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I don't know anything about the Dictum wheels, but if it is 80 grit, might be just the thing you need. 

Couple options, one cheap, the other spendy. 

1) traditional grinding wheel, such as 64 grit Norton 3X, mounted on the Tormek.  Takes some custom fitting to mate the 1" arbor hole to the 12mm Tormek shaft.  Can be a simple as drilling out some PVC pipe to go with the plastic bushings that come with the wheel and some 12mm fender washers to fill the space.  Or, if you have the ability to machine your own, make the bushing and flange washers (or have them made at a machine shop).  Do a search on the forum for "Norton" and you'll turn up a number or threads on this.  I machined my own bushing and flange washers.  AFAIK, Norton only come in 8" dia., which work, but I came into a 10" dia., no-name wheel that works much like the 250mm wheels. 

2) Coarse CBN wheels, run in water on the T8.  Third party vendors supply them, some can be run in water, at least one states the warranty will be voided if run in water.  I've been running a 180 grit CBN, from the "no water" vendor for years without any problems.  I use the Tormek ACC solution and am careful to dry the wheel after use. 

Another option is to get a variable speed belt grinder and run it as slow as it will go for roughing and then take them to the Tormek. 

Way back, before doing all of the above, I tried the SB grinding wheel.  Does work better but tends to glaze up quickly. 

It also may help to get some coarse diamond plates to remove the glazing, short of retruing the wheels, for both the standard and SB wheels.  Search "diamond plate" and you should find discussion of this. Knife Grinders may have been the originator of the diamond plate technique. 

John said it well.  Your truing tool diamond cutting tip looks just fine.  I questioned this a long time ago and got similar feedback. 

Take it seriously, to go slow when truing - MUCH slower than you will think it should go.  It is extremely tedious, but worth it.  Also, do not take too deep of cuts.  You mention several characteristics of your stone(s), one being "rounded in the edges".  That can be a good thing.  Radiused edges can reduce a gouging tendancy if blades are tipped over sharp edges.  Many of us purposefully add the radiused corners.  The radius also helps reduce the risk of chipping out the corners when truing, particularly if the cutting head enters or exits the corners too quickly and/or deeply.

The jig you have is of the older, non-self-centering type, but it has been in service for a long time with good results.  I like them over the new, self-centering design, primarily because the new design eliminated adjustability of the projection (distance from the tool edge to the support bar). 

The one new accessory that you may want to get is the new angle setting tool, the KJ-123.  It is a vast improvement over the previous angle setting to, AngleMaster, and well worth the modest cost.  It will make angle setting for knife grinding and honing much easier and faster.   

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Although Tormek makes no 200mm SB blackstone, the Norton 3X grinding wheels are easily adaptable; however, they are not quite "plug and play". They are 25mm wide and the bore is 1". Neither of these is a big problem. A few fender washers can fill out the 25mm. Get 12mm inside diameter fender washers. I used a piece of 5/8" outside diameter plastic pipe drilled out from 9/16" to 12mm to fit the bore. Forthose who are not comfortable doing the modification themselves, it is an easy job for a local machinist or 3D printer.

The 3X wheels are available in 46 and 80 grit. You won't need both; the 80 grit wheel is probably the best choice. The largest diameter is 8", ideal for the T4 and usable with a T8. I use them wet.

Ken

I can vouch for the feasibility and utility of mounting traditional grinding wheels on Tormeks.  I've posted here many times on this.  I machined custom fender washers and bushing to mount 8" dia. Norton 3X wheels and later a 10" dia. no-name wheel, all 1" wide.  These wheels are trued just like Tormek wheels using the Truing Tool.  They are very effective, especially for anyone who doesn't have the space, resources or interest for other options, such as belt grinders, etc. 

Photo below is of a Norton 3X on my T8.

Here is a video showing truing of the 10" wheel.

this is interesting now as I was once told by a dealer that sells Tormek in Canada that the Japanese wheel and the original wheel can be run in normal tapwater. So am I understanding correctly they should be running in ACC solution as well?

