For production work.....

[ROC]

40-50 kitchen knives per day.

Right now, I use a Kalamazoo 1x42 to grind the bevel close to my desired angle. 
Then I use my sg250, coarse and fine, to set the edge. 

I need to speed my process up.

Think 3-4 T-8's, with different grit wheel from 150'ish, 400 800, then debur. 

I'm pretty confident I'll stay bust enough to justify the added cost of about $3K. 

My question is multi-fold

1- CBN of diamond
2 - Why?
3- Your go-to source for said wheels. 

I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find much of anything helpful. 

[Ken S]

Check out the youtube videos on the Knifegrinders channel. Vadim, the owner, worked with the meat packing factories in Sydney.

Ken

[ROC]

Thanks.
Ive seen most the videos that he made.

I was hoping to hear from someone recently that has traveled in my footsteps.

I'll keep looking

[cbwx34]

40-50 kitchen knives per day.

Right now, I use a Kalamazoo 1x42 to grind the bevel close to my desired angle. 
Then I use my sg250, coarse and fine, to set the edge. 

I need to speed my process up.

Think 3-4 T-8's, with different grit wheel from 150'ish, 400 800, then debur. 

I'm pretty confident I'll stay bust enough to justify the added cost of about $3K. 

My question is multi-fold

1- CBN of diamond
2 - Why?
3- Your go-to source for said wheels. 

I'm sure this has been asked before but I can't find much of anything helpful. 

Where did the trend of adding a lot of wheels start?    Personally, I like Steve B. of Sharpening Made Easy approach... a belt sander for repairs, a Tormek with a stock wheel to set the edge (freehand), and either paper wheels or a ceramic wheel setup to debur.

At a minimum, I'd stop grading the SG250, and just use it in it's "neutral" state... it's around 600g and leaves a great edge.

[3D Anvil]

I'd set up one Tormek with dual wheels: 200 and 600 grit CBN or the diamond equivalent.  Then use your 1x42 with a leather belt to deburr/strop, or in the alternative, a slow-speed grinder with leather wheel.

To me, 600 is the perfect finishing grit for kitchen knives.  After stropping, it's refined enough to cut smoothly but has enough tooth to avoid glassiness. 

The exception would be high end Japanese knives, and particularly those meant for slicing fish.  I'm told that you want at least a 4000 grit finish on those.

As far as CBN versus diamond, it doesn't matter for slow speed grinding.  They will perform the same.  What may be important to you is wheel construction.  Tormek diamond wheels have wide coverage on the sides, which is useful for some sharpening tasks.  Some CBN wheels are made out of aluminum, which is better for wet grinding without the expense of anti-corrosion additives. 

[Dutchman]

Two wheels on a Tormek?
They interfere with each other when sharpening.
That's also the reason I have to remove the wheel if I want to use the honingwheel.

[3D Anvil]

Two wheels on a Tormek?
They interfere with each other when sharpening.
That's also the reason I have to remove the wheel if I want to use the honingwheel.

Surprisingly, it isn't often a problem.  Why?  Because most knives that are long enough to be a concern have a curved belly towards the tip.  When you raise the handle to hit the belly, it eliminates the problem of impacting the other wheel.  Thus, even a 10" chef's knife isn't an issue.

You can even work around a long, straight knife by holding the sides of the handle instead of wrapping your fingers around it.

The leather honing wheel is only a problem because Tormek nonsensically opted to give it a smaller diameter than the grinding wheel.