Messages

As the distance to from the tool support to the knife edge changes, isn't the distance equalized by arcing the knife handle and not lifting it?.

If you arc the knife handle instead of lifting, it might be possible to keep that distance from tool support to knife edge constant, but I've never had success doing it that way.  Of course, the distance from the tip of the knife to the location chosen to clamp the jig is critical.

If, on the other hand, you lift the handle rather than arcing it, it's very easy to keep the bevel angle constant.  As Jeff said, you get a bevel width that's consistent.  I remember when I first saw the video of Jeff doing it that way, it was one of those "Ah ha" moments.

Think of it this way.  If you arc the handle, you've got two degrees of freedom.  In addition to controlling the arc angle, you must also control the lift angle.  The reason for this is that the flange on the jig is now in contact with the tool support at only one point.  If instead you lift the handle, the flange on the jig stays in full contact with the tool support, and you have only one degree of freedom to control, the lift angel.

You should also be aware of the fact that for your many folding knives, the blades will be too short to use the jig.  You'll have to free-hand them.  I don't recall if there's a video of Jeff demonstrating that technique.

The Martha Stewarts I took out a lot of metal to establish the edge, but still the knives never seem quite as sharp.  and they dull fast Is this normal. 

It sounds like you never got them sharp to begin with.  Try getting just one of them sharp.  As you sharpen you should be able to feel a burr develop on the upper side of the knife, along the edge.  If you don't feel the burr, you haven't yet removed enough steel.  As you sharpen, keep examining the underside of the knife near the edge.  You should be able to see the bevel you're creating, and watch it get wider as you remove more steel.  As soon as you feel the burr all along the edge, you're done with that side.  Flip it over and repeat on the other side.  Now comes the hard part.  Removing that burr.  I find that the leather wheel often won't remove it.  With the stone graded fine, sharpen one side lightly, then flip over and repeat on the other side.  Just a few seconds on each side until that burr is weak enough and small enough to remove with the leather wheel.

If the knife is sharp you can cut through a sheet of paper that's held up in the air by your free hand.  The paper won't tear.  If it tears, you've not removed the burr, or you never created a burr when you sharpened it.

Practice on cheap knives.

Here's tghe link to the You Tube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFeBd8ZspM

By the way, my daughter-in-law is a professional hair dresser, and she won't let me touch her scissors to my Tormek.  When I look at them, they look like they'd be hard to sharpen.  The bevel is very narrow, and the scissors cost around 200 US dollars.

You can sharpen them assembled, or not.  Start with the course grade, finish with the fine.  No honing on leather wheel, though.  Check out You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFeBd8ZspM

The threaded bar may not be stainless steel, I am unsure.

Hold a magnet to it and see if there's an attraction.

Yes, that's the part.  Don't be surprised, though, if your mainshaft is rusty.  When you remove the mainshaft to replace the bearings, I would advise you to not remove the grindstone from the mainshaft.  See if you can pull out the mainshaft still attached to the grindstone.

Read about my adventures with my rusty main shaft here ...
http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=929.0

The claim about the jig being made for the professional likely refers to the high price, not the notion that only a professional will have the skill to use it.  It looks to me like it will be easy to use.

I did have a large number of drill bits that were dull until I got a Drill Doctor for Christmas last year.  From what I've seen this jig will be far superior to the Drill Doctor, but that doesn't mean that those of us who don't have it will have to put up with dull drill bits.

Looks expensive!  How much will it cost in the US?

Why stainless?  Is the original stainless?  Mine is not stainless, but mine is also very old.  It didn't even have the threaded shaft that's now standard. 

Ok, so when you see the burr form, you know to stop grinding.  As a beginner, I wore away several cheap knives by grinding to long -- obviously, that's not happening to you -- so maybe it's like you say, the stone's just getting a lot of use.

I'm just a do-it-yourselfer so my stone doesn't see as much steel as yours. 

Did you sharpen the hairdresser's scissors on the Tormek?!  My daughter-in-law won't let me touch hers.  And I don't blame her, they're very expensive scissors.

Just for the heck of it, have you ever tried sharpening a cheap kitchen knife on the Tormek?  If you're pushing down too hard, that cheap knife would wear away quickly.

I don't think you could possibly wear a stone that fast by pushing down too hard.  Do you leave the stone soaking in the water tray overnight?  Are you adding something to the water that might be softening the stone?

I was reading about rust on the shaft and was wondering if it would make sense to replace the shaft before using the machine.

The stainless shaft has no effect on any calibration with respect to the two tool rests.

If you empty or remove the water tray when the machine is not in use, and grease the bearings when you hear them squeal, the regular steel shaft should give you many years of service.

If you are interested in purchasing some of the other grinding stones available, the MSK-250 upgrade to the stainless steel shaft will make changing stones a tad easier.

Yup.  It's like they say, any good engineer can build a bridge that won't fall down.  It takes a really good engineer to build a bridge that just won't fall down.   

Are you tightening the two set screws that hold the legs of the Universal Support in place?