I think it is more on the order that it is "OK" to run those wheels (SG, SJ) in the ACC, but it is in no way necessary or better.  I repeat what I said above, though, which is why the heck would you do that, given how much slurry the SJ gives off, it contaminates the trough solution, whether plain tap water or ACC solution.  I've not found it works to filter that SJ slurry out, so in my opinion, the SJ run in ACC solution would ruin that solution for use with anything afterward.  That would mean discarding the ACC solution and as much whining there often is about how expensive it is, why waste it in that wa?.  I for one, do not find it that much of a burden to pour the ACC out of the trough and replace it with tap water when going from grinding wheels (SG, SB, DXs or CBN) to the SJ wheel. 

Hello,

First of all, I would like to thank you very much for both answers.

Unfortunately, they confirm my fears that sharpening a blade of this shape can be a difficult challenge.
I also wonder if using a grinding wheel that is significantly thinner than the standard Tormek wheel (50mm) would make this easier?
Do such wheels (e.g. 3-5 mm thick) exist and can they be mounted on the T-8?

Piotr

Indeed they can, with a some accommodations.  Ken S. has said many times before that a stand 1" grinding wheel can be mounted on a Tormek, run in water and used just like a regular Tormek grinding wheel, including truing with the Truing Tool.  It requires buying or making a bushing to mate the 1" grinding wheel's arbor hole (often 1") with the 12mm Tormek shaft.  Many new standard grinding wheels come with a set of plastic bushings in about 1/8" diameter increments.  As I recall, Ken drilled a piece of PVC pipe with a 12mm drill to bore out the ID to fit the shaft.  He also used multiple 12mm ID fender washers to build up the width to serve as flange washers. He recommended Norton 3X, 64 grit wheels.  80 grit can also be used. 

I have done this with two different sets of wheels for my T8, two 8" Norton 3X wheels, 64 and 80 grit and and a 10" no-name wheel.  I machined stainless steel bushing and custom aluminum flange washers, but Ken's method works fine.  The most important aspect is matching the shaft diameter with the bushings.

Here is a video of truing one of these.

The point of the above adaptations was to provide a more aggressive metal removal option to the range of Tormek wheel grits and are very effective.  They may work for what you are asking about but I think the corners would need to be rounded quite a lot to be more effective.  How often would you need to do this? 

Rick

I have recently moved, downsizing my shop space from a 2-car garage to 1-car, but also taking over one of two bedrooms as a workroom.  I've been so burned out from the move that it has taken me a while to get started again with my hobbies/projects. But tonight, I broke the barrier of getting back in to things. 

But, my daughter had presented me with an interesting tool, a folding hatchet that needed sharpening.  I suppose I could have used the axe jig (old one) but, maybe due to its odd shape (narrowness), I didn't even think of it. 

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I did try to figure out if one of the knife jigs would work, but...  nope. So, I decide to do it psuedo-free hand, but braced on the USB to maintain position and angle, cradling the back of the hatchet head even with the USB with the palm of my hand and fingers. 

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After establishing the bevel angle using the black marker method, I did check to see what the angle was, using the new angle setting too.  I had not ever used it yet.  Think I like it.  Grinding angle and honing angles. 

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Turned out pretty good.  This hatchet has two hollow ground bevels, the large visible one and the actual cutting bevel, which is what I ground/honed.  We'll have to see how well it works. 

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Hi all,
I recently got a T8 Black with the coarse diamond wheel that's included as standard (DC-250).

A few questions:
...snip...
4. Is it fine to use this wheel for grinding/shaping rather than only sharpening? Again I don't run a metal shop but sometimes (rarely) I have something that needs grinding down a bit. So for example, today, I bought some skeleton keys for the doors in my flat since the keys were missing. The new keys would go in the lock but when turning would grind to a halt. Took the locks apart, lubricated them, made sure nothing's grinding, turned the key with the lock taken apart to see if there are any obstructions. Nothing, smooth operation. Reinstalled the lock and the same problem occurred. Turns out the dimension on the lower left that's supposed to be 8.5, on my keys was 10mm. Went down and ground them down and now they're perfect. It was a casting error, looks like the cast was worn.

Yes, you can and obviously you did, but personally, I wouldn't do this.  I think a better solution would be to buy a traditional grinding wheel, preferably 10" dia. but 8" works also and fit it with a bushing and flange washers and run it in the water bath just like standard Tormek grinding wheels.  It will grind those projects faster and better than the DC diamond and there won't be any risk of wear or damage to the DC. 

