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Waterlogging is a tricky little problem with the Tormek, though. Many have the Tormek rubber mat under it to catch the water.

I have that too. This rubber mat (RM-533) is on a wooden plate of 18mm plywood.

What I have done is the following:
1) the Tormek stands as far to the left as possible on this rubber mat
2) Under the plywood plate I put a piece of plywood of 3mm thickness on the left lath.

Now when water drips off the Tormek, it all flows to the right side of the rubber plate. I can easily reach that and dip it up with some kitchen paper.
I aim for a water drain on the right side, so that it immediately flows into a bucket.

That the Tormek is skewed 3 mm is not noticeable.

I've been absent for a while, due to busy work, but....

Do diamond wheels also need to be cleaned?
If so, what is a good and practical method?

Thanks in advance!

I have a small goniometer myself. I can get by pretty well with that. But for the wider knives, it was too small. I could only measure knives near the tip. I didn't think that was accurate enough for the larger knives.

In my search, I came to one that was designed slightly differently. The knife is now behind the large protractor and not between the laser lamp and the protractor (see photo).

I ordered this one and now use it regularly. I like it very much. This goniometer is also made in Germany. Below is the abbreviated link to the product. The goniometer is sold through Ebay.de. If you enter 'goniometer' as search term there. Then you will get there automatically.

https://ap.lc/MbDjm

I have a beautiful Stanley No. 5 plane from around 1960. Only the plane iron (lightly sharpened) was not ground accurately. I corrected that on the Tormek T8.

I chose a sharpening angle of 26 degrees. For that, I used the Tormek accessory TE-77 (photo 1). It's important to position the iron correctly in it. I don't use the two small adjustment knobs for corrections. I do it the old-fashioned way: a 90-degree pencil mark just below the cutting edge. This serves as a check to ensure I'm sharpening square. By the way, a good plane should have a bit of play when adjusting the iron (think of an angle of 89 degrees). However, it's important for the cutting edge of a plane iron to be perfectly straight.

I used the following Tormek diamond stones in this order: DC-250 (360 microns), DF-250 (600 microns), DE-250 (1200 microns), and finally the SJ-250 (4000 microns).

First, I sharpened the back of the blade (the flat side). It must be perfectly flat; otherwise, you won't achieve the desired sharpness and may also get scratches on the planed surface. I sharpened this flat on the sides of the Tormek stones mentioned above.

Next is the bevel of the plane iron. Plane irons are often sharpened in daily use because they tend to dull relatively quickly. Therefore, you don't remove more steel than necessary. You can see this on photo 2, on the right side of the bevel. The angle is correct at the bevel, but not at the top of the bevel. From our sharpening perspective, it may not look perfect, but it's not a problem for a carpenter's use. It will be corrected in the next sharpening session, resulting in a nice, crisp bevel.

I never sharpen a micro bevel on a plane iron. We don't know that in the Netherlands. I find the discussion about that more theoretical than practical.

After sharpening the bevel on all the stones, the iron looks sharp (photo 3). It easily cut the hair on my arm. The BESS score ranged from 81 to 99 (photo 4). It's not consistent, but more than sufficient for practical use, based on my 53 years of working and sharpening experience with carpentry tools.

However, I ran the plane iron over a leather wheel with 0.25 micron diamond paste. This resulted in a stable BESS score of 61. I'm very satisfied with this level of sharpness (photo 5).

Afterward, I need to slightly round the edges on both sides of the bevel, so as not to create a "groove" in the wood (photo 6). I do this freehand with the DF-250.

(I hope the translation is a bit clear)

I have been asked to sharpen the blades of a 50 year old 'silver' cutlery.
Are there any points of interest, which I should pay attention to?

(I read on the internet:
"Silver-plated cutlery is often made of stainless steel to which a layer of silver is applied. This is done by electrolysis, a method in which silver is dissolved by electricity and attached to the steel.)

Good morning dear members,

Mr. Vadim of Knifegrinders in his excellent book, gives examples of grinding routines. Among these, he assumes "paper wheels with autosol'.
But if you only have a Tormek, can you assume a 'leather wheel with Tormek paste'?

If not, what is the best alternative, if you don't work with paper wheels?

