Messages

...
For my simple requirements, I am not concerned if my supposedly 15° bevels are acrually 14° or 16°. ...

Yes Ken, I completely agree with you. In this thread, however, it is about the fun of mathematics 

... While more precise angles may be required for some very high end work, ...

I doubt that. I do not know an application in which the accuracy of the sharpening angle would be so crucial.

Herman's thread: http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1592.0

17 minutes for one knife
But it is sharp!

I don't consider it "hijacked"... I consider it an alternative.   Even for the "ordinary user" it's an alternative way for setting the USB... not really a better or worse one (nor any harder).

In my opinion it is hijacked. The formulas are used without any reference to how they are derived. How can you expect that it gives some confidence?

I get the impression that the "simple adjustment ..." is now hijacked with all possible means that the internet and smart phones offer.
For the ordinary user, however, setting with the kenjig will be most obvious with a table as a good second.
The tests that "cbwx34" performed show that the accuracy of this simple approach is not a matter of debate.

[The Myth of Thick Edges]

About edge angle in the article:
quote:
You can see that the initial cut length with a smaller angle is considerably higher and that the difference holds basically to the end of the test. This finding is significant because some have speculated that lower angle edges start out sharper but a more obtuse edge lasts longer [2]. And with the high wear that occurs in the CATRA test it isn't likely that the situation would reverse with even further cutting. The initial blunting rate is relatively rapid regardless of angle and it then begins to level out. The highest TCC measured was over 1000 mm with an angle of 20°, and this decreased all the way to under 100 mm with 56°.

That underpins what I quoted in my first document  (https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1849.0) from "the Society for  Culinary Arts & Letters":
The Myth of Thick Edges
The theory is that thick edges (larger angles) last longer than thin edges, and the majority of the knife buying public wants the edge to last as long as possible. But it doesn't work out that way in practice. Thinner edges actually outlast thicker edges almost all the time.
The thinner edge starts out performing better than the thicker edge. So even if it does degrade it has a lot of ground to lose before it falls to the performance level of the thick edge.
Thinner edges cut more easily, putting less stress on the edge. If a thin edge takes three slices to get through a big slab of raw meat, a thicker edge might take six or seven. Or three with a lot more force. The thicker edge is doing twice as much work, degrading twice as quickly.
Thinner edges are easier to control. Lateral stresses are a significant source of edge degradation. The more smoothly, accurately and easily you are able to cut, the less lateral stress you put on the edge.
Thin is good.

[The Myth of Thick Edges]

About edge angle in the aforementioned article posted by sharpco: https://knifesteelnerds.com/2018/06/18/maximizing-edge-retention/
quote:
You can see that the initial cut length with a smaller angle is considerably higher and that the difference holds basically to the end of the test. This finding is significant because some have speculated that lower angle edges start out sharper but a more obtuse edge lasts longer [2]. And with the high wear that occurs in the CATRA test it isn't likely that the situation would reverse with even further cutting. The initial blunting rate is relatively rapid regardless of angle and it then begins to level out. The highest TCC measured was over 1000 mm with an angle of 20°, and this decreased all the way to under 100 mm with 56°.

That underpins what I quoted in my first document  (https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1849.0) from "the Society for  Culinary Arts & Letters":
The Myth of Thick Edges
The theory is that thick edges (larger angles) last longer than thin edges, and the majority of the knife buying public wants the edge to last as long as possible. But it doesn't work out that way in practice. Thinner edges actually outlast thicker edges almost all the time.
The thinner edge starts out performing better than the thicker edge. So even if it does degrade it has a lot of ground to lose before it falls to the performance level of the thick edge.
Thinner edges cut more easily, putting less stress on the edge. If a thin edge takes three slices to get through a big slab of raw meat, a thicker edge might take six or seven. Or three with a lot more force. The thicker edge is doing twice as much work, degrading twice as quickly.
Thinner edges are easier to control. Lateral stresses are a significant source of edge degradation. The more smoothly, accurately and easily you are able to cut, the less lateral stress you put on the edge.
Thin is good.

At the request of "cbwx34" I developed mathematics for use with its robust "jig-fix" as published on https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=3570.msg22912#msg22912
The new formulas can also be used to choose a different reference point for the distances than the center of the jig's stem, which is unclear and inconvenient.
As a result, the setting of the sharpening angle can be determined more accurately.
Some measurements were also made from which possible sources of error appeared.
More info can be found in the additive (dated 20180702) in my initial post on this topic:
Simple adjustment of the grinding angle

I could not resist reacting, but reading from a table is really much faster 

I could help with Dutch or German.
My experience, however, is that technical people here in Europe are usually able to manage in English.

RichColvin mentioned LibreOffice.
That is a great office-package. It is in fact a successor of OpenOffice which has now a bad support.
I changed from OpenOffice to LibreOffice and could use my old documents.
It is free and has good documentation.

...
I've since coated it with 3 coats of plastic coating.
A drop of mineral oil on the platform rubbed into the now coated surface and one drop on each side of the knife to be sharpened and it's SUPER slick.
...

How to coat it, with what? Tape? Spray? Paint?

°-symbol on iMac: alt-shift-8 

you have to glue a leather belt on it 

This method was initiated with the following post in 2014
https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1849.msg9521#msg9521
It gives also tables to circumvent calculations