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Ken, I understand your point.

But again, I think this is one of the points where the fact still shows, that knife sharpening is what I call an afterthought for Tormek.

Maybe they should think of a "Premium Knife Sharpening Edition", with the knife jigs, new angle setter instead of the AngleMaster, MB-102 and US-430 instead of US-10x.

The standard US-103 support can handle knives with blades up to 200mm (8 inches).

Ken

With very little wiggle room to choose where to clamp the knife, though.

Hello,

Having no metal machining skills nor equipment and few parts to tinker with, I thought I'd give a try at a simple "Platform Jig" that I could 3D-print.

There is nothing fancy or innovative with a simple adjustable plate to rest a blade against, it just feels like it's missing from the Tormek jig lineup.

The objective is to be able to accomodate as wide a range of angles as possible, not limited to short blades but well suited to those as the SVM-00 is kinda fidgety.

I'll use PLA filament for the prototypes and ASA for the real thing, trying to avoid supports except snug ones for the two holes for ruthex inserts (thumbscrews) where geometry matters little.

A quick note on a design choise (which I am not sure is wise): the (grey) sliding platform is more or less self-locking inside the (blue) support. One has to flex it a bit by pressing down in the middle so it slides easily, then release it so it locks back in place, and the (red) back thumbscrew is just here to secure it in place and prevent bending. I might have to play with tolerances and/or add a bit of teflon or the like on the outer surfaces in contact with the support so it slides more smoothly but still locks without significant radial play..

[edit]And a second note : I might not be able to dispense with having to add a metal plate on top on the side of the slide that is close to the wheel, if I have to thin the tip and keep everything rigid.[/edit]

Please feel free to give any feedback that I could incorporate before the first actual prints.

Cheers,

Nick.

If you ever intend to sharpen knives, at least anything beyond short knives, I think a US-430 is well worth the price difference.

I second what John wrote. That being said, I never use the SP-650 on the SJ, as it gets quickly full of blue sludge, and the SJ is so soft that I would be afraid it got way too easily out of square if I don't hold the SP-650 perfectly square to the stone. It could also go out-of-round easily as the SP is very aggressive for the SJ.

Rather, I keep it clean with a rust eraser, and true it from time to time using the diamond tool (and making sure I always go into the stone with the diamond tip, not out of it). The surface might be slightly rough right after truing, but essentially because of artefacts left by the truing tool. The surface will get back to smooth as silk after a few seconds of sharpening.

Another useful tip is the grading procedure demonstrated by Wootz, using a very fine diamond plate and very little pressure (to avoid getting the stone out-of-round).

If 6 to 8 minutes are only 10% of the time needed on other devices, then either those devices are very ill-suited to knife-sharpening, or maybe you're only using the #6000 grit belt/stone 

Hi !

I think your best bet for these would be found in the 3D-printing community. For instance :

This trough drip collector or this one here. I use a similar one for my T-8 almost all of the time.  Of course that only works if you have access to a printer.

Although to be honest, water spillage has been tremendously reduced since I first began to use the Tormek. Having the trough set so the water goes just over the wheel but not too much, lifting just as required, all those eventually result in very little water spillage. My drip tray (or the T-8 collector on the trough side) now only get a few drops for each knife.

I've not been on this forum for a long time, but I'm amazed at how good an example it is of a company fostering a community that results in an optimized use of its product as well as continuous improvement.

Some members such as Dutchman or the late Wootz, or more recently Perra, have been instrumental in paving the way for breakthroughs in sharpening efficiency and/or precision. I hope they get credited one way or another, like through patents for the MB-102 or the KS-123.

Kudos also to Tormek for listening and overcoming the classical initial corporate resistance to criticism, and eventually incorporating those ideas into further improvements of their tools. The blending of the MB-100 and FVB into the cost-efficient MB-102 is a brilliant example of how to use community feedback to keep their product line top-notch.

Some of the members are unsure if tomorrow's class will be part of Tormek's youtube channel. Some reassurance from you would be most appreciated.

The video is titled as "Part 24". The first 23 parts being part of the Tormek Youtube Channel, I think worried forum members can relax. Clicking on the video itself will also allay their fears as they realize they land on a familiar channel.

To me there is a world between 150 BESS and 100 BESS, and another one (maybe two) between 100 BESS and 50 BESS. I have never gotten to 50 BESS, but the standard SG/PA-70-on-leather setup gives me consistently 90-110 BESS with 15 dps, and 85-100 BESS with 12.5 dps.

150 BESS happens in a few situations that I can think of :
- Knives made out of junk (soft) steel. They can't be sharpened at an acute angle and an obtuse angle yields poor results anyway.
- Partially honed knives. There is a burr or some plastified metal left, so they have to be honed some more.
- Medium quality steel finished with chromium oxide or diamond spray on felt wheel. I could never figure for the life of me why it would degrade BESS readings, but it does, probably because of poor technique. The readings get back to 100ish if I hone them again on the leather wheel. This phenomenon doesn't happen on 63+ HRC steel.

So I wouldn't loose courage if I were you, I would try to hone a bit more than you usually do, and remember Vadim's results that low initial BESS is not a significant factor in edge retention. Steel quality and edge angle are, though. I also find that SG edges tend to retain their cutting ability longer than SJ edges.

Right again, I forgot about the split.

Out of curiosity, have you checked with Tormek that they won't consider it a patent infringement on their SVM-45 and/.or KJ-45 ?

And if not, would it be less expensive overall to just go all the way and may an entire jig from scratch, free from compatibility constraints with the KJ ?

Pretty sure you're right, which is why (paraphrasing) "centering doesn't matter" is repeated.  Basically, just remaking an SVM jig from KJ parts.

Ooh damn, you're right. I don't know the price point for this but postage included it might well make it an expensive SVM-45.

Wouldn't that kind of adapter with the right fit do the trick for le$$ if one doesn't care about centering ? Saw off the end of the KJ before the middle stop, glue it inside the hole, use an embedded M8 nut as an adjustable stop ?

Hi,

I'm not sure I got it right but from what I can see in the video, One jaw (the one with the threaded cylinder) is fixed relative to the shaft of the jig, while the other (the "shorter" one) moves. so it would seem that it negates the advantage of the KJ over the KVM, namely to have symmetrical clamping. But maybe I'm wrong.

I believe that an efficient way of solving this is one where the plastic part of the clamp is similar to the KJ, but threaded at the end (as the KVM one) and an adjustable handle is attached. Probably with an additional nut on the far side to solve the problem where the handle rotates while sharpening. As it is a fairly obvious combination of both the old and new design, I'm not sure this would be patentable though.

<edit> And for reference sake, a design for 3D-printing that was uploaded a few weeks ago : See on printables.com . It seems more or less to follow the same idea.</edit>

I will also concur with the advice to stick to the SG for knives : the SJ has a tendency to leave an edge with much less "tooth", so you might achieve nuclear fission for the first few femtometers of the stroke, but after a few contacts with the cutting board you might endup with more of that dreaded slipping feeling on softer vegetables. In my experience, the ungraded SG (or fine graded SG if you want a more refined edge) followed by a thorough honing on the leather wheel with PA-70 compound will work wonders.

Moreover, the claims by Tormek that a knife sharpened with the SJ won't require honing is simply untrue, at least on standard soft to mid-hardness knives. The SJ will leave a burr, that might not be visible even under a microscope, but there *will* be soft metal at the APEX that you will want to hone anyway.

I would also second the MB-102 as being the single most important accessory. That or the longer USB if you want to properly sharpen anything longer than 8".

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Sharpening-Supplies-Left-Handed-Sharpening-Stones-W453.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=24I-APR
 

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