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I understand that the Tormek Japanese Waterstone's 4,000 grit designation is based on the JIS (Japanese system) - am I right?

I don't know. Do you have a reason for your belief? It would be hard to imagine Tormek departing from its own established use of grit numbers (220 coarse and ~1000 fine).

But I have no idea.

I can't imagine a 10 000 grit doing anything other than a polish.

I believe Tormek users will be in two groups in the future. The first group will continue to use the original Tormek SG wheel. The stone grader, or at least stone grading, will continue to be important. The second group will invest in diamond stones and have little or no use for stone grading.

Perhaps it will become cost effective for many of us to have one of each type. With each being used for one of its particular tasks, the two will last much longer and in the end save money.

I've found out the stone get clogged by the steel of the blade and gets smooth after a few seconds.

If enough of that swarf gets embedded in the grindstone then grinding becomes very inefficient. I apply the coarse side of the stone grader, often using the edges, to remove the swarf. Then I spend a few minutes applying the fine side of the stone grader, if a finer grind is desired.

Over time the fine side of my stone grader has become dished - is it still useable or should I replace it? (I'm concerned it might change the shape of the wheel, although I haven't been able to ascertain the veracity of this.)

You control the shape of the grindstone with the truing tool. The fine side of the stone grader will conform to this shape. Jeff Farris used to tell us that having the fine side concave makes it work better. I agree.

Ken, I think I sort of stumbled onto the 600 grit thing. I do as I describe above, but I did't bother spending a lot of time or applying a lot of pressure grading with the coarse side, either.

Of course, it's occasionally necessary to apply the rough side with lots of pressure when the grindstone gets filled with swarf.

I used the TT-50 grader the other day before sharpening a badly damaged knife.

The original truing tool produced a surface so rough you'd use it on a badly damaged chisel or axe.   

In the last few days I've sharpened every one of the four pair of pruning shears we own. Every one was very dull. I first prepared the grindstone with the coarse side of the stone grader, and then used the fine side very briefly with light pressure. I needed something in between coarse and fine.

So, Ken now has my old ADV-50 in his Tormek museum.  That is where this thing belongs :  replace it as soon as you can with the TT-50.

That was the last straw for me. Bought the new TT-50 and used it today for the first time. It is a huge improvement over the ADV-50.

New owners of the T-4 might be able to make use of the museum piece. 

It really is necessary and economical to keep the grindstone true.

By the way, the diamond cluster seems interchangeable between the two jigs.

Okay, so, given that, how do I fix it?  Assuming the problem is that there is not as much "hook" as the original, it seems I need to grind away some of the center area of the trough.

It's almost impossible to believe you could have changed the radius of that "hook" significantly. So what is it that causes the knife to perform differently? I would ask her to demonstrate. Seems more likely that you've sharpened the edge to a slightly different angle, or polished the bevel to different extent. Either of these would affect the way the knife performs the task.

Guys, just bought my first Tormek. a T8. I've watched all the videos and have an idea of sharpening using only a 25° primary bevel.. and that's all... ok. What happens when that edge goes blunt... do I have to do it all over again?     Surely a 30° secondary touch up bevel is more efficient? Please help me to understand the theory / strategy of single bevel only... cheers Gary!

If you have a secondary bevel of 30° that would be equivalent to a single 30° bevel, which would be more efficient provided you have the motor propulsion of the Tormek. The only advantage to a secondary bevel is that it makes it easier to hand sharpen, perhaps when you're away from your Tormek.

I don't get it, but it is very difficult to find any of the cracks that were so evident before in the SJ stone.

Hmmm...  Could be the cracks were filled with the slurry created during the truing process. Then, as the stone dried, the slurry in the cracks melded with the rest of the stone. Sort of like the familiar caking process seen in so many granular materials.

The soil here is a mixture of clay and sand. When dry it can be ground up and sifted to create a powder, let it get wet and it will cake together when it dries out and form a clump.

Is this the 2019 version?

https://www.amazon.com/Tormek-TT-50-Truing-Dressing-Tool/dp/B0013N6MFU/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=tormek+tt-50&qid=1554654043&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

Installed the new drive wheel today. It comes with a new nut, significantly wider than the original. The drive wheel gets a much better grip. It's a lot harder to stall the grindstone.

The old drive wheel has two stress cracks. They start at the center hole and go radially outward, forming almost a straight line. That appears to account for the side-to-side wobble. And the noise. The machine is considerably quieter now.

Ken, back in the day, I would put away two full length subs, no problem. Now it's a half sub for me every time. Love Jrecks in northern NY, but the subway chain around here is alright.

I've had my Tormek for 17 years, I think. Anyway, the new drive wheel is on its way, should be here tomorrow! Sharpening the paring knives will be the first task.

Have you tried the handbook drive wheel  first-aid of roughing up the rubber drive wheel a bit with sandpaper?

I do that pretty often, Ken.

Also, at some point, Tormek switched to a patented rubberlike substance which has more gripping power.

Good to know. The grip never really was that great from the beginning. Once Jeff taught me the sandpaper trick that helped a lot. But that was some time ago.

I ordered the new wheel yesterday right after I posted. Should make it run better than new. Expensive upgrade, though. Maybe not compared to a new Tormek, but a new Tormek is a major investment for me. I don't really use it as much as other posters, but it's indispensable. I'm on my third grindstone and still using the original stone grader.