Knives!!!!

[Blaine F]

   Hi there, My name is Blaine i am just starting up a sharpening bussiness. I not sure what sharpener i should buy  i like that looks of the Tormek it seems pretty easy?    i more need it for doing commercial,and house hold knives .  but i was woundering  if  the tormek could do and serated knives???  ,  as well i would like to know with the tormek if i had to do 150 knives a day what would the best way of sharpening so many be ?  with only one stone  i am not sure if i could go through the whole  220 grit then shave it down to the 1000 grit  ,wouldn't you be starting the next  knive  at the 1000 grit first then??    maybe you have a better idea  or a differnt sharpener in mind?    thanks   Blaine

[Jeff Farris]

Most knives will not need the fast cut (220), only the fine cut and the leather strop.  

Sure hope you have that 150 knives per day lined up.  There are a lot of folks out there that would love to be doing that kind of business.

Serrated knives are easily done, but it is not done by jig.  The backside is ground flat, then the bevel (serrated side) is honed on the corner of the leather to remove the feather edge.

[sharpenuff]

150 knives a day <whew> Ok Jeff since I was grousing about the time the Tormek takes me to do some items [knives wasn't one] what do you think?  If I can do an avearage knife in 5 minutes. 5*150/60=12.5 hours Yoikes!

If I start getting 150 knives a day I'm getting one of those F Dick's at that rate I'll be able to pay for it in like 5 & 1/4 days?
=(3150/4)/150 is that right ? 150 knives average $4.00 per knife per day, that's $600 per day SM-11 goes for $3150.00 SRP  $3150.00 divided by $600.00 equals 5.25 days

Oh but no one pays retail:)

F Dick says it will do 400 to 500 knives a day.

I'm getting a headache

[CWSNSONS]

Back to Blaine F's question.  Would this be an acceptable machine to add to a sharpening shop to service the scissors/knives my sawblade customers bring in?  I've been doing them on a dry grinder, without fixtures, and I don't like it too well.  What I've read about the Tormek sounds good, but I heard some sharpeners consider it "too slow".  The video seemed fairly quick and easy!  What's your expert opinion(s)?

Also, what fixtures should one get with the machine?  The whole thing?

[Jeff Farris]

This is an outstanding machine for sharpening kitchen, utility, hunting, and pocket knives.  I do anything under about 3 inches in blade length freehand. Between 3 inches and 14 inches, the SVM-45 is suitable in most cases (as long as the blade is fairly rigid).  The SVM-100 is only required on blades over about 5 inches up to 14 inches when the blade is very flexible.  

CWSNSONS, while I would love to sell you the whole thing, I think that you have already figured out where the market is -- knives and scissors.  Our "Handyman" Package pretty much covers what you would need for those items, as well as bench chisels and plane irons.  See Handyman Page