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Are they accepting pre-orders? Waiting is frustrating; however, based on my limited knowledge of the new jigs, I believe the new jigs will be worth the wait.

Ken

In the video Wolfgang says shipments have left Sweden...

Your stands must be perpendicular to the surface your grinder is mounted on. If not your constant horizontal measurement will vary as you raise or lower the support bar and whatever software you use to determine angle will be inaccurate. If anyone knows how to overcome this it would be truly helpful for everyone who has problems with set up for this system of burr removal.

I quickly discovered this when my first attempt at stands used shelf brackets as braces. Shelf brackets are defintely NOT at 90 degrees. I resolved this by using assembly braces (clamping squares) by Jevons Tool Company: http://www.jevonstoolco.com/

The 90 degree angle is accurate to .002" (.05 mm) at 6" (150mm) away from the 90 degree angle.

Being in Canada, I bought them from Lee Valley Tools. Woodcraft in the US also sells them.

No.

Tormek has posted on YouTube two new videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXa04SpMgGs


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmhb_IN6oEM

Hello everyone,

I'm a newbie Tormek owner who happens to be living in the USA where the standard power configuration is 110-120 volts. My problem is that I'm trying to size a power inverter so that I can run my brand new Tormek machine "off grid" from the back of a big old van. I already have a 400 watt and a 500 watt power inverter. The Tormek machine is rated for 200 watts. The question is, do you think my existing equipment is sufficient or will I need to upgrade to a larger power inverter ?

The only way to find out is to try it. That's because it depends on the inverter quality. I would derate a cheap inverter by 200-300% (i.e., use a 400 - 600 Watt rated inverter to run 200 Watts). If it's a better quality inverter (Statpower, etc.) then no derating might be needed.

Second, Tormeks (no electronics) are probably fine with a square wave inverter; electronics are sensitive to non-sine wave inverters. However, having a sine wave inverter is better, and would also lower current draw. Check with Tormek.

Third, the starting (inrush) current can be several times higher than the continous 200 Watt rating. That depends on the motor. In short, the only way to see if it works is to try it. See if it starts, and see if it gets uncomfortably hot after running it for a while.

I built a self-contained power supply (https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=4784.msg34260#msg34260) a while back, and used it this past Sunday sharpening garden tools at a local nursery. The battery/inverter unit is the one below the Felco logo, with the two cooling fans.

Actually, with rising food prices, people will eat out less and eat in more, so I think knife sharpening demand would increase.

I only mention this because I almost bought the SVH-320 nuts, as .1mm divisions are a lot easier to work with then .25mm divisions. They won't work on the regular and extended support bars!

This chart may help clear up the 1.5/1.75 mm thread pitch confusion:

https://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-information/measuring/metric-thread-pitch.aspx

As shown, the pitch for the standard twelve mm metric thread is 1.75 mm. This is the thread size used on the "dry end" of the Tormek shaft. (The shafts of the T8 and T4 have the same diameters and thread sizes.) It is the same thread that was used on the "wet end" of the pre EZYlock shafts.

Tormek wisely chose to use the metric fine pitch thread for the EZYlock. Using the six divisions of the microadjust nut, even mere math mortals like me can do the calculations in our heads. From a known point, raising the microadjust four numbers (divisions) using 1.5 mm for a full revolution is 1.0 mm. Calculating one sixth of 1.75 mm would needlessly complicate the equation.

Ken

Except for Tormek's SVH-320 Planer Blade Jig's thumb wheels, which use 10 divisions (0.1mm per division) for a full revolution being 1.0mm ...

Exciting news! Looking forward to them!

Knife Grinders was essentially a one man operation. Unfortunately, Vadim, the one man, passed away. I do not see anyone in his family or business capable of continuing to update his software. As much as I liked and respected Vadim, I would look elsewhere for software and products.

Ken

I, and I'm guessing many others, hope that's not going to be true.He had a very established sharpening business that sharpened hundreds of knives per day for abbatoirs and slaughterhouses. Given that volume, he undoubtedly had employees. His business used the same products. So it is likely that KG products will be available again in the future.

