News:

Welcome to the Tormek Community. If you previously registered for the discussion board but had not made any posts, your membership may have been purged. Secure your membership in this community by joining in the conversations.

www.tormek.com

Main Menu
Menu

Show posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Show posts Menu

Topics - sharpening_weasel

#1
Title. None of the jigs I have fit the chisels I use for timberframing- the skew jig is too small, the short tool jig is too small, and the general flat table surface jig references off the wrong side of the tool for me to put a bevel on it, if that makes sense. The bottom of my chisel is of course dead flat, but the top has a diamond cross section to it, so I can't reference off the top. Any suggestions? DIY jigs? Will Tormek ever come out with a "large chisel" jig, which I'd sell my soul, kidney, and firstborn child for?
#2
General Tormek Questions / SJ Wheel wheels rant
January 25, 2023, 10:20:51 PM
I'd like to preface this by saying I love and have used the SJ-250 stone for the past three years, not without issue, but at least with an acceptable level of annoyance. When I first recieved my T8 after upgrading from the t4 to support a growing sharpening business, I had to send one t8 and a different SJ-250 stone back to tormek due to absolutely atrocious wobbling of both the drive shaft and a warped stone. Customer service was stellar- Stig was almost instantaneous with replies and very helpful throughout the whole return process. My current stone still wobbles, but far less then the previous one. I've made use of Tormek's (and I believe I've seen it mentioned somewhere on the forum, not sure who to credit with that one) process of marking a line on the shaft, lock nut, and marking the stone into four quadrants to help align everything and remove as many variables as possible. I have to fiddle around with it for 3-5 or so minutes each time I set it up to get it running as smoothly as I can.

Now, onto my gripe.
The damn thing still wobbles. I've been assured by Stig that "The SG stones should run nicely and within the tolerances, see handbook page 162. The Japanese stone has almost twice as much [wobble] since they are made in a different way and the hole is slightly larger." I feel like this should not be the case for an almost FIVE HUNDRED dollar piece of equipment. If I'm paying this much for something, I think it should have at least the same tolerances as the relatively cheaper SG-250. Again, I'm not complaining about the level of the finish it leaves- that part is superb, no problems there. In addition, for no good reason, the SJ-250 stone will seemingly randomly (to me at least) go back out of true at random intervals, no matter if I've lined everything up identically to my previous settings. As a result, I have to go back and painstakingly true it up with the stone truer- at first a pucker inducing maneuver but as time went on it's gotten less stressful. Yay I guess. Each pass of the truer is money lost down the drain, in far greater quantities than just normal wear and tear would ever do, no matter how light the passes are.

In summary: the more expensive stone has almost 2x the wobble and 2x sloppier tolerances, resulting in increased sharpening time, increased stone wear (due to occasional truings), and general annoyance each time I switch stones. I feel like this shouldn't be a problem for an almost 500 dollar piece of equipment.

I'd be curious to hear other ideas/input.
#3
Knife Sharpening / Zero BESS reading Baloney?
November 14, 2022, 04:00:31 PM
Hello folks-

Recently I've been seeing something that's either incredibly awesome or incredibly disappointing, namely some zero BESS readings on a knife sharpening company's page. Now, they DO have some pretty impressive (think very!!) non BESS results- IE shaving wafer thin bits off of an unsupported cork, slicing an onion with an axe, etc. They make a point of showing several zero BESS readings. Now, I think this is where the bullshit comes in. First, please correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the BESS tester measure grams of force applied? So even if the knife is extremely sharp, it should still register one BESS at least? Secondly, this person makes a point of using the BESS tester without the pivot. Watching their technique, I don't see any slicing going on, just a straight push cut, but this still seems suspect to me. Another idea I had was that they had somehow calibrated their tester (like taring a scale) to the equivalent of 45 or so BESS- while still extremely impressive, this would still be faking results. My other thoughts are that the testing media is far over tightened, resulting in a BESS reading that averages consistently lower. And lastly, even our own Wootz (A very sad loss- he contributed immensely to this community and the science we use) was not able on his best day to come within this range. I know many people here view him as one of the foremost sharpeners here, and it seems peculiar to me that some non scientific knife sharpener could outdo him sheerly by accident. They also don't show any of their processes. So- these are my thoughts, I'm curious to hear other ideas. Is a zero BESS reading even possible? I'm unsure if I should mention this person publicly, but would be happy to do so if that's within etiquette rules. If this person actually has created a process that can consistently and reproducibly make zero BESS readings, without any funny business, I will first eat my hat and then proceed to be extremely impressed. Bravo to them if that's the case.
#4
Hello everybody- me again. As many of you suggested, I've read back through the forums looking for anything about trailing edge honing techniques, and have learned a ton. And yes, I probably have too much free time on my hands... there's a lot of information out there. I still have some questions, however.
   This is what I%u2019ve gleaned thus far. It seems the minimum wallet hurty process that yields better results then my current setup would be:
   
