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Vadim's advice re: felt wheels might also apply for cleaning paper wheels.  He suggested using a course sandpaper (I think 80 grit), because there's a chance that the grit from finer papers could become imbedded in the wheel.  Probably less risk of that with paper wheels, though.

Have to say that I've become a huge fan of the KJ-45.  I've used it on very thin knives up to knives with 4mm stock and it does an excellent job producing even bevels.  Also used it to put a nice convex edge on a meat cleaver.

Yeah, Vadim recommended alcohol-based sprays for felt wheels.  I'm still interested in a source for that purpose, if anyone knows of one.

Unfortunately, sometimes speed *does* matter, and it particularly matters if you're working at a farmer's or flea market and you're trying to turn around customers' knives while they peruse the wares.  No one is going to browse for 2-3 hours while I mess around trying to get a paring knife to split atoms. 

I've got to believe that the problems I have with paper wheels would only be worse with a full speed grinder, i.e, at twice the rpm you'd have even more heat and vibration.

I can feel the fan effect of the slotted wheels on my half-speed grinder ... but does it actually cool the blade?  Isn't air cooling mostly dependent on the cooling effect of evaporation?  And since steel doesn't sweat...?  On the other hand, there are air-cooled engines, which don't sweat.

All I can really say is that blades definitely get hotter on the paper wheels than they do on leather belts.  It's also a heck of a lot easier to swap out belts on the KO blade grinder than it is to swap wheels on a grinder. 

Part of why I don't use paper wheels, even though I bought some and a half speed grinder - just didn't care for the speed and process.

I'm coming to the same conclusion myself.  Even on the 1/2 speed grinder, the paper wheels generate a lot of heat.  Wootz thought not enough to affect the temper of the blade, but I'm not entirely convinced.  Steel isn't a great heat conductor, and measuring temperature at the bevel shoulder isn't the same thing as measuring temperature at the absolute apex.

Lately I've gone back to using my Ken Onion with leather belts and various compounds, which generates considerably less heat and, at least for me, produces equal or better results.  I'm quite liking Tormek's compound on the leather belt, followed by chromium oxide + .25 micron CBN.

I've used Slick-Stick from Woodworkers' Wonders, which I suspect is similar to the honing coolant Wootz was selling.  That's just a guess, though.  I can't say I've noticed a big difference with and without it, but I don't have any objective way to measure the difference.  I wonder if anyone knows where Wootz got those temperature lacquers he used in his heat testing?

Ken,

Corrosion was one of main reasons I went with the Schleiff Junkies' CBN wheels.  They can be run in plain water with no corrosion issues whatsoever. 

You should not use diamond pastes on felt wheels, only diamond solutions in alcohol. See Vadim's video https://youtu.be/-HBpsQn7frY

Good point!  Anyone know of a source for diamond sprays in alcohol emulsion?  All of the sprays I see are water based.

I'm using pastes from Tech Diamond Tools, which work well for me.  Price is quite reasonable relative to the competition, and available on Amazon.

I saw the same video with the PB Blaster.  I think he may have made it in response to a comment I made in another of his videos about grinding dust. 

I use CBN wheels in water and never noticed a problem with them cutting slower due to metal build up.  But I was curious about the PB Blaster and so bought a can to check out.  It did in fact remove a surprising amount of metal from the wheels, which came out looking glorious.  I guess some build up is inevitable even if you use water, as with any other stone. 

That said, I didn't notice much, if any, difference in grinding speed after cleaning the wheels.  I suspect it would be noticeable eventually without cleaning -- especially if someone is grinding 8 hrs./day, 5-7 days a week.

Anyway, I much prefer not to have a lot of metal dust in my environment.

I get the concept -- not wanting to polish out the toothiness of the edge -- but I just don't see the benefit in practice.  If you want a toothy edge, just finish on a coarser stone and strop lightly.  As far as refined edges and tomato slicing, that hasn't been my experience.  If an edge is sharp enough to split a hair on contact, it will sail through tomato skin like it isn't there.

Vadim's research shows rock hard felt wheels and leather wheels deburr better than sharpening stones. My BESS sharpness tester often shows a HUGE increase in sharpness after stropping on a kangaroo strop.

Barbers for many years deburred on a leather strop. I suggest you give deburring a try on the Tormek leather wheel. There's a good reason why it's part of the Tormek package.

The concern is not shaving sharpness exactly but rather retaining slicing or draw cutting aggression and edge retention while still being razor sharp.  Usually when there is more burnishing you end up damaging the apex and subsequent edge retention, which is inevitable on any worn abrasive which is also full of metal particles.

I beg to disagree.  Every supremely talented sharpener I'm aware of finishes on something other than a stone, whether it be on a felt wheel, paper wheel, bench strop, belt strop, or hanging strop.  The purpose in doing so is to leave as clean of an apex as possible.  There are many examples of these methods producing edges capable of whitling hairs, and measuring sharper than a double-edged razor blade.  Now, it may be possible to achieve the same results finishing on a stone, but if it is, I've never seen it.

If you don't want to go the do-it-yourself route, it looks like you could get a battery unit for around $350 that would do the job.

https://smile.amazon.com/BALDR-Portable-Generator-Inverter-Adventure/dp/B09R7F6DCF/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3CCO1R9XS3EEO&keywords=battery+generator&qid=1658589954&refinements=p_n_feature_four_browse-bin:13883097011,p_n_feature_browse-bin:13883099011|13883100011,p_n_power_source_browse-bin:4641044011&rnid=13883098011&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=battery+generator,aps,109&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1

My Tomeks draws 103 watts, so in 4 hrs. it would only use 0.412 kwh of power even if you ran it continuously.