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This would have come in handy lately... Oh well.

Update on the cracked wheel:


I opted to intentionally break off the piece, with the hope that I could better epoxy the broken-off piece than try and fill the gap. I did this by forcing the crack closed, and hoping that the break stayed controlled. See pics 1 and 2. I was very surprised how deep the crack went into the center of the wheel (pic 3). I've epoxied the pieces together and will re-true the wheel. I am pleased with this result.


The piece still sits a little proud on the side of the wheel and I haven't yet decided how to flatten it, however I'm thinking of using a granite plate with some wet abrasive paper and slowly abrade until it's all co-planer.


Best,
BRIAN

I did successfully glue the wheel back together and it runs well except for the piece that I couldn't find to put back in.

Out of curiosity, what did you glue it with? My grindstone has cracked from freezing I believe. The crack cannot be closed so I'm wondering if I can fill the crack, and if so, with what adhesive. Thanks!


Cheers,
BRIAN

Interesting posts... I'll reach out to Tormek and see what they say.


I was able to true and did some tests on some personal knives. Seems to work OK. I cannot close the crack, but I might see if I can at least fill it with something... Will keep you updated.


Cheers,
BRIAN

I volunteer weekly at the soup kitchen sharpening knives. This past week was cold in Maine (20-30°F) and after an hour of sharpening, I left my T8 in the truck. I'm bummed out... I had only reduced the diameter to 246mm, granted I just bought the machine in November.


Can I still sharpen on this as is? The cracked piece is very solid — there's no flex or play on it. I cannot close the gap with hand pressure. I may be about to true it all up... Don't like the idea of it though.


What should I replace it with? Diamond?


Cheers,
BRIAN

I've been using an old 12" x 12" metal sheet pan with my T8. It's actually this one ($11): https://www.breville.com/us/en/parts-accessories/parts/sp0002649.html

A few reasons I like it:
• It's very low profile fits around the base neatly
• Doesn't have high sides to get in the way
• I mostly sharpen on a stainless steel counter top and it makes it easy to spin the T8 if you don't have the rotating base

Some users may not like the fact that it is small so that there is always a chance of water dripping from a knife onto the counter surface, but it does a good job catching any water that's coming off the main housing of the T8. I suspect using the extended drip catcher on the water tray would help even more.

Will do, Ken.


Once the US-430 comes, I will post an update with impressions. Thanks for the support!


BRIAN

Ken - Thanks for the suggestion on the US-430. I've placed a back-order and will look forward to seeing how it will alleviate some of the issues vs. the standard support rod.

All of my chisels are Lie-Nielsen (I'm from Maine after all!) and the backs are polished on 13,000 water stone, followed by lapping paper from 9 micron down to .3 micron on a granite block. Truly mirror finish!

For plane irons, I have been sharpening using the ruler trick for many years and enjoy how simple-yet-effective it is. Pre-T8 I would also camber my plane irons using David Charlesworth's plastic shim trick to raise up one side of the plane iron on the stone and focus the sharpening on the opposite corner.

I find it interesting that you are quantifying the camber by the arc measurement — which I gather to be the distance between the line that intersects the two corners of the blade and the parallel line that is tangent to the arc in the center of the blade. In the past, I've always measured camber by the radius of circle that the arc subtends. E.g.: an 8" radius would result in more camber (tighter circle) than a 10" radius. If I am feeling particularly brainy, I'll see if there is a relation between this measurement and the camber set screws on the SE-77 — if, for example, two full turns of the camber set screws result in a repeatable camber measurement. Perhaps it depends on blade width and protrusion... Will put my thinking cap on.

Magne - Thank you for that bit of info! I'll se if I can't smooth out the leather with that advice.

[Overall Impressions]

I ordered a T8 before Thanksgiving after discussing the pros / cons with some forum members. After a month of real-world use I have a few questions as well as observations that might be of interest to the forum. I'm posting in the general section because this will cover both hand tools and knives.

Overall Impressions:
• Originally I only wanted something to sharpening knives with, but I have to admit, using the T8 for sharpening my hand tools has been a great pleasure as well. I haven't replaced my water stones, but am using the T8 before polishing with my finest stones / lapping paper. I will say that for the first time in many years are all my plane blades are sharp, properly cambered, and ready for use — and that's saying something.
• Portability was a consideration. I've found that walking from the parking lot to the soup kitchen to sharpening knives y holding the top handle (with the grinding wheel attached) is very manageable. I have the jigs in a pocket. The top handle does seem a bit flimsy, though, and I wonder how long it'll hold up. It seems to rotate a bit, so perhaps there is a nut inside the machine I can get to to re-tighten.
• My honing wheel is a bit out of true, but could be due to the leather. There is a noticeable "bump" each time the seam goes past. It doesn't affect performance. I'm still unsure exactly how/when to apply the honing compound. At this point the leather is jet black from polishing steel and any additional compound just seems to build up on the tool itself without absorbing into the leather. Perhaps I'm already fully saturated. Does anyone know what "grit" the honing compound is?
• I love truing the stone and do it frequently (probably too frequently). I worry that by using the side of the stone for chisel backs / plane irons I'm imparting a small amount of wear that cannot be trued. I try to use as much of the side of the stone as possible, but often the center of the stone does not have as much water present as I like to run the stone in a small amount of water to decrease spillage. For this I sometimes add a spritz of water from a bottle. I'm sure in practice the wear on the side of the stone will be negligible, but I might consider the diamond stone after I wear the SG out.
• I keep the T8 in a plastic tray. This keeps the water in, and allows me to easily swivel the whole tray on whatever surface I'm on.

