Serration wheels

[3D Anvil]

Serrated knives are always troublesome to deal with.  I've tried many ways to sharpen them, with varying degrees of success.  Ultimately I reached a point where I could get them sharp ... but kind of destroy the tips and the appearance, or get them sharpER (i.e., better than before, but not great either), and maintain the tips and the appearance.  But I couldn't get them really sharp AND maintain nice tips and appearance.

That's why I was interested when someone post a link to SlipaKniven's serration wheels for Tormek.  Of course serrations come in many sizes, so no one wheel is going to work them all, but the SlipaKniven wheels seemed like they would work for a typical Wusthoff/Henckels bread knife and similar, so I decided to try them out. 

The wheels are 250x14mm and they have a 12mm bore to fit the Tormek.  They come in 160 grit and 400 grit and are sold as a pair for 99 Euros, which struck me as being quite reasonable.  The set also comes with a spacer for mounting.

I'm happy to report that they work!  At least for the aforementioned knives. Unfortunately I was so excited to try them out that I neglected to take a "before" shot of this Henckels bread knife, but trust me when I tell you that it was in BAD shape from serving as the guinea pig in my many pervious misadventures.  The tips were completely rounded, and the serrations themselves were totally uneven. 

Below is a pic of what it looks like after the SlipaKniven wheels.  Not perfect, but that's because I didn't grind quite enough on the coarse wheel to get all the tips back to 100%.  I also created a gigantic burr because so much material was removed, but I was able to remove it eventually and tested the edge at 130 BESS.  I think that's more than sufficient for a bread knife or slicer.

I attempted to show the profile of the wheels in one of the pics.  It's slightly conical, as opposed to being a straight half round, so I suspect that it will work with somewhat smaller serrations, but that's something I'll have to investigate.

The wheels are out of stock again, so if you're interested you'll have to sign up to be notified when they come back in stock.  That's what I did, and I believe the wait was 3-4 weeks.

https://slipakniven.com/product/grinding-wheel-set-for-serrations/

[Sir Amwell]

This is interesting 3D.
A couple of questions:
What are the wheels made of?
What is the burr removal process?- assuming after grinding, the burr is on the flat side. How do you remove it without flipping it over to the scalloped side?
Your original description match my experience exactly. Always dread a customer giving me a bread knife as the results are non predictable and still haven't hit on a good method. So this could be a game changer.

[3D Anvil]

Hard to say what my deburring method will turn out to be at this point.  It was so heavy that I did a series of things.  I started using the corner of a leather belt with 6 micron diamond, first on the scallops and then on the flat and so on.  Didn't get it done.  Then I used a Scotchbrite belt, which worked better.  Finally I used a hanging 'roo tail strop, which improved the result greatly. 

And after all that ... I forgot that I have a 250mm leather wheel made just for serrations.      Next time I'll start there.

[3D Anvil]

Sorry, forgot to answer your question about the wheel material.  It looks like some kind of ceramic, but that's just a guess.  I'd say they're true to their grit ratings.  The 160 is quite aggressive.

[John Hancock Sr]

What are the wheels made of?

They look suspiciously like aluminium oxide

[Columbo]

What are the wheels made of?

They look suspiciously like aluminium oxide

You may be right, sir. I emailed the gentleman in Sweden and asked once I get a response. I'll post it here.

I've tried belt splitters, but it's too much of a headache to prepare them. I guess one can try Rod's, a Dremel with the right tool, but I'm not one that wants to put that time in with these kinds of processes.

Below is a gentleman online and his name is Ryan. Specifically this wheel can be run on Tormek T8 with water cooled and used for steak knives. Not for bread knives as it doesn't do the opposite and sharpening the scallops of a bread knife. Apparently it's the first of its kind whereas it's a self directing diamond plated wheel as we know most are run dry or at least the ones available that I've researched. Apparently they've been taking pre-orders.   I bought one of the Apex machines from cuttermasters.com. This company is in Canada, but they do have a US facility as well.
So due to the fact that self directing, one can put new serrations on any knife to make it look like a steak knife. Again because bread knives have scallops on the opposite side, and this is a self directing wheel this can only be utilized for steak knives.
Anyway, long story short this is all about options. I thought I'd just put this out there.

https://youtu.be/MZmHY0N8QFs?si=2MCulR7yzM4kRoye

I thought I'd edit this as I'm so prone to doing lol. This machine below is amazing with the ability to put a 2 x 42" belt over top these two diamond resin wheels.. I mentioned this unit because there's also a jig that we can utilize to drill holes to run our Tormek wheels with this machine as well. But it's mentioned within the site of the seller to run the Tormek wheels at low speeds. These diamond resin wheels are rated at 25,000 sharpens. This machine is a workhorse. I have yet to prep my Tormek wheels onto this unit. I haven't had to these resin wheels in my opinion are killer.
Talk about quick passes. Unless I have the 100 grit and right the 1000 grit.
So again, options options. I hope this is appropriate. I guess it would be because one can utilize Tormek wheels.  Unfortunately, they're not cheap. But the owner Jeff is one of the most knowledgable that I have certainly meant in the arena of night sharpening. He is the owner of these machines and his R&D is impeccable. Also one quick note he also sells many many different machines for different applications.
I think in the US it's known as Toycen.
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy.
Ciao for now, Flippo

https://youtu.be/0xLM_3W7vuA?si=SL09nzcB4nq6eHYs