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And, FWIW, the leather honing wheel is just under 1 1/4" wide.

The leather wheel is attached to the metal rim of the wheel, not the rubber itself, so it should not wobble.

Are you not referring to the "bump" feeling you get when honing at the place where the ends of the leather strip meet ? If so, this is something that gets less noticeable - but still remains - overtime. It has no impact on the quality of the honing that I can perceive...

Cheers!

Yes, I think you're right.  I set the USB close to the wheel and there's very little wobble at the leather surface.

Thanks for the replies.  I think you're right about it being an issue with the rubber.  I feel the wobble with the leather wheel, but not on the grinding stone.  I'll contact support.

My new T-8 has a fair amount of wobble in the drive wheel and I'm wondering if that's normal, or if perhaps my shaft isn't quite straight?  I'm pretty sure it's not the grinding wheel, as it was this way when brand new, and after truing the grinding wheel.

Can y'all take a quick look and let me know?  Tx!

https://youtube.com/shorts/ckxcgAoBLxQ

I used it to sharpen a couple of paring knives yesterday.  Worked fine, but it's a bit fiddly getting the knives mounted straight.  The method Tormek recommends--laying the blade and jig bar flat on a table--doesn't account for the angle of the primary grind (usually around 2°), so that's guaranteed to be off.  I did it by eye, but when you tighten the handle screw the jig may have other ideas.

I place high value in what the Tormek instructors teach. What comes to mind in this situation is Wolfgang's comment near the end of the advanced knife sharpening class. Talking about which grinding wheels to use, he says that any steel knife can be sharpened with the SG wheel. He clarifies this statement by adding that it may take longer. Both sharpening and honing may require both more time and a more meticulous technique as well as more experience.

My understanding, from Wootz and others, is that, while you can sharpen wear resistant steels with the SG wheel, you sacrifice more than just grinding time.  That's because the aluminum oxide abbrasive in the SG wheel isn't as hard as the vanadium carbide in steels like Maxamet, 10v, s100v, k390, etc.  As a result, you end up just wearing away the softer steel matrix around the carbides, which eventually tear out of the edge. 

In contrast, CBN and diamond will actually cut the vanadium carbides and thus produce a longer lasting edge.

If you're not familiar with it (I'm sure most of you are!), Larrin Thomas' Knife Steel Nerds site is an invaluable resource on steels.  Larrin's a PhD metalurgist and the inventor of the new wonder steel: Magnacut.

https://knifesteelnerds.com/2021/10/19/knife-steels-rated-by-a-metallurgist-toughness-edge-retention-and-corrosion-resistance/

I'm not a BESS user, but based on this post it looks like your goal will be angle dependent.

It's definitely easier to achieve lower BESS scores with lower angles, but Wootz himself was able to achieve a BESS result of 22 with a 15 dps angle on a folding knife, demonstrated in his 3-part video series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFHOXdQQwYw

I don't know if his deburring book is still available, after his unfortunate passing, but if it is, that would be the go-to source for achieving these kinds of extremely low BESS scores.  Or start here:
http://knifegrinders.com.au/06Procedures_folder.htm

Deburring protocols are the key to achieving those kinds of scores.

Thanks for the input, y'all.  I got the square and it works fine, along with cbwx34's calculator. 

Newbie question: is the main advantage of the FVB that it allows the same operation when sharpening away from the edge as you get sharpening into the edge? 

Or are people using it for honing?  Because it seems to me that honing would still have the problem of the grinding wheel getting in the way, no?

Combination square is a great idea.  Why didn't I think of that?  Just ordered a 12"/300mm that can be used to measure both the wheel and the USB height.

I don't consider the AngleMaster "learning the basics", I consider it all but obsolete.   And while "calculator" may imply advanced, or more precise, I see it simply as a better way.

If "calculator" is a turn off for anyone (not necessarily you), I'd look at something like Ken's Kenjig method.

You learned in a day the shortcoming of the AM measuring knife angles, for all but barely tapered sides (and I'll add even then, not all that accurate).

At the moment I'm limited in the sense that I don't have a suitably large set of calipers, so no calculator for me right now.  I think I'm going to get one of those Ultimate Angle Tools when the guy who makes them has them back in stock (supposed to be next week). 

The angle master is a bit imprecise, but once you know the trick it's not too bad.  I have a laser goniometer, so it's easy enough to get the primary grind angle.

That is correct...

What Angle is this Knife sharpened at?

... that's why a calculator is more better. 

Thank you.  I will very likely move to a more precise method soon.  I figured it would be good to learn the basics first. 

Another big proponent of convex grinds is Rockstead -- the Japanese maker of absolutely stunning, and stunningly expensive fixed blade and folding knives.  Many of their knives feature a zero-edge, full convex grinds.  They mostly do mirror polished ZDP-189 hardened to 67 hrc.  I've never handled one, but owners say that the knives come extremely sharp, and they hold their edges like nothing else.  Which is a good thing, because you pretty much have to ship them back to Japan to get them resharpened properly.

https://www.rockstead.jp/

T-4 has some real advantages, though -- namely, cost savings.  That's especially true if you buy additional wheels. 

A few newbie questions:

1.  Do y'all leave your wheel soaking overnight, or do you empty the trough at the end of the day?

2.  Am I correct in thinking that, if you use the angle master on the primary grind instead of the edge bevel, the angle set on the angle master must be the desired edge angle + primary grind angle?  For example, if I want a 15 dps edge, and the primary grind is at 2 deg., I would set the angle master to 17 deg.?

3.  Has anyone experimented with dressing stones to set the grit of the SG-250/200 to a grit equivalent between 200 & 1000?  For example, I'm thinking that 400 might be a good grit for dull knives that don't need reprofiling.

After much research and hemming and hawing, I finally bit the bullet and bought a T-8 with the tool jig kit.  UPS didn't deliver it until around 9pm (!), but I got everything set up and dipped my toe (and heel) in the water ... so to speak.

Very pleased with my first results!  I sharpened a couple cheapo kitchen knives at 15dps.  After deburring freehand on the leather wheel, both knives scored around 145 BESS.  I then power stropped on the Ken Onion Belt Grinder with leather belts (1 micron compound and plain leather) and the scores dropped to 110-115 BESS.  Pretty respectable for a first outing, I think. 

Definitely need to work on the appearance of the bevel, as I managed to put some ugly little gouges in the middle of the blade.

I also managed to screw up my stone grader by stupidly trying to knock down the corners of the stone with the fine side instead of the rough side.  I don't think it's affecting the performance too much, but I guess I'll have to lap it flat when I get a chance.

I also managed to get my T-shirt sucked into the water trough.   

Much practice needed.