]

Use your grinding wheel. Keep it trued and dressed. At some point in the future, it will wear out, as will your car and your body.

It's only been about a week since my Tormek T-8 arrived. I'm not exactly sure what the best method is for maintaining the grinding wheel so that I can get maximum life out of it. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

[John_B]

Use your grinding wheel. Keep it trued and dressed. At some point in the future, it will wear out, as will your car and your body.

It's only been about a week since my Tormek T-8 arrived. I'm not exactly sure what the best method is for maintaining the grinding wheel so that I can get maximum life out of it. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

First off I would recommend that you concentrate on learning the fundamentals of sharpening and not worry too much that you are going to use up the stone too fast. Become familiar with how the wheel grinds metal away when it is graded coarse, how it operates in the mid range and how grading it fine impacts the removal of steel. You will see that Tormek uses the grading stone quite often during their demos. Personally I will only grade the wheel coarse if the blade is damaged or if I want to change the sharpening angle. For most of my work I use the stone in the middle position where it naturally settles with use. I will then grade it fine and finish sharpening. I should note that I have never been asked by a customer to change the angle of sharpening of a knife. I have only done this on some of my very old European knives that were originally sharpened at 20° per side. I reduced the angle on these to 15° per side.

Using the TT-50 truing tool is also an important step in your sharpening. With use the wheel will go out of round. This happens slowly over time but if the wheel is not periodically trued it can become quite bad. I believe in truing fairly often (based on usage). When you do this you will find that it will only take a few light passes to restore the wheel's concentricity. If you true the wheel infrequently you will find that it takes many more passes to restore the wheel's concentricity. In the life of the wheel I don't think you save anything by delaying truing. Sharpening is also better with a round wheel. Think of the wheel as a consumable that needs care to perform at its best. I think every new owner goes through this period of trying to minimize stone wear. I like those before have learned that it takes a lot of sharpening and truing to wear out a stone.

[Ken98660]

Thanks for sharing the great information.