Hi all,
Newbie to sharpening and Tormek here.
I recently picked up a second hand T-4 and while the grinding stone looks good, the honing wheel is a little worse for wear -- dried out with a few nicks here and there (photos attached).
A new wheel just arrived today and I intend to use it with PA-70 per Tormek's instructions, but I'm curious to hear from the experienced out there: can the old wheel be salvaged with sandpaper and rehydrated with oil? Or will the nicks and few cuts in the material damage the edge? If so, is it relatively easy to put another strip of leather on with contact adhesive? Perhaps use the smooth leather side with a diamond emulsion (ie: 1micron stroppy stuff) to refine an edge after using PA-70 on the suede-sided tormek?
As an aside, I'd also welcome recommendations for different grinder wheels vs steel alloys. Or perhaps a link to a previously discussed topic.
Any assistance is most appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Welcome to the forum, Evan. I think you were wise to purchase a new leather honing wheel. The learning processis easier when all your equipmant is fully functional.
I suggest you set your damaged leather honing wheel aside until you master basic sharpening. At that point, you can look at your wheel with some experience. Gently sand the cut areas of your leather wheel. Apply a little light machine oil and then a little PA-70. Start with a practice/learning tool. A bench chisel something between 1/2" and 3/4" is right for this. Don't worry if you don't have a square edge jig, just move your support bar close to your grinding wheel and rest your chisel on it. Make sure your support bar is in the horizontal, motor in the moving away from the blade direction. Start with light grinding pressure. Your Tormek will telegraph the results to you.
If your results are good, you Re in luck. If not, I would set the wheel aside for a future repair.
Please keep us posted.
Ken
I agree with Ken. The old honing wheel looks pretty good to me. Some sanding should clean it up really nicely. It actually looks like it has not been used that much and apart from the nicks is on pretty good shape. You will need to recondition it with some light machine oil before use. Also make sure that you give the new wheel a good going over with some light machine oil (I use Ballistol) before your first application of the honing paste. (I fell in love with Ballistol when I discovered it. It is like WD 40 except better.)
You could do a lot worse than subscribe to the Tormek Innovation channel on YouTube and watch any videos relevant to your use of the Tormek. They do have one on honing which you should probably watch.