   SG250 @220  SG250 @1000 SJ250 @4000 the KG rock hard felt wheel with the FVB & software using controlled angle honing with the 1u diamond spray.
   What a mouthful. In regards to the felt wheel- due to the special qualities of the felt, I think the recommended honing angle is one to one and a half degrees steeper then normal, which removes the burr %u201Cat the source.%u201D I could also be entirely incorrect about all of this.
There are so many different recommendations and techniques bouncing around in my overstuffed brain that I wanted to run this by the experts before taking the plunge.

One last note- I keep seeing japanese water stones made by "sun tiger japan." Anybody have any experience with these?

Does this make sense thus far? Any glaringly obvious mistakes/mixups?

PS
The sharpening book just came in literally minutes ago! Holy cow it's amazing. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction everybody.
#5

Hello everybody- me again. As many of you suggested, I%u2019ve read back through the forums looking for anything about trailing edge honing techniques, and have learned a ton. And yes, I probably have too much free time on my hands... there%u2019s a lot of information out there. I still have some questions, however.
   This is what I%u2019ve gleaned thus far. It seems the minimum wallet hurty process that yields better results then my current setup would be:
   
   SG200 @220 %u2014> SG200 @1000 %u2014> SJ250 @4000 %u2014> the KG rock hard felt wheel with the FVB & software using controlled angle honing with the 1u diamond spray.
   What a mouthful. In regards to the felt wheel- due to the special qualities of the felt, I think the recommended honing angle is one to one and a half degrees steeper then normal, which removes the burr %u201Cat the source.%u201D I could also be entirely incorrect about all of this.
There are so many different recommendations and techniques bouncing around in my overstuffed brain that I wanted to run this by the experts before taking the plunge.

I%u2019d probably still use the sg200 on the T4 I have now for a bit before getting the SG250, if at all. I find that most of the time, the 220 grit isn%u2019t even necessary. So I%u2019d essentially be using the t4 for rougher grinding up to 1k, and then the t8 for 4k and the felt wheel.

One last note- I keep seeing japanese water stones made by "sun tiger japan." Anybody have any experience with these?

Does this make sense thus far? Any glaringly obvious mistakes/mixups?


#6
Hello all!

Long time forum lurker and professional sharpener here. I%u2019ve been running a moderate to high traffic sharpening business for the last year and a half or so, using the t4 and the standard SG-200 stone. I sharpen scissors, plane blades, chisels, and turning tools, but most of my business comes from local family's chef knives- not super high quality, but high volume and returning customers. I recently got an opening with a high quality catering business, and was realizing that my sharpening game needed to be upped.
A little background- I love the strop and honing compound for most woodcarving edge tools- I find the microscopic rounding and polishing to be extremely beneficial to longevity and smoothness of finish. However, when sharpening kitchen knives, the microscopic smoothing and rounding over caused by the strop can be detrimental. In my experience, you need flat or concave mirror polished surfaces for a supremely efficient edge. My current technique is to use the fine side of the sg200 on the t4 for sharpening, then take 1 verrrry light stroke on either side of the blade to remove the burr. This leaves a relatively decent, slightly sawtoothed edge, perfect for slicing vegetables and cutting meat. My ideal edge would be %u201Ctoothy polished,%u201D as it would last longer then the standard 1k grit edge but still slice through fibers with ease.
   Back to the question. For the most part, the t4 has served me well. Occasionally I have to take a break due to the duty cycle, and I find the smaller size impedes sharpening of larger turning tools, but on the whole, it%u2019s been decent. The price of the SJ-200 is almost the difference between the cost of the t4 and the stripped version of the t8. I%u2019d like to upgrade to a t8, but I%u2019m not sure about the stones.
      Should I get the SJ-250 in addition to the standard? I%u2019ve read some criticisms about the 2j-250 being too soft, catching knives and taking chunks out of a $$260 stone. Not ideal. In addition, with the volume of work I do, I worry about longevity. In a year I%u2019ve gone through the normal 2G200 and started on the next. Would the sj necessitate an intermediate stone? Or would the standard sg250 at maximum polish still work?
      Alternatively, I%u2019ve seen some interesting results with rock hard felt/paper. Any and all recommendations are welcome. 

May you be the sharpest knife in the drawer, and not a dull tool.  ;D