Knife-Specific Impressions:
• This is a great general purpose knife sharpening tool!
• My productivity sharpening soup kitchen knives has gone from 4-5/hr with water stones to over 12/hr and I can sharpen heavily damaged blades as well.
• Plus it's a great conversation starter with the other volunteers. I'm sure I'll get even faster.
• The limitations are with larger knives / cleavers. The universal support is not tall enough to handle larger knives, even with the knife jig screwed all the way in.
• I do not have the small knife jig, but was able to free hand my sloyd carving knives just fine. Not sure I will get/need the small knife jig. Not sure I will get/need the long knife jig either, but maybe I'll come across something that is very flexible that'll require it.

Hand Tool-Specific Impressions:
• As I stated above, I did not think I was going to want to use the T8 for hand tool sharpening, but boy was I wrong.
• The SE-77 is a great jig for putting camber on plane irons and keeping them square when you don't want camber. If you are cambering, the blade must be centered in the jig, not registered on the square edge. If you are grinding square, you have to fiddle with the camber set screws to ensure that your tool is grinding square to the edge — simply lining up the marks on the jig isn't exact enough.
• I've put small white marks on the camber set screws so I can ensure that I'm rotating them both the same amount. It's also easy to accidentally rotate one or both of them in use as your hand touches the screws in the natural holding position. Will need to adjust how I hold the jig, but the marks are easy indicators that I've moved them. 
• Again, the universal support is not tall or long enough. When grinding a smaller chisel bevel, the SE-77 slides off the support bar before the tool can touch all parts of the stone. An extra inch or two would have been appreciated.
• I have the tool rest as well, which I've found doesn't work as well in the horizontal position because the stone is pulling the tool up and off the tool rest, unlike a traditional bench grinder. When grinding a skew rabbit plane iron, I first tried the tool rest, but then ended up mounting it in the SE-77 at the correct angle. The tool kept coming off the tool rest in the horizontal position. 
• When honing backs of chisels or plane blades, I found that putting a small spirit level on top of the tool and then sighting directly above the honing wheel I can ensure that the tool is perfectly tangential to the honing wheel. I put a mark on the Tormek body in line with the spindle so that I know the edge of the tool is right at 12 o'clock when I'm looking down at it.

OK I think that's it — for now. Hope that someone found it helpful/interesting. Either way, have a Happy (and Sharper) New Year all!

I just ordered the T8. Sharpeningsupplies.com had it shipping with a free knife-jig and tool rest. It won't be super convenient to tote around with me, but I'll manage. It was only $70 more than the T4 with the same jigs, and I know I won't be regretting the choice. Thanks to everyone who weighed in. I'm sure I'll be hanging around here a bit more now that I'm officially an owner. You all are great!

Best,
BRIAN

Ken, (or anyone) — have you had any issues with the T4 and honing longer knives on the leather wheel. I read somewhere that the compact form-factor makes it so that some long knives run into the grinding stone during a honing operation (the honing wheel being small diameter). I suspect you could angle the knives not perpendicular to the stropping wheel, but since I'd be primarily doing kitchen knives, I do want to take this into consideration.

Best,
BRIAN

Thanks Ken, I thought as much re: colors.
Thanks Geo for the tip!

I update when I make my decision! Happy holidays, all.

Thanks CB and Ken for those thoughtful replies.

Would either of you consider the T8 to be a "portable" machine? If, at the end of the day, I don't end up using it at the soup kitchen because it's just too awkward to carry it + jigs, then it'll have been moot.

Based on your comments, it seems like the T4 should be seriously considered as well. Thank you for those insights. Do you have any guidance with the "bushcraft" model? It seems to be a less expensive package deal if knife sharpening is your initial game.

Best,
BRIAN

Hi all,

Newbie member to forum. Not yet a Tormek owner, but soon to be! On first blush I expect many of the responses to be "T-8 all the way" — but hear my scenario out a bit, and see if you think so at the bottom of this post.

Initial background: I am a pre-dominantly hand-tool woodworker, and I am fairly keen on my tool and knife sharpening skills. I use Japanese water stones for both and when it comes to re-grinding an edge, I use a Baldor 3,600rpm grinder with white Norton stones. I'm pretty content with my sharpening system (and results) in general.

So where this gets interesting is that I began volunteering at the local soup kitchen sharpening their knives. I go weekly or every other week for an hour. It's pretty demoralizing how beat up the knives get each week, and because of the extensive damage, I can only sharpen about 6-8 knives per hour using water stones. They have about 40 knives, and I'd like to be able to sharpen more than what I'm doing in that hour. There are some that I cannot even sharpen with stones — many are bent from being dropped, some have those micro-serrations that I'd need to grind off.

I'm considering getting an electric system for these reasons:
• Sharpen more knives per hour
• Sharpen damaged knives faster without chewing through stones
• Sharpen knives that I cannot sharpen with water stones - grind off micro-serrations
• Waste less time flattening stones in between knives

My thought process on the T-2 vs T-8 is this (please correct if any of my assumptions are wrong here):
• T-2 is lighter to carry, faster to set-up, less messy, and will make me more efficient in the hour that I volunteer
• T-8 is more versatile for other uses — but I'm generally happy with my current sharpening system
• T-4 is lighter than T-8, and more versatile than T-2, but doesn't have the 100% duty cycle
• T-2 might not get the knives as sharp as T-8, but in this scenario, I'm just looking for serviceability in a soup kitchen setting
• Biggest downside to T-2 is it's such a niche product with a pretty high price, but I think I'm basically in that niche right now...

Would love to hear advice from the group. Or if I can provide more clarifying details about my situation, I'm happy to!

Best,
BRIAN