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Messages - Sir Amwell

#1
Hi Royale.
I don't entirely understand your question.
But looking at the photo of the knife before sharpening, here's a suggestion on how to proceed.
First grind the bolster down a bit so you can re profile the knife and get rid of the 'smile'.
Then re grind an edge to your 15 degrees per side and hone accordingly to get a sharp, deburred edge.
Only consider 'prettying' up the knife ( polishing, correcting old grind marks etc) if you have checked with the customer if that's what they want to do in terms of the process and agreement of the extra cost to achieve this?
Then state the knife is in it's obvious they aren't too concerned with aesthetics and  a good working edge is all that's required?
#2
I have a very similar if not exactly the same brush cutter blade. I'm almost certain that it is only the flat triangular section that you need to sharpen. As the previous poster said, should be no trouble on a Tormek.
#3
And to answer your question directly, I recall that Vadim maintained that anything over 120 Bess indicates the presence of a burr in some form be it wire, foil residual,or the root...
#4
Genuine Global knives have good steel and can be sharpened under 100 Bess quite easily. I do this on a T8 up to 1000 CBN wheel at 15 dps. Then hone at +0.5 degrees on a WSKO blade attachment with leather belt and Tormek honing compound, followed by exact on a leather belt with 5 micron diamond compound. Repeatable.
I have had a few 'Globals' which refused to respond to this protocol and left me wondering......
Think you may have a knockoff, fake, counterfeit call it what you will.
Hope your friend didn't pay too much for his 'Global'?
#5
Knife Sharpening / Re: pricing advice
July 17, 2025, 12:31:41 AM
I have a chef local to me who has 9 or ten top quality knives. He comes to me twice a year. He doesn't beat his knives up and looks after them. With my protocols it's always a relatively quick job to get them razor sharp. I know the knives, angles, honing procedures. Child's play. I don't over charge him but I make a decent hourly rate. He's so happy with the results and never balks at the cost.
Sooooo, it's all about getting the right customers and repeat business from people who appreciate what you are doing. Quality over volume every time!
And it makes the work better. Relaxed quality work rather than the ' quick, quick, gotta go faster to make the money' for non appreciative punters.
Now then, if only I could get a hundred customers like him life would be sweet!
#6
Hi secondofangle. I too struggled for a while to get rid of the Knifegrinders software crutch.
However, once you make the leap to using calcapp or such, or the new Tormek angle tool, you will realise just how simple and efficient they are to use and you then needn't worry about losing your crutch. Believe me, I went through the same process!
#7
Knife Sharpening / Re: Shun Fuji Knives
May 28, 2025, 12:57:03 AM
It depends on the condition of the knives.
If they are just needing a touch up then match the angle and maybe start oa 600 grit?
If they are badly damaged and need a re grind or re profiling then start lower.
Remember that all the hard work is done at lower grits.
Establish your edge and then refine and then de burr/ hone.
#8
Hand Tool Woodworking / Decent chisels
May 27, 2025, 05:21:11 PM
A while back I sharpened some chisels for a good friend.
Today he said that they were really sharp when he first got them back but the edge soon dulled and he's frustrated now that he didn't keep them honed up regularly, they are now blunt. We both agreed that not knowing the make that they were not quality in the first place.
Long story short, can anyone recommend a manufacturer for a set of 3 chisels to buy that will at least retain an edge for longer?
I'm not au fait with woodworking tools.
He mentioned going down the Japanese route, I said the same thing would apply to any purchase, 'do your research'.
I said I'd ask on here.
Thanks in advance.
#9
Yep! All sounds very familiar. As I've got more experience I've realised that it's all about getting the right customers rather than loads of iffy ones. If they appreciate what you do they'll come back and won't question your prices or techniques, allowing you to do a good rewarding job.
These days, if someone questions my prices or techniques or doesn't take my advice then they get binned. Just not worth it.
The chef thing? Yep agree wholeheartedly. I have several and they are good customers and meet the above criteria.
