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This whole forum is a treasuretrove of information. I'm very happy to have found it.

Wow, a nine page thread. I know what I'll be doing for the next few days. Thanks for the tip.

Here is a picture of the knife. It's a cheap $8 knife, soft stainless steel that I bought just to practice on. I want some more skill before I play around with my Wusthofs.
Thanks for the input. I'll try harder not to pivot and make sure I don't over grind the tip. I'll keep on practicing and I'll get back to you with the result.

Due to personal circumstances I haven't been able to go all in with my Tormek but I got my FVB from Wootz this week so i started to practice. I've gotten to the point that the bevel is nice and even almost along the whole length, the problem is the tip. As shown in the picture (edge to the right, tip up) the very tip is in a different angel from the rest of the bevel. I don't know if I'm being an*l about it (I'm a surgical nurse so yes, I'm an*l about it) or if it dosen't have any practical implications. I first thought that I lifted the handle to mutch but it looks like a sharp line between the angels. If I just lifted to mutch then, I think, it would have been a smoother transition.
I'm at the start of my learning curve and I want to learn the right way rather than get set in a way that's wrong. So I need some advice from you guys how to solve this problem.

I have a Mac ceramic honingrod, that's a good one, but it's the grinding part I don't like with the ceramic rod. When I look at the edge through my USB-microscope after honing the edge dosen't look good. So I thought that I should try a honing steel that just straightens the edge up. That's the reason I wonder what steel-rods people use.

Hello. I'm so fed up with my ceramic honingrod that ruins my edges so I'm looking for a good steelrod. So I wonder what you guys use for daily/weekly maintenance? I'm not looking for a honingsteel that looks flashy, I'm after one that has good steel and good function.

Homemade jigs. The one on the left is adjustable for the SB-wheel. The one on the right is non-adjustable for the leatherwheel and is set at 18°@139mm.

This might be a stupid question but my math skills aren't the best.
I'm planning to make my own twist on the kenjig and wonder if there is a difference in numbers/distance if I use the support bar in different positions? My logic says it should not make any difference where the bar is, the trigonometry is the same.

Thanks Hanns. I usually check my knife with the "Filetto de carta per fotocopiatrice" test. If the knife fillets the paper I'm happy. But I will get some cigarette paper and test knifes.

Hello again. I just have to say that this forum is a pot of gold of knowledge for someone like me who is new to the Tormek system, many thanks to all that post their experience.

I'm looking for some fluorocarbon fishingline to use as an indicator for a wire edge. I read in a post that 0.21 mm/7 lbs is equal to the original Bess-line. I gotten hold of a line, 0,36 mm/16lb. Can I use that line to collapse the wire edge and then use my USB-microscope to look for a dent in the edge or is it to thick/hard? I'm not gonna use it to measure the edge, just find out if there is a wire edge.

Cheers, Hans

I was just about to ask something like this. Im not looking for a media to messure the edge, just to fold/damage the last small burr so I can see it in my microscope. Then I can just use something thats close to wootzs specs, right?

[You can detect the wire edge]

Our "Knife Deburring" research discriminates burrs into "positive" that should be honed at a higher angle to get the edge sharper, and "negative" that should not.
In the context of knife sharpening, the term "negative burr" is an umbrella term, not fully matching the connotations given to it in the metallurgical science.
There is a branch in cognition science about human thinking based on polarized constructs. We've introduced this "positive-negative" construct to make selection of deburring method easy. This "positive-negative" logical construct helps us to choose the right honing method.

Van, if you cannot see your knife steel in the "Knife Deburring" book, the chapter SELECTION OF A DEBURRING METHOD, feel free to email me and I will advise the honing method to get the best sharpness and edge retention on your particular steel, as we keep records of all knife steels we sharpen.

You can detect the wire edge that forms when you hone the "positive burr" at the edge angle, even if you do not have a sharpness tester.
I'd say everyone who wants lasting sharpness should learn to detect the wire edge, because the wire edge gets crushed under the cutting load, rendering the edge dull; it is the main cause of your knives dulling early.

So, you have apexed your blade, and honed it on the Tormek leather wheel with the Tormek honing compound at the edge angle.
You cannot feel or see any burr, the edge cuts paper and shaves your forearm.

We know that, honed at the edge angle, the base of the "positive burr" will be shaped into the wire edge, while the "negative burr" knife steel will not. The base of the burr is called "burr root" in the specialist literature. The micro-hardness in the burr root is higher than in the base metal, allowing to hone it into a very sharp but unstable wire edge.
While it is not easy to detect wire edge in hard alloy high-end knives without special equipment, it is relatively simple in mainstream knives.
Even if you do not own a BESS sharpness tester, you can do a simplified test for wire edge by cross push-cutting a stretched fluorocarbon fishing line, and checking under good light or with a loupe if the very edge has got a micro-dent in the point of the cut – wire edge will dent, while the cleanly deburred apex will not.
Similarly, "positive burr" deburred at the edge angle will micro-dent, while the "negative burr" will not.
The fluorocarbon fishing line must be 7 LB 0.21 mm or near that.
Microscope image follows, but this dent can be seen with the naked-eye by scattered light.



On the wire edge the sharpness tester will show over 300 BESS, 500-600 BESS is not unusual, and 500 BESS is a dull knife.

I wrote the "Knife Deburring" book to explain types of the burr we get on knives and give all facts one may need to make his own informed conclusions and develop sharpening procedures that eliminate the wire edge, providing for lasting sharpness.
But if you don't feel like reading through the book, you can take my word for it, and simply follow our sharpening protocols. Our sharpening protocols by knife steel are detailed in the DEBURRING chapter of the book, but the basics are available for free in the evaluation version of the Knife Deburring book on our website, in its Sharpening Resources section.

A question from a stupid swede about the fishingline . Is it 7 pounds breakingpoint and 0.21 mm in diameter?

Doh!! I just bought a new 300 mm caliper.....
It looks like a good piece of equipment that I'll surely will buy.

Thanks for the response cbwx34, those are good advices.

Hola muchachos.

I got my T8 couple of weeks ago and have been playing around with it. I have managed to sharpen a chisel to shaving-sharp, pretty pleased with my self as it is the first thing I ever sharpend on a Tormek. Now I started with knifes and I quickly realized that's a whole other ballgame. So, now I need some help from the experts with some questions.
-What does your solution for measuring the projection look like?
-In Tormeks video "live sharpening part 1" they clamp the knife along the heel-point-line but I have seen many clamp parallel to the edge. Does it really matter as long as I do it the same way every time?
-Is it possible to use Wootz's angel calculator on the leatherwheel?
-If so, where is the reference point to measure from?

I hope you can understand my dyslex... dislix... dyslebian English

Cheers, Hans