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This is almost exactly my process. I think I am at or below the 100 Bess mark based on tests outlined in Vadim's sharpening chart. I normally hone at +1.5°. I will try altering it to a lower number as you suggest after initial passes. Switching to the honing wheel with diamonds impregnated does help. I only bother with this step for my own knives. I normally stop with the PA-70 paste followed by stropping on leather.

Contact support and ask them. They will sort it out.

Not something that should be happening.

seems like a political post

One thing that's helped me is making small adjustments and testing the edge after each pass instead of trying to correct everything at once. It makes it much easier to dial in the setup and avoid removing more material than necessary.

I think you posted in the wrong thread

If you are sharpening customer's knives I would recommend against altering the bolster unless you have shown them what it will look like and have written authorization. Some knives also have a hollow bolster that you could grind into. The other thing I do to prevent scratching is to use painter's tape beneath the clamping area.

The only people that have discussed sharpening angles with me sharpen their own knives.

I do concierge sharpening as I don't want to have a job. I limit my customers so that I don't have a backlog of things to work on and typically finish a customers knives by the next day. The SG-250 works for virtually all of the knives brought to me. Only the super steel knives pose a problem and for those I have CBN. When I was starting out honing was the most challenging step and I found that I get superior results using guided honing rather than freehand.

The only time I take pictures is when I am asked to repair a knife with significant damage. Also be careful not to reshape or damage the bolster without written permission. Most users want their knives to look pretty and do not appreciate the change. This is the only time I would have them sign something. So far no one has asked for a bolster modification.

I wrap them in an old towel to protect edges.

Cash and Carry and once in a great while barter.

I find that ensuring that all three pins are firmly on the wheel and the bar is held as indicated in the Tormek videos I can get the angle spot on.

John, do you measure the sharpening angle you achieve to compare it to the KS-123 setting?

When I hear concerns about using the KS-123 due to it being less than needed accuracy, I wonder why the angle on the blade must be accurate to 0.1°.  In the sharpening I do for most things, if the angle is good to +/- 1 degree I am good.  What am I missing?

Nothing.

I think this is an example of going to the extreme without any clear delineation of the benifit. When Wootz proposed some new idea he backed it up with extensive testing and real world usage in meat packing plants. I believe only a miniscule number of users have the ability to measure the angle to this accuracy.

In addition I found that the newer machines with an adjustable troth tend to overflow easily if you set it closer to the wheel than needed. Follow Ken's advice and after saturation just a little water is needed.

For my customers I do 15dps. No one knows the difference between 15 and 20 and the edge lasts longer for them.

The Tormek system using water does not heat the blade being sharpened to a point where it will lose temper.

Not YouTubing. Not disappearing up my own or anyone else's. So what's the point of expensive sophisticated camera microscopes? Not needed for volume sharpening.

I already had a good macro setup including lighting, lens and focusing rails using my Nikon D750 DSLR. I used this for macro photography for a long time. I would not advocate buying this or any expensive camera kit if all you are going to do is view knife edges especially in any production setting. For my customers I do not use anything other than a Bausch & Lomb loupe to view the edge. Being able to minutely alter the focus point while taking multiple images then stacking them in Photoshop does yield superior results though.

Here is an interesting video on the family of inexpensive Chinese microscopes. I think he unfairly compares them to a digital camera system and lens that costs several thousand dollars. I own a DSLR with Macro lens and  lighting that I can tether to my computer using Adobe software. It works great but it is not practical for a person sharpening multiple knives or trying to run a small business. If you make your money as a content creator it may be a different story.

I like to use a Bausch & Lomb loupe for edge inspection. Cutting a thermal receipt and feeling for resistance changes gives me a pretty good indication if I got the burr removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K8CtSgXREk

That is an interesting video.  I'd be interested in hearing why you think it was an unfair comparison.  I also own and use a DSLR/macro lens/lighting/tethering/focus stacking in post-processing tools. I agree it is not practical for someone doing "production" sharpening in real time, however, it could be quite useful for that same person examining edges/burrs during a process of figuring out effective deburring methods that would then get up into practice for the production sharpening process.  Even, so, I do not anticipate doing this, mainly because I have an adequate alternative, the Kingmas 60X hand microsope.  I also think the video reasonably and accurate demonstrates that the cheap USB cameras really do not deliver on their magnification claims. 

As mentioned in a prior post (above), way back, I explored high-end ($1000+) USB cameras that would do in-camera focus stacking, but still found them too fiddly and not worth it compared to the 60x hand microscope.  I also think the video acknowledges that the cheap USB cameras can be used, up to a point, to examine edges, but the much cheaper hand loupes are a more reasonable method.

The only thing I think is unfair about the video is comparing a microscope that is relatively inexpensive with the results you can achieve with a digital camera, macro lens and specialized software for image stacking. If he bought his camera and lighting setup for less than $1,500 I would be surprised. My macro lens alone was around $1K and my camera much more than that.

Here is an interesting video on the family of inexpensive Chinese microscopes. I think he unfairly compares them to a digital camera system and lens that costs several thousand dollars. I own a DSLR with Macro lens and  lighting that I can tether to my computer using Adobe software. It works great but it is not practical for a person sharpening multiple knives or trying to run a small business. If you make your money as a content creator it may be a different story.

I like to use a Bausch & Lomb loupe for edge inspection. Cutting a thermal receipt and feeling for resistance changes gives me a pretty good indication if I got the burr removed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K8CtSgXREk