Messages

At first I thought it was normal to have some water after sharpening.
Then I noticed that it weeps water out the bottom even before I sharpen anything. I cannot see any cracks and it is so new I have even dropped it yet.
What do I do next? Seems when it is new this should not be normal?

Background: New Tormek owner (with little knife sharpening skill/experience) who bought his machine to learn to sharpen knives, scissors, and other household tools. Am in the process of trying to master these sharpening arts as time permits. Want to learn things correctly, so have some questions

In the handbook under the jig for knife sharpening SVM-45
Thin knives
"When setting an edge angle on thin knives the length of the bevel is very short and it can therefore be difficult to align it to the angle setter. you can let the angle setter touch the blade of the knife instead of the bevel. then the angle setter should be set to half of the desired angle."  There are two line drawings demonstrating.

Q1
From the above quote, it seems that I am using the usual settings on a thin knife or the 40? for a kitchen knife I set that AngleMaster to 20? as shown in the linedrawings. Correct?

Q2
I have a thin fillet knife (1970s Chicago cutlery) where have the blade is ground as the edge and is very thin. I am unsure how to determine the angle, do I just do it as above except at 15? and if the angle does not match it was last ground by an outside business I am afraid if it is off by a lot there will not be much knife left when I am done

Q3
On the other hand, my wife has a very hefty Tramontina 6" Cooks knife, in my example TT-C-40306 is its number on url http://allheartchefs.com/chefsknives.html.
She likes it being heavy as it helps her chop. the angle goes down straight to the edge, having never been sharpened except with a 'steel'. Do you just sharpen at 20? per side?

Q4
Is there a companion gauge for knives that will show angles similar to the AngleMaster but skewed toward knifes as often it appears I seem to be able to read multiple angles in the AngleMaster when checking knives as the width is wide for the thin knives I am currently working with?

Q5
Axes
The full-size axe I want to sharpen is very convex compared to all the book drawings. Should it be done freehand using the universal tool support or with the axe SVA-170?

I could supply pictures if it would help in formulating a reply?

Q6
I note there will be a demo in Novi (Detroit) on Dec 1-3. How much assistance for owners can be provided is there certain ties you might have time to show explain sharpening. Could I bring some examples/samples of knives, etc? I live an hour or so away.

Thanks in Advance.
RJ