But I do remember one that I offered my services to. He said his kitchens knives were sharp and got a sous chef to bring one out to show me. You can imagine! I guess over 500 Bess. I said I could get it sharper than new for him. He asked how much? I told him (explaining about re profiling and how subsequent sharpenings would be cheaper). He laughed and replied that his contacts could get the knives ( I think they were Victorinox) cheaper than the sharpening (which I doubt).
I walked away thinking I'd dodged a bullet.
I guess you've just got to hang on in there until you get the right repeat customers who will start recommending you to other good repeat customers.
Might take a little longer but it's worth it in the long run.
#10
Knife Sharpening / Re: pricing advice
May 16, 2025, 08:13:22 PM
Agree with Royale and Ken wholeheartedly.
My personal mantra is quality over quantity.
Quality finds good, repeat customers who are appreciative and likely to recommend.
#11
This looks like a great solution. Thanks! Especially if you can add that 'friction' to the thread on the adjustable stop to stop slipping.
I refer back to my original post in this thread.
If you have found a solution to this problem ( and it is a problem for professional sharpeners), why haven't Tormek?
If they did we wouldn't have to retrofit!
As said before, I have 9 of the old svm jigs for batch sharpening and would be happy to buy 9 more of a new jig incorporating both benefits.
An argument I've read is that it wouldn't be in Tormeks interest to do so because it's too niche and they wouldn't make money on their investment/development/marketing.
I may be wrong but I beg to differ.
They finally did it with the new angle jig for knives, so why not with this?
I think they're missing an opportunity.
#12
Knife Sharpening / Re: DF-250 / SJ-250 combo
April 19, 2025, 01:57:57 AM
As a "hobbyist " it's hard to know what you're trying to achieve.
Ken is right, get used to the SG250 and then concentrate on your honing/deburring processes to realise your goal.
I sharpen professionally and hardly ever use the SJ250. For a personal project I may use it for prettying up an edge but in the real world it's a waste of time in my opinion. Finishing up on a 1000 grit, wether fine graded SG250 or a diamond/CBN and then correct honing is usually enough.
#13
Knife Sharpening / Re: Serration wheels
April 05, 2025, 10:27:30 PM
This is interesting 3D.
A couple of questions:
What are the wheels made of?
What is the burr removal process?- assuming after grinding, the burr is on the flat side. How do you remove it without flipping it over to the scalloped side?
Your original description match my experience exactly. Always dread a customer giving me a bread knife as the results are non predictable and still haven't hit on a good method. So this could be a game changer.
#14
I think I understand this John. Interesting.
Would this explain why some so called 'super steels' are easier to sharpen than others even though the Rockwell score is higher?
A cheap and reliable MOH tester may therefore be more useful to the knife sharpener than knowing the Rockwell hardness?
#15
Knife Sharpening / Re: Rock Hard Felt Wheels
February 19, 2025, 10:41:21 PM
Thanks for this Rick. Interesting.
From what I understand (and I may be wrong in this) your Bess scores would indicate that complete burr removal has not been achieved. This is not a criticism of you because you have freely given this info at cost of time and effort to yourself to try to answer some questions. Researching.
From somewhere I remember Vadim stating that a score of over 120 Bess is indicative of incomplete burr removal.
So, polishing on the SJ wheel at exact or +2 is not completely removing burr?
Honing on the felt wheel is not removing burr completely either?
And a final strop on kangaroo is also not achieving it?
So I return to my original post on this topic.
Does anyone have success using the felt wheel for honing?
I never did which is why I stopped using it.
I now do much the same process as 3D Anvil mentions,
Whilst the results are a bit variable, they are consistently lower than 120 Bess ( my bench mark, I never let a knife back to my customers above 120), and if I am suspicious about an edge ( paper tests, rizla paper tests, shaving etc), I Bess test and then hanging Roo strop and this usually takes a 140 score to below 120.
For me this is so much quicker and less fiddle faddle than all the felt/ SJ wheel stuff and suits me for batch sharpening of conventional knife steels. Higher end, higher hardness steels just require a slight adjustment of the leather belt honing stage.
Having said all that, what you are doing IS research and therefore valuable so id be interested in any further results. It's all adding to the data base of knowledge and someone will find it useful.
Thanks again.