VERY cost effective, under $100 for a wheel and not much for PVC pipe and washers.  Ken S. did this with just that, a drilled out piece of PVC pipe and flange washers.  I machined a stainless steel bushing and aluminum flange washers.  You can true that traditional grinding wheel just like any other true-able wheel, although you probably don't have a Truing Tool.

I did this before I had any diamond wheel (or CBN) because I wasn't happy with how slowly the SG or SB grinding wheels removed metal on edges needed a lot.  Worked great.   

Norton 3X, 64 grit, 8" dia., 1" wide mounted on a T8.
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10" dia, no-name, 1" wide, unknown grit, also mounted on T8
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Machined bushing and flange washers. 
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Video of truing the 10" grinding wheel. 

[which would be silly]

Guys!  The comment about liking the floss clips was strictly in regard to flossing my teeth - NOT - about using them for BESS testing, which would be silly.

The only serious point was that my experience with the floss clips being preferred to the spooled floss is that I actually use the clipped floss, daily like my dentist has wanted me to for decades.  In years past, when the dental hygienist offered me a new spool of floss, I'd say, "sure, but I don't know what I'd do with it..." (as a joke, I totally knew what...)

The point about clips vs spooled is that maybe I should try the BESS clips to see if I liked them better than the spooled BESS filament material for BESS testing.  I have some clips, but have literally never tried one. 

I like these better than that on the spools...  Never tried the BESS clips.
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Too much dwell time in that middle section?  I think it can also happen even when only going from handle to tip.  Possibly could be exacerbated by uneven pressure as the blade passes along the stone

What is the question you are attempting to answer, specifically a clear, concise hypothesis statement?  How will you use these diamond plates and how will you distinguish differences?  How many times will you repeat the tests, that is number of replications? How will you eliminate untested variables?  What about adequate separation of trials to be sure a difference, if real, can be discerned. 

I sure don't expect a rigorous statistical approach, but you need to have some clearly defined objectives and procedures, particularly with so many variables (number of grits). 

Hey guys, I am looking for a little feedback on my first diamond wheel purchase. I have a T8 with the standard wheel and a Japanese waterstone wheel. I'd like to upgrade to a diamond wheel for turning tools and to be able to use the side of the stone when sharpening.

Since I cant afford to buy all three grits at once, I wanted to ask if anyone has a reccomendation for the best 'all purpose' grit? Assuming 600 grit is the best for an 'all purpose' stone?

Thanks in advance.

Rusty

I'm a bit thrown off by the initial question and some of the responses.  First off, I know nothing about turning tools and sharpening them, so maybe that is partially the reason. 

I'm unclear on the benefit of having only one grit level of diamond (or CBN) wheels for the purpose of using the side of the wheel on turning tools, in combination with the "multi-grit" SG wheel.  Part of my confusion comes from my perspective that if I only had one grit of diamond/CBN to complement the SG, I would want something much coarser, such as 80 or 180 grit, but I don't sharpen turning tools and don't use the side of the diamond/CBN wheels that I have. 


I also wonder how much it matters which wheel to start with if one intends to get all three diamond wheels as they can be afforded.  I'm sure much depends on the rate at which the others can be afforded. 

Rick

Found it!  Had the time frame a bit wrong, but I worked back from 2017.

Knife Point Setting Template, by Jan
Started by Jan, October 27, 2015, 10:49:00 AM

[clamp parallel to the flat, with the side of the jig shaft (the pivot point), roughly at the point where the belly of the knife is]

With time, I realized I tend to clamp parallel to the flat, with the side of the jig shaft (the pivot point), roughly at the point where the belly of the knife is. So I'd say a mix of both pictures...

I find this allows for both minimal effort when grinding the flat of the blade, and best control along the curved part and in the tip area.

There was a discussion of this back in mid-2017 where a template was presented that helped in setting this position.  Images I saved back then are below.  I can't remember what if was called, so haven't found the discussion.    It may have have had to do with lifting vs pivoting.  Anyone recall it and maybe point us to the thread?

I use this template to this day for setting up knives. 

Rick