The KG FVB was made by a contractor using CNC milling, so it could easily be made again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuIiiJeaDns.

As for the software, he had contractors who wrote it; here's a pic of one of the software developers: https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxA-NB3X_YgK4bidiQif6csDxYG-tAdUac

What I'm really hoping for is Tormek to produce and support a FVB. It's a simple device, and practically everyone has a smartphone or computer. I think the selling feature for Tormek is NOT sharper edges, but SAFETY - using a FVB lessens the chance of a knife being honed being "pulled off" the honing wheel. Come on Tormek, let's enter the 21st century!

My thinking is I'm going to be doing a fair amount of talking while there greeting people, mixed in with demonstrating how the T8 works?  You guys have been doing this a LOT longer than me as well as having actual experience at farmers markets.  Do you keep stopping while sharpening a knife when someone steps up and asks you questions?  I'd have a hard time stopping, breaking momentum, answering a question or saying "hello", and then picking up where I left off.

Yes, you should be doing a lot of talking. That's why I averaged only 6 knives an hour - that stat includes talking, writing up orders, taking payments, etc.

Being at the very front means you can sense when someone is interested. I can say "hello" without stopping, but answer questions between passes.

I agree, showcase why you're better because of the Tormek. In my second year I learned to work at the very front edge of my booth. Being at the very front makes eye contact and chatting easy. In the first year my equipment was in the middle of the booth - bad mistake. And face them! Never have your back to your customers.

Of course, the Tormek, being so quiet, makes it easy to have a conversation without having to shout. The two questions I was repeatedly asked were:

1) What is the water for?
2) Why are you grinding into the stone? Isn't grinding away from it better?

IMHO, the Tormek, by itself, is too slow to make any decent money at Farmers
Markets. But I've done it last two summers, and just signed up for this season.

I averaged 6 knives per hour. Multiply $/knife by number of hours there, add booth rental, then divide by market hours PLUS packing up at home (1 hour?), PLUS setting up (1 hour), PLUS teardown (40 minutes), PLUS re-setting up at home (1 hour). Then you can decide whether the $/hour is worth it.

Last year, tired of lugging 300 pounds of equipment every week, I changed tactics. I encouraged clients leave knives for me to sharpen the next day at home, then have them come by to pick them up. My overall sales doubled.

Hence my interest in Vadim's latest videos. In video: "Our New Commercial Setup - 22 Knives Per Hour" https://youtu.be/KZ-1bFgsyRs , Vadim claims 22 knives per hour. I have been unable to replicate that in farmers market conditions, because most knives there are REALLY, REALLY DULL. In Vadim's video, he is sharpening meat plant knives after a day of use that average 214 BESS: (http://knifegrinders.com.au/17ProprietaryEdge.htm).

Therefore, the more applicable technique would be "Combining Grinder and Tormek" video,  https://youtu.be/JTs6wU8KmJk where he combines a Tormek with a half speed buffer. That was also my setup the last two summers.

This summer, I will by grinding with a 400 rpm dry grinder with a Festool vacumn. Very dull blades knives now take only 7-8 minutes (thanks to 80 and 160 grit CBN wheels!)

I strongly suggest getting a 1" x 42" belt sander (ideally a Viel S5 and the scissors attachment) to sharpen garden pruners, loppers, and shears. Garden pruners takes one minute and I charge the same as sharpening a kitchen knife.

Nobody will appreciate a SJ stone at a Farmers Market.

I use a Tanos/Festool Systainer SYS3 M337 case, and a XXL337 case for my paper wheel buffer. All the boxes interlock and serve double duty as signage holders.

Dr. Larrin Thomas, author of "Knife Engineering: Steel, Heat Treatment, and Geometry" has uploaded a new video. His website is www.knifesteelnerds.com

This video discusses balancing hardness, toughness, and edge retention with Magnacut, a knife steel he invented. However, the video also has charts with many other knife steel alloys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5lzf8LA03o