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Crap, just saw this but already created a new thread as I have a few questions on the video. Should I repost here or leave my thread open?

https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=4248.0

Hey all, Knife Grinders just released a great video on YouTube about common mistakes and I was hoping to get a little bit of clarification on a few of the points. (Remember I am a brand new user)

First is about heel grinding. Here are a couple of quotes.
- "..the heel gets the least grinding time."
- "..the wheel grinding is to spend less time at the middle and tip of the blade, and more at its heel portion."

These seem like conflicting statements to me. Can someone help me better understand what he is saying here? Should I spend more time on the heel or not?

Also, he goes on to seemingly speak out against pivoting at all and only lifting at the very tip of curved blades to ensure even bevels. Unless I misunderstood.

Finally, concerning raising a burr, since we are not to raise a burr on one side before moving to the other side and instead alternate sides every one or two passes, how do we know when it's time to move onto a finer grit or straight to the strop wheel?

I've been watching his other videos recently by the way and they are great. Truly impressive knowledge base and process in that shop.

Thanks Rich! Your site is awesome.

Ah great information here! I will continue to practice and work on not spending too much time on the heel so thanks for the advice cbwx34. I did go ahead and cut off the sides of a collar just to try it. It actually works decently well but I am going to try a drill stop collar too to compare. Thanks Rick and cbwx34 for the advice on this! Also thanks for the links Elden. Even more good ideas there and now I'm wondering about self-centering jigs lol.

Hi Folks! I'm a new Tormek T-4 user and have a few questions. I've been reading dozens of forum posts over the last few weeks and there is so much information, it's almost a little overwhelming. That said, it's been very helpful overall so thanks to everyone who responds regularly on here and provides such useful information.

As for my questions, first, concerning the leather honing wheel, how is one to maintain it properly and restore one that is dried out? I followed the guidance for oiling it and applying the honing compound. The very next day, the surface of the wheel was dry and crusty. I'm trying to figure out what I did wrong, how to fix it, and how to maintain it moving forward. I thought about just taking a file to it to remove the dried out material and starting over but wasn't sure if there was an easier or more effective way.

Second, my primary use for the machine will be to sharpen knives and maybe some other edge tools. I've noticed my bevels can be pretty uneven at times, especially at the heel and tip of the blade. I suspect it's mostly my learning a new skill and not quite having a smooth action yet but was curious if anyone had any general tips I should follow.

Finally, regarding "to pivot or not to pivot," I've been thinking about how to modify the knife jig to better allow pivoting when sharpening curved knives. I particularly like the pin collar implementation but don't have the means or skill to fabricate one. I thought about just cutting on either side of the plastic adjustable stop collar with a hacksaw, effectively eliminating the material that gets in the way of a pivoting motion. Besides the fact that it will likely not be very pretty, do you see any inherent issues with this idea? Do you think it will be effective?

Apologies for the long winded post. Thank you in advance for any help!