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Anyone contemplating a 1 x 30 Harbour Freight (or equivalent) with a sewing machine motor - very popular on YouTube these days - consider this instead. IMHO, it's superior because the Viel accessory mount allows you to attach Viel accessories for sharpening kitchen & garden scissors, etc. It's also more compact.

Fun fact: Viel was a high school shop teacher in Quebec. After a few years, he did so well that he retired from teaching.

As I am in Canada, when I built mine, Viel sent me the modified pulley via Canada Post.

Ken, you are terrific too. All that work as a volunteer .., for that, I am thankful.

The updated Tormek Hand Tool Kit has only the new KJ-45 and KJ-140. Looks like they have discontinued the old jigs...

https://tormek.com/en/products/kits/htk-806-hand-tool-kit

Good morning dear members,

Mr. Vadim of Knifegrinders in his excellent book, gives examples of grinding routines. Among these, he assumes "paper wheels with autosol'.
But if you only have a Tormek, can you assume a 'leather wheel with Tormek paste'?

If not, what is the best alternative, if you don't work with paper wheels?

Wim

The main assett to paper wheels is speed, not better sharpness.

As I recall, he recommended:

- for low quality steel (no 1,000 grit wheel): green rouge (5-10 microns)
- for medium quality steel: (1,000 grit wheel use): Autosol (3-5 microns)
- for high quality steel & supersteels: diamond pastes, 10 microns to .5 microns

Great. Fast shipping, good communications, cheap prices. I've ordered 4 times from them, I think.

I'm 5'6" and my bench height is 24.5" for a T-7 and 25.75" for a T-7 set up for edge trailing with a FVB.

Thanks, Rich! I will also add it to my drill bit jig.

Tormek recommends using the narrower jig unless the blade flexes.

John, good for you!

It seems like bolsters on kitchen knives are a design fault which discourages repeat sharpening.

It's a safety feature to prevent the fingers from touching the blade. Probably invented by the Germans? (HYenckels, Wusthof...)

Tighten the bolt and nut so that the jaws stop from just gravity about halfway.

I recall from somewhere Tormek saying a 500 Watt inverter should do the job.

While I can now do even very dull knives in 5 minutes following Vadim's two-machine/ 4 wheel setup, at the farmers market I tell people to come back between .5 hour to 1.5 hours, depending on my backlog (my market runs 10am - 2 pm, and I'm usually "sold out" by 12 noon). Steve Bottorff was offered a free booth at his farmers market because that market's management found out that having people hanging around to pick up their sharpening increased other vendors' sales!

2 hours is getting borderline, but I use that to encourage people to pick up at my shop that's close by. After all, I can only do so much in four hours. For me, the market is to encourage people to come to my shop, so that one day I'll grow out of the market.

Since I no longer take everything to the market, I do these only at the shop: serrated knives, Japanese knives, supersteels (i.e. Miyabi, Shun), folders (lots of Benchmade). But people don't mind coming to the shop as I explain that there I can take extra care and use the correct equipment.

Yes it should.

I have two buffers. First one has a rock hard felt wheel with green rouge, and a .5 micron diamond paste papaer wheel. Second buffer has 5 and 2.5 micron diamonds on two paper wheels.

Which buffers are you using?  I have a 1/2 speed, 1hp grinder that I'm going to use, but I'm looking at buffers as well.  I just don't know what's a good one to be looking at.

Rikon 1/2 speed 8" buffers. Tried three brands and chose Rikon for low runout. I use 8" paper wheels to lower the speed and to fit it into a Tanos XXL 337 systainer. With 10" wheels it will be too high to fit.