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A part that I found interesting...

The front end and rear end abutment surfaces allows the grinding jig to be moved in a controlled manner back and forth relative the support bar during grinding of the blade. Practical trials have shown that this controlled movement, limited between the front and rear abutment parts, results in that a convex bevel is achieved on the edges of the blade tool during grinding . Such convex edges are proven to be very strong.

... in addition to centering of course.

I've thought of this in the past (not trying to claim credit, I never posted about it). Add a second collar to make a top and bottom limit, the only thing I couldn't figure was the practical process. with KME's convex bar, you run the stone perpendicular to the edge and move it along the edge stone-width by stone-width. I had imagined it being similar here. Curved blades concerned me, getting the grinding all the way through.

I was meaning more in general, a compilation of all the really valuable threads (like 'To Pivot or Not Pivot'). Jigs and mods like Herman's knife grinding platform and the USB to stone measuring solutions.

If people were keen I'd be happy to list all the threads I've found incredibly useful. The pivot thread alone saved me untold time.

Haha.. I wish I knew that beforehand! Thanks Ken.

Is there a compilation anywhere in the forum of mods like this and the FVB? I've been searching through old threads for a while, and was thinking it'd be helpful to have a sticky here similar to what's available on SharpeningHandbook.

Hi team,

Hope you're all well.

Decided to make a FVB over the last couple of days.. after botching a couple of attempts with wood (no drill press) and not being able to find any 50mm x 25mm aluminium/steel box section locally, I resorted to stacking 2 sections of 25.4mm x 25.4mm aluminium tube. I'll secure the top and bottom together tomorrow (drill 6mm holes through the bottom and middle sections, widen the bottom holes to allow access for M6 bolts, then bolt together). For now it's been more than rigid enough to use. Though I cleared all the chaff around the drilled holes, I still had to do some tweaking to get things lined up true and not get bound up when installing on the T8. I'll be testing whether the use of flat washers forces the threaded rod to a perfect 90 degree angle off the box section). The 90mm spacing I thought I'd drilled perfectly ended up a touch too wide.. bored the 12mm holes out a little to allow the M12 threaded rod some room to move in. Other than that, relatively problem free build.

M12 threaded rod, 180mm x 2
M12 nuts x 4
M6 x 20mm nuts and bolts x 4
25.4" x 25.4" aluminium box section, 2 x 120mm
XB-100 from Tormek

https://imgur.com/a/Pcj4Hrd

(will figure out in-line images tomorrow)

Thanks heaps to everyone who's put up their designs, it's such a relief being able to hone without getting hung up on the back knob of the knife jig.


Mitch

Interesting.. I've used the diamond stones on the KME and it wasn't until I bought their 80 grit "The Beast" stone that I was able to quickly put a new bevel on.. even then it wasn't as aggressive as you'd think. What diamond or CBN wheel (Tormek or other) would you pick that makes a sensible transition into the SG-250 graded at 220?

Agree - it took way too long to be profitable (not gonna sweat that as a beginner, any time the knife touches down on the wheel, I'm learning). Last time I spoke with my guy at the Tormek supplier, he suggested the Tormek Diamond Fine wheel for initial beveling and removing chips quickly. That's where I'll likely go unless I find a better suggestion on this board.

Good replies, thanks guys. I watched a video from CarterCutlery where he showed tapping on the blade as per Ken's suggestion, this is the most appealing over the options I've seen. I've seen a couple of different approaches brute forcing it, and I'm not too eager to try them. I'd be comfortable bending a Victorinox since I'm quite familiar with the steel, but anything else and I'll have to pass.

Do you have a particular hammer you'd suggest Ken? What do you use so that you don't leave hammer marks?

Hi all,

What technique/tools do you guys use if you have to remove a bend in a knife? I was working on one yesterday that had a noticeable bend which was making it incredibly difficult to get even bevels. I've been looking at buying a bending stick if they're actually useful, it'd be great to be able to offer this as part of the service.

The knife in question was a Furi Pro Chef's Knife 23cm, his very first knife so he's rightfully sentimental about it.

Also, is there much chance of snapping a knife when correcting a bend? This was the reason I didn't go too far into trying to fix it this time around.

