Greetings from an amateur starting his 2nd topic. I recently received KG's CBN 160 and 1000 grit wheels and have only 3.5 weeks of time sharpening on them. I fully and thoroughly understand the care they require to prevent loss of embedded grit. The exception is the definition of excessive pressure. I use significantly less pressure on CBN wheels as I did on the SG-250 however last night after sharpening a couple of knives, I removed the water trough, emptied the water into a sink and was surprised to see a significant amount of black particles with a density sufficient to rapidly and completely settle, leaving the water very clear. I don't remember seeing this before. I'm already paranoid about using excessive pressure and, frankly, using one's nail beds to gauge proper pressure is a very poor measure, at least for amateurs like me. Depending on the picture of a fingernail you review, the nail bed is located anywhere from the middle of the nail back to the nail/finger interface. And depending on the angle of the fingers when applying pressure on the jig, the pressure to produce a color change varies widely. My questions are: (1) am I simply obsessing over an insignificant issue, (2) Are the presence of these particles commonly seen using CBN wheels and most likely metal removed from the knife blade, and (3) can anyone provide a better measure for gauging pressure? I apologize for the lack of photos for review and, if needed, will provide when I can collect a sample. I appreciate in advance any knowledge provided.
Update: I collected solids after sharpening another knife. Upon closer inspection, the solids are dark gray and the water is clear except a scattered, thin-film floating on the surface. The solids also non-magnetic. I have a pic that may or may not help that I'll send after I figure out how to compress to less than 256KB.
Victor,
The KG CBN wheels are a new product. I suggest that you email Knife Grinders directly. Vadim ("Wootz") has several years of experience using CBN with the Tormek. He has also done his own product testing. I believe he knows more about using the Tormek with CBN wheels than anyone else on the planet. Contact him; he can help you.
Ken
Thanks Ken. I've contacted him a few times before though knowing how busy he is I try to use the experts here first. I'm surprised that no one has responded by now, perhaps only a handful of members are using them.