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For my sharpening setup (T8), I use mainly diamond grindstones. I typically use the DC-250 (360G) for first time customers to reprofile the edge, sharpen with the DF-250 (600G), then refine the edge with my DE-250 (1200G)

That being said, my context is different from yours as I typically sharpen individual customer knives, and I have emphasis on the "wow" factor to increase repeat orders.

If you've already done the heavy lifting of reprofiling all their knives with your T4, and will be the only person sharpening their knives, then I personally recommend the DF-200 (600G) diamond stone as having the most bang for your buck in keeping their knives functionally sharp.

Additionally, I've used the 600G diamond grindstone to reprofile blades, but it does take a much longer time (compared to the 360G) If you don't foresee yourself sharpening individual customer knives like me in the near future, I'd say the DF-200 would suit your needs for your current context.

One mistake I made when pricing my services, was assuming that other knife sharpening services were doing work to the same standard as me.

That's why I don't really buy into the advice of "Look around and see what other sharpeners are charging". That advice makes sense only if you're duplicating the same processes/standards as what they're doing.

No way am I going to match the pricing of my T-8 sharpening with someone else who uses a bench grinder with a coarse grinding wheel shaped like a bagel that shoots sparks.

I think it's great that your daughter had the interest that went beyond just being a spectator.

Where I'm at, knife sharpening is seen as "low class" manual labour, made worse by a marketplace awash with cheap made-in-China crap that encourages people to treat kitchen knives as disposable.

Personally, anyone who has the interest in maintenance & repairs (instead of replacing) is worth nurturing & encouraging.

I have the T8 with the SG-250 stone.  Assuming I keep the stone grade at the nominal 1000 grit, how long will this last before it gets clogged with steel particles and will need to be regraded, or maybe even resurfaced?

One method I've been using to keep my grindstones as clean as possible during sharpening, was adding magnets to the bottom of my water trough.

Two flat button-shaped neodymium magnets pasted on the outside (bottom) of the trough have been pulling almost all metal particles from my grindstones. Once I started doing that, my ACC-150 solution has been kept clear, and I see a lot more swarf retained in the trough.

Instead of spinning the rectangular stones around on a carousel, it would be great if there was some sort of machine that would spin a round-shape stone against the knife instead.

Add an electric motor and some sort of holder to attach knives to during sharpening, and I think it'll be a winning combination.

I think a sharpening stone somewhere between 249mm and 251mm in diameter may work well.

What I've been doing with odd shaped blades, is to add equal layers of adhesive tape on both sides to increase thickness/adjust its shape.(I typically increase the thickness for extremely thin blades to raise my jig away from the grindstone)

It really doesn't matter to me if the KJ-45 is not closely clamped to the blade. As long as the blade doesn't wobble during sharpening, I was never affected by a wide clamp holding a thin/odd shaped blade.

I've been cleaning my Tormek diamond grindstones mainly with a lint roller.

I'm using the Ikea ones with the tear off sheets, and just letting them roll against the dry diamond grindstone spinning on my T8.

They've worked pretty well so far, and I haven't encountered any adhesives transferring.

I'm using a regular chair meant for a dining table, but my work table is set quite low. So that puts the contact point between the blade & grindstone at about eye level.

My T-8 is also positioned quite close to the edge of my work table, and I sit with the grindstone in line with the centre of my body.

I sharpen edge leading while seated, but I stand up while honing and sharpening edge trailing.

I think a key consideration is how you're detecting the burr.

I gently run the edge of the blade across my thumbnail (perpendicular) to "feel" the burr, and I also use a digital microscope for close up inspection.

A knife with a burr will still cut paper. You'll notice that in these YouTube videos, they tend to cut thicker paper, make very quick cuts, and you often don't get to see if the cut paper had a clean or ragged edge. (Got to remember that most of these content creators deal in the currency of attention) I stopped looking to these videos for inspiration or to benchmark my performance, and instead use my digital microscope.

Try the thumbnail method, and maybe get a cheap magnifying glass as a start (like I did)

From my personal experience:

1. When I used the T-8 standing behind it, I used to have the bad habit of resting my hands on the knife, with more pressure on the handle. This often made the blade "see-saw" across the grindstone, as well as applying uneven pressure during sharpening. This would often cause gouges along the blade, and uneven sharpening near the heel/tip of the knife.

2. I also used to speed up moving the blade across the grindstone when starting from the heel and finishing at the tip. This often created slow areas of progress along these two spots.

What I do now:

a. Instead of standing behind my T-8, I sit in front of it with an LED lamp overhead, shining directly onto the grindstone. This broke my habit of resting my hand on the knife handle, and I could see very clearly when the knife began to "see-saw". This also allowed be to monitor the water that gathered in front of the blade, and really helped me start with the heel of the knife fully squared against the grindstone.

But in summation, maybe look closer at how you've been applying pressure as the knife moves across the grindstone, and develop a setup that works best for your work environment and body.

All my scissors are cheap Ikea one. Some normal and some children sized.

I've sharpened a few old and worn Ikea brand scissors recently. The finishing touch was hammering the pivot rivets like they owed me money. If the scissors don't align/mate properly, then no amount of grinding would make them feel sharper.

Unsure how the latest Tormek OEM manual is not convincing, but okay.

I'll stick to referencing my OEM manual printed by Tormek, a company that I can hold accountable.

Hello. Looking to the community for thoughts and comments on using my T1 to start a small knife sharpening table at a local farmer's market. What would you charge per knife? Do you think it worth it. Goal is to keep it small. No interest in growing big. Thank you.

Copied directly from the Tormek T-1 user manual

"Automatic overheat protection
The Tormek T-1 has a recommended maximum operating time of 30 minutes per hour. The motor has an automatic overheat protection system that will shut off the motor if it reaches a certain temperature. Note: If the motor shuts off, always turn off the machine by pressing the power button as the motor will resume operation once it cools down."

I think a key consideration specific to the T-1 is the duration of knife sharpening you plan to conduct at the farmer's market in a workday. I don't personally own a T-1, but I got myself the T-8 largely because of the longer runtimes (on top of its versatility)

You may run into issues if you get a surge of customers and the T-1 keeps shutting down to cool off.

I have a strong hunch that these "titanium cutting boards" are actually titanium nitride coated boards.

Nothing beyond hyperbole and a very stretched reality.

Many purists swear by natural stones claiming that they give a far more robust and sharper edge though much of this is probably perception rather than reality.

I personally find it quite ironic how people can discuss (and argue) about how various types of natural stones need to be used for sharpening a knife.

The same knife that came out of a factory that uses synthetic stones.

I've had knife sellers tell me how only specific brands of stones can be used with knives, and going on and on about this "special technique" that they couldn't describe to save their lives.