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Thanks for the brief history and your opinion on Tormek's future! happy new years

I'll take a crack at a 'em...

4. Is it possible to sharpen straight razors on the T-8? The blade shape is extremely convex.

I don't really know... anything is "possible", but you might ruin a razor figuring it out.  I don't think I could... but I don't have a lot of experience with them.  A lot depends on skill level... take a look at this thread, as well as the links that are in it.

Those threads are ancient! And the postees haven't been active for quite a while. i wonder if anybody else has succesfully sharpened their straight edge on Tormek?

Great posts guys, I'm also looking to sharpen a straight edge in the future! Let me know if you ever get around to it on this unit with the SG stone, DRQ96.

Maybe upload a video of you going through the steps on youtube or something and link it? Might help to diagnose the issue.

Ken-thanks for your plethora of contributions!
If I'm reading this correctly, you couldn't see much of a difference between the 325/600 grit scratch patterns and the 1200 grit was noticeably finer than 1000 grit stone grader?
What was lacking about the diamond stone grading process that you would say they would not replace the stone grader?

[burr]

Thanks for your replies guys!
1: great thread on the tips.
2: The true key is not to leave the stone sitting in the water.  That is far more critical.
Is that because the extra sediment on the stone will cut the metal unevenly? or that one part of the stone will become water-logged compared to other spots?
3: interesting. Is that because the bonding on the stone has released at that point? Seems an interesting feature.
4: I wanted to re-profile the bevel on the knife so that's why I went from super coarse-finer. Interesting that the ragged edge was the burr, it almost looked like the edge was getting chipped by the knife.
5: Anybody else that I should contact directly with 'grabbing' while grading? Thanks for your thoughts and experience.
6: The other thought is that you may be putting too much pressure onto the process.  Try with a very light hand.  This is something that I had to learn over the years, and is stressed by many on this forum.
Interesting, all the little tidbits I remember hearing mentioned even but firm pressure. The last sharpening pass I did was just the supported weight of the blade, which turned out nicely I think.
7: Did you also add honing compound? (Or is that what you mean by oil?)
I was specific with my wording I added oil first because it looked so very dry. Later on I added the compound.
11: I'll shoot Wootz a message.
12: It would be nice if there was a hard set line on re-true'ing. Guesswork leaves room for error :p

Thanks again folks!

Thanks for taking the time to read and help me, folks. I really appreciate. I've watched and read a lot of posts/videos on the forums, but I these questions are either not explained well enough for my mind or haven't been covered yet - often posts lack good pictures to help identify the problem/solution.
These are the steps I did today, hopefully the pictures will attach themselves in order.

1: True the SG-250 stone using TT-50.
Question: are the occasional flecks of diamond normal as opposed to the whole surface of the tip being the same? The stone experienced two 'cuts' as the tip crossed the stone, leaving two visible lines traveling across the stone while truing. (see pic)

2: Replace the water after truing - water turned all milky.
Question: when/whether to replace the water in the trough? I've never come across this in the forum/videos. (see pic)

3: Felt the stone.
Question: Are small divots in the stone normal? at any time (after truing/grading...)? (see pic)

4. Sharpened the blade both sides. Very rough, could see ragged edges.
Question: Is there a number for the grit directly after truing a stone? (assume the 90 sec per instruction manual)

5. Used the SP-650 grader, rough side. Portions of the stone felt (and Sounded) like it grabbed the grader while the stone rotated more than others.
Question: do I have a bad SG stone if portions of it 'grab' the stone grader while grading? user error?
It looks like the forum doesn't post videos directly, I'll upload to youtube and link if anybody is confused about this.

6. Sharpened the knife, still rough, not quite as bad.

7. Graded SG with fine side. Stone still 'grabbed' at the grader at certain positions.

8. Sharpened knife.

9. I added some honing oil, since the wheel was completely dry (wary of over-oil'ing per a lot of comments on the forum) and honed the knife.
Question: what should my honing wheel look like in terms of color/shininess/etc? I haven't seen any posts with good pics as examples.

10. I went back to the 1000 grit and sharpened some more, added some honing compound and was much happier with the results. Still not sure about the status of my honing wheel oil level.

11. Watching this video: https://youtu.be/UckPmizllk0 - What are the components in the grading device he uses? Where can I find the 1000 grit mesh plate if that's what that is? What else does he have attached to the SE-76 jig?

12. How often do you true your stone after you've gone through hand grading it between the 200/1000 grit/sharpening knives?

Please see the pictures and give any comments/advice/answers.