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I respect the opinion of a sharpener skilled in both methods. I have less respect for sharpeners who have not bothered to master handheld honing.

Sir,

With all due respect, I find this kind of statement condescending to say the least. To continue along these lines, you'll probably find someone else who will not respect your own opinion because you haven't bothered to [insert required skill here] and are cutting corners in their view. You pick said skill : grind handheld with the hands on the USB, grind handheld without the USB, use slow-cutting natural-stones instead of synthetic ones, sharpen handheld on a whetstone, on a belt sander, hone without a chemical compound, heat-treat a blade, make your own knife, shape a blade, temper/forge a blade, make your own steel... We're probably all cutting someone else's corners at some point.

The Tormek way is about controlling the angle, the FVB helps do that for honing as well as grinding edge-trailing without fussing with screws. Wootz has demonstrated on numerous occasions that the honing angle had a noticeable effect on the burr removal process. My very short experience shows that there is a significant difference in sharpness when changing the honing angle by 2 degrees, and I will personally not have a sub-degree accuracy when honing hand-held.

I can see numerous reasons why Tormek wouldn't want to sell a FVB, among which:
- patent issues, such as not being able to patent it because the FVB idea predates theirs
- difficulty to recognize that their previously advertised method could be questionable (AngleMaster with tapered knives, anyone ?)
- angle setting complexity without using a software or tables, and measuring to a reference point
- profitability issue

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the T-9 had an additional set of well-placed USB holes. Or, who knows, a 8-inch stropping wheel and a way to reverse the direction of the rotation.

That being said, I fail to see what is not to be respected in using a suitable tool and practicing with it. Especially when you are not able to dedicate time to acquire the aforementioned master-level skills, yet still find controlled angle sharpening a satisfactory-way to meet your sharpening needs.

Cheers,

Nick.

I have an edgepro, mounted with the triangle-shaped sharpmaker rod. I sharpen my serrated knives this way, trying not to round the teeth. Then I sharpen the flat on a stone. Then I deburr freehand on the tormek disks, there usually is a LOT of deburring to be done.

You could, freehand and on the (previously rounded) shoulder of the wheel, then deburring on the leather disc.

IMO it defeats the purpose of the tormek which is sharpening at a controlled angle, but if that's "all" you have it will do.

I personally don't do more than two strokes per side. This way I'm pretty confident the bevel remains centered. This only exception being a few knives that were sharpened assymetrically from the factory, where I do 4/1.

I've not noticed that raising a burr was much faster when experimenting with not alternating, but if would make for an assymetrical edge eventually. I can usually tell when there is a burr even after a single stroke. Then I lighten the pressure on the very last passes only when I can feel the burr along the entire length of the edge.

I think Wolfgang addressed it a couple of times, saying this is a warranty issue, but that he's personnaly been using the T4 for hours on end during shows, and that he's never had any issue with it.

The way I understand it, it's Tormek's way of saying "If you go with the T-8, you're covered however you abuse it". Not to imply any sort of risk with the T-4.

I use TormekCalc² a lot, but I stopped bothering with these constants as I find measuring from top of Usb to top of stone (T USB) much easier than referencing an approximate point on the stone.

I'd add that by using the imaginary line, the natural tendancy of the jig will be to get back to the position where the flat part of the handle is flat against the support bar, as you keep pressing down on the jig handle. So you have to kind of fight this trend during your sharpening.

I actually thought that was the whole point of this: to make sure you're in control at every point in time of the angle between blade and stone, and not let the jig do it...

But if I remember correctly, in the advanced sharpening class, during the part where he adds the cardboard around the jig to show how it rotates, the jig handle is parallel to the flat of the blade, not to the imaginary line.

Hi!

You're correct regarding the need to remove the grinding wheel to hone at a controlled angle. To do this, you can either reuse the piece of white plastic tube that came on the shaft in lieu of the grinding wheel, and put it back into place when you hone. If you've lost it, like many have, you can cut a 15mm grey PVC pipe at the right length and it will work a charm. Or you can purchase fancy spacers made for that purpose.

Regarding the edge angle, you can either :
- use the sharpie trick, but make sure you really hit the edge, even if that means leaving a bit of sharpie along the shoulders of the bevel
- use one of the many calculators available on here. Cbwx34 has some in his signature, or you can get my absolute favorite: TormekCalc².

Cheers,

Nick.

Nice work!

Aren't you worried, though, that the wood will soak up from the stones releasing moisture, then become mouldy ?

But of course ! Thank you BeSharp.

Hello !

For the first time, I've sharpened a salmon slicing knife. It was a cheap one and I wasn't expecting wonderful results, but there's one thing that bugged me...

It is a very long knife, with a blade around 36cm long. I had installed both the Tormek drip tray extender on the water trough, but also a 3D-printed drip catcher on the horizontal support bar mount. I had mounted no leather wheel on the honing side.

The problem was the following: as I was sharpening with the handle on the right side, water would drip directly onto the ruber wheel, and make it slippery to the point that the bare weight of the blade on the SG would stop it. Have any of you thought of a solution for this ? Fitting a honing wheel would for sure catch the water before it dripped on the rubber wheel, but I'm not too sure about mixing water with the honing compound and steel particles on the leather...

Thanks,

Nick.

...
Also, sometimes I change the stone and it wobbles. Sometime it doesn't.

Haven't done it personally, but some users will put a mark on the shaft and on the stone, so when they remove/reinstall it, they can line it up in the same location... to prevent this.

I do that... partially. I always put the stone on the shaft with the label up. I consider the shaft true enough for my tolerances, and I've never seen any sign that it is not on both my T-8s.

But unless we are not talking about the same thing, this solves what I call the stone being "out of round" when it is not put on the machine in the same position it was trued. The wobble is to me a side-to-side movement; one that is due to the stone having some lateral play on the shaft, that got solved for me just by making sure the shaft was all the way in before tightening the nut.

I'd concur with cb : the wheel may get out of round with the diamond plate, though with the small quantity of knives I sharpen it takes a rather long time. Once it starts to be so, there is no coming back and it will only get worse. The truing tool with take care of this.

Nice job !

Maybe it's a matter of perspective? 

Maybe, and maybe a question of what it means to "improve" the edge. I have not seen an improvement in BESS scores between SG > SJ > honing or SG > honing. Nor have I seen any reduction in honing time. As a rule, I always start grinding/honing with the handle in my right hand, and finish with the handle in my left hand. So the burr is always on the "good" side for the next step.

The edge is shinier with the SJ though, and I have no means to quantify edge retention between SG > SJ > honing and SG > honing. My guess would be that edge retention is improved with SJ as the edge has less microteeth that will be easily blunted, but I have guessed wrong so many times that I wouldn't bet on it.