I'm currently between 30 and 60 minutes, up to 90 for a real problem knife (a bent one caused me headaches today). However for reference (I'm sure the experienced will know exactly where I'm at) - I'm still working to dial in lift vs. pivot, making plenty of time costing mistakes (not refreshing the 220 grit grading on the SG enough, erroneously thinking I'm sharp enough to go to 1000, grind pressure mistakes, etc.), sharpened around 25 knives total so far on the Tormek. Aiming for this to be my primary income in the future but still at the training stage. Working one knife at a time at getting from "Sharp but average looking" to "Sharp and pretty". Atleast every knife teaches you something new!

I knocked out a beautiful 7" Damascus knife in under 30 minutes last night that I used in this video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/HygUpzC3ieu4c71cA - then a cheap Chef's starter knife took me 90 minutes to work through a really deep chip, since it had a bend a few inches from the heel.

Customers at the kitchen I've just dropped a bundle back to are over the moon, but it's going to be a long time before I'm entirely happy with a knife I sharpen. Still, gives you something to work toward.

The honing wheel was riding up and down, and jerking left and right, which made it really disconcerting to have the blade pressed up against it. I've just started the second leather wheel I bought with the machine after reading a good thread about correctly oiling and impregnating the leather. Between that and the correction to the shaft, it's running beautifully now, results on the knife I did last knife confirm that.

The clicking is the motor's contact with the rubber, having to compensate in and out for what the wheel was doing every revolution. That's cleared up now.

They keep saying that this is within tolerance, it's just the rubber moving and not the zinc wheel (see my final Vimeo video), and it'll come right.

The dealer appears to be on the case now, I'll see how that goes.

Okay, so the driveshaft was bent, I believe it was mostly limited to the honing wheel side, sleeve only - not the thicker section running on the bushings. I am getting a tiny amount of movement in the grindstone which I may attempt to fix with this trick, but that side is what I'd call within tolerance. This solution isn't elegant, and unless someone here with experience of the machine thinks it's reasonably safe, I don't recommend it to others. This post is simply to put a bookend on the problem. I was frustrated and didn't want to have the machine in at the dealer's for several weeks.

My solution:

1. With the machine running, butt the edge marker horizontally against the front of the plastic handle at the top. This will put the tip level with the top of the zinc wheel's inside rim. Slowly move the marker in and aim for the very top of the rim until you get a thin black line around part of the wheel.

2. Stop the machine. Turn the drive wheel so that the very middle of the black line is facing upward (I used a finger on each end of the black line to get the center of the line pointing straight up.

3. Now the top of the drive wheel needs to be forced outward carefully, so brace the bottom with your hand and push the top of the wheel from the inside. Use your judgement here, you'll make several adjustments so don't over do it.

4. To check your work, repeat the marker trick. If you've made a difference, the next line that you mark on the rim should be longer (the shorter the line, the more acute the bend is in the driveshaft).

5. Repeat this as many times as is needed to start getting a solid line at least most, if not all the way around the wheel. I started with a line around 90 degrees of the wheel, to 120, to 180. If you've made a few lines you may need to use a rag and solvent to carefully remove the marker lines - DON'T rub it into the rubber wheel.. I can't imagine anything good coming from that.

I've tried using load to center the rubber, didn't help. Feels as though the rubber is thicker on one side. I turned the rubber around and mounted it backwards w which helped a little, the contact between the motor and wheel is steady now (movement is down to about 1mm back and forth) but didn't fix the issue. Still makes a clicking sound.

The supplier said they checked 2 machines and neither had any wobble, so they're going to send me another drive wheel.

Here's a video showing the only way I could think of to test if the zinc wheel is buckled.

https://vimeo.com/626184700

I'll update with a before/after video assuming the new wheel is the fix.

Thanks for the reply Micha.

I've e-mailed Tormek Support, depending what happens I'll try and update this thread with the result and any replacement I end up doing personally so others can see the process.

Hi team,

Hope you're all doing well. I think I have the drive wheel issue that has been talked about here in a few other threads. Anyone able to watch this video and confirm it for me before I contact the dealer I bought the T8 from?

I tried sanding the rubber which helped *marginally* - it at least took down the thin rubber strip from the center which can't have helped things. But I think the wheel is actually buckled, judging from the side to side play.

https://vimeo.com/621320233

What do you guys think?