Messages

I run a knife sharpening business that started out just like yours is now.
I still sharpen family and good friends knives for free.
Normal friends get 'mates rates'.
Everyone else gets charged at a reasonable rate to commensurate me for my time.
It's a side hustle that is now rewarding for all the time and expense I've put in.
If I could take a leap it would become THE hustle and not a side one.
However,my focus has always been quality over quantity and my customers are passionate about their knives and don't argue prices or ever complain.
So I would need to put in some promo work and widen my radius to make it a full time business. Every time you sharpen for family and friends you are gaining invaluable experience/practice and knowledge so it's an investment as well as being a joy to do.
(I still love sharpening despite many hundreds of knives).
On a practical level, from what you've described, I would suggest paying more attention to your honing technique/protocols to achieve silent buttery smooth slicing of paper.
It's easy to chop down a tree when you know how. Another matter to properly clear up afterwards.
Same with knife sharpening. It's relatively easy to grind an edge and raise a burr. A different matter to hone and completely remove the burr to get it to its true potential.
Keep going, enjoy, and good luck on your journey.

Maybe an old topic I know.
So let's get some views on this.
I have to admit it's pretty hit or miss for me.
Despite lots of research, theorising and practice it's still eluding me.
Anyone got a reliable technique for this using Tormek and or other equipment?
Im talking serrated knives with big scallops, bread knives etc.
Grind scallops first and chase the burr on the flat side?
Or flat side first à la Wootz and deburr on the scallops?
Have tried a variety of ways and no real consistent results ( sometimes excellent and others very disappointing).
Any thoughts would be most welcome!

Hi Mr Duster.
I don't think there will be any noticeable performance differences between wet and dry.
2 implications using dry:
Dust.
Possible clogging of wheel (running through water cleans the wheel as you go and leaves dust in the water)

Using wet with AC:
No dust.
Water all over the place( though this can be countered).
Mixing up AC to correct proportion and not wasting it. ( you will get spillage. It adds to your cost and time. It can be reused by filtering but adds time and fiddle faddle.

I think a Tormek should really be used with water. That's what it was designed for.
Ive said this before but worth repeating:
Give me water splashes and slight inconvenience any time rather than metal dust everywhere.

Hi Dennis.
Completely agree with 2 previous replies.
I would get used to using the SG wheel, practicing and becoming entirely competent with it.if you are happy with the results then stick there.
Only consider investing in diamond or CBN wheels later, if you find yourself sharpening more and more knives ( friends and family will come out of the woodwork once they discover you're set up, you may decide to start a small business?!). For personal knives with occasional sharpening the basic set up is more than adequate.

I agree with Ricks replies 100%.
With regards the felt honing wheel though.
My personal experience with using one (bought from Vadim) was not that good.
Couldn't get it to produce Vadims' results no matter what I did and how much I tinkered with it. Always higher Bess initially and always higher Bess after subsequent honing on leather.
Enquiries on this forum produced mixed conclusions.
I wanted to make it work but gave up after much experimentation and frustration.
So to return to an old inconclusive subject:
Who in this community has good results with a felt wheel à la Vadim?
How, EXACTLY, have you made it work?
This is maybe a word of caution to the OP before they rush in headlong thinking the felt wheel will be game changing.

My bad. That 350mm measurement includes a revolving base.
So it's 350mm minus the revolving base. Im not able to get to the workshop right now to measure that but if someone can't supply that information I'll get to it tomorrow...
Good point Ken!

I have just measured it at 350mm. As accurate as I can be. Hope this helps.

Click on my name and select ' send PM '

Hi Wimpsi.
You are indeed on a journey.
There's no real quick fix and practice will be your friend.
Your work flow questions will be answered by focusing on practice and consistent repeatability for 'mainstream knives' protocols that you develop.
I have found that once you get accustomed to the above you will find a way to efficiently be able to batch your incoming knives and be able to quickly assess which knives need what treatment and then streamline your process to make the most of your precious time to achieve your desired results. At this point it is all about thinking ahead and planning rather than charging in and trying to rush things.
You will get there, be assured.
PM me if you want details of how I do my workflow.
One thing though from previous comments, what do you want to achieve?
If sub 200 Bess is your goal then sell out and do all your sharpening on belt grinders and go for volume rather than quality.
If sub 120 Bess is your goal, indicating complete burr removal (quality) then stick with Tormek. It is easily achievable and a quality of results that will be really appreciated by your customers, if they are worthwhile customers.
Once you get a set of protocols to meet under 120 Bess the testing becomes irrelevant on the Bess tester and a green rizla paper will be the only test you need.
Keep going!

I had a problem with one of my US430's.
Where one of the legs was welded to the support bar, a tiny piece was very slightly proud of the back of the support bar. Only detectable when drawing the knife jig along it, producing a bump.
Five minutes with a file sorted it out.

This is interesting.
Just being a bit hypothetical here on in.
Is it a given that the standard SG250 wheel, if graded to coarse, will gradually tend to fine if used to grind a knife?
How gradual is this?
If one was to keep grinding on and on, adjusting the USB as the stone wore down so as to maintain a constant angle.
How fine a grit on the stone could we achieve? ie original posters question?
And of course (re Ken's post) it's a bit arbitrary .
But could we ever turn an SG250 into a 10k stone?
Or are the abrasive particles 'set' to only effectively grind at the 1k mark.
I suppose I'm just waffling on and fleshing out the original posters question.
Do we really need loads of diamond or CBN wheels of different grits or do we just need a range of different grit 'cheap' diamond plates and the one SG250 stone?
Hmmmmm.
I think I need to go to bed......

Im not good with technology so won't attempt to give a link. If you go through Knife Grinders videos on YT there are a few in which Vadim shows how to do this correctly.

Also check that you have the knife correctly aligned in the jig so that you are not fighting' against the jig stop on the USB. The tracking on the stop can throw off your even pressure along the length of the knife if not correctly aligned.

Hi. Lovely work. Can you explain the process of restoring the handle? More specifically, the work done to all the washers? Thanks.

Surely the answer here is to use the tried and tested 'increase the spine thickness by adding layers of tape to the desired tolerances' which I think is between 2 and 3 mm?