Wim

I notice something strange with the BESS sharpness tester

If I put a block of wood on a digital accurate scale, it weighs (for example) 46.5 grams. If I press tara and weigh that same block again, it again weighs 46.5 grams. That's the way it's supposed to be.

But with my BESS sharpness tester (Edge-On-Up PT50A), I measure a much higher value for the same block of wood: 57 grams.

If I repeat the same measurement as described above on the BESS scale, the results vary: 57 grams, 60 grams, 58 grams 74 grams, and so on.

That there is a difference between scales, I can understand, but the difference is substantial. But that the same cube on the BESS scale gives different measurement results, I find strange.

I do have an idea that difference occurs with putting the block of wood on it. If I put it on more forcefully, I get a higher value than if I put it on more subtly.

Maybe I shouldn't think of my BESS sharpness tester as a "scale.

Who can tell me a little more about this

Today I also got an Edge-on-up BESS meter. I have a couple of question about that:

I see on YT videos when using the BESS Edge-on-up cards, writing down the measured value before and after grinding. Are these cards for sale?
(I can't find it on the internet)

I am happy with this measuring tool, because now I can see for the first time, which grinding results I have achieved (in a number of measurements it varied from 45 to 130 BESS)

I am considering purchasing the Japanese grinding wheel the SJ-250. I have two questions about that:

1) Who has examples of grinding routines when using the SJ-250. This is not about the sharpening part (which I do with the diamond stones), but about honing process. Or is honing just redundant?

2) I am using the diamond stones with the water to which the anti-rust concentrate has been added. Can I also use this mixture for the SJ-250?  Or does it have to be pure water?

Thanks in advance for the answers

Wim

What happens to me, when I change the grinding wheels,is that sometimes the water tank of the T8 falls over and everything is covered with water. This always happens at an inconvenient time. The water tray is fall-prone, due to its shape.

So I made a stand from some leftover plywood, on which I slide the water basin. Now it can't fall over anymore.
I slide the water basin between the two guiding laths towards the bolts (6mm). There it slides in line with the T8 itself.

I finished the plywood with Danish oil, because water and wood are not friends.

It works simply. Important is the dimension distance between the bolts (180mm) and the height of the bolts above the bottom plate (5mm)

Hello,
I have made a measuring block for the correct measurement of a knife, in combination with the Tormek SVM-45.
I refer to the one used by Wootz for its use and function.

It is made of 18 mm birch plywood. The essence is that I mounted two measuring rulers, so you don't have to scrape a rabbet. from the top sliding block, or from the bottom plate, where the measuring ruler lies.

On the upper block I have mounted two aluminum strips, so that this block is nicely parallel and therefore excact 90 degrees. With a bolt and nut the block is tightened.

I made it myself from leftover pieces, but it is easier to have everything cut to size in one go with a circular saw. That is more accurate and faster if you have no experience with woodworking.

I hope my translation is clear.

As a new Tormek grinder, I have already learned a lot through this forum and through Knife Grinder and Schleifjunkies.

As a woodworker, I made the 'Frontal Vertical Base ' (FVB) partly out of wood. It worked very good, and I want to share that with you.
See the photos and the sketch.  Here are some remarks about the making:

1) It is important to use wood of dense composition with annual rings (quartersawing), that are close together and that is dry (photo 2). I myself have chosen maple. But beech, or oak can all be used as well.

2) It is important to be able to plane and drill to an accuracy of 0.5mm. For planing you better use a piece of wood twice the length (about 300mm). That planes more accurately. It is also important to plane the wood at right angles (90 degrees) and to plane it at the same thickness.

3) The measurements I used are on the drawing (photo 4). The sizes that are double underlined are important. The other sizes may vary slightly.

4) The measurements must all be plotted from the right angle and also from the center of that right angle.

5) Very important is that the 16mm from the right angle, for the 12mm holes, is completely parallel to this right angle.

6) For drilling, use a pillar drill. I pre-drilled the 12mm holes first with a 2mm drill bit.

7) Because of the water usage with the Tormek, I finished the wood with 3 coats of Danish oil.

8 ) On the front I screwed the Tormek XB-100 Horizontal Base from Tormek (photo 3). It is important that the top of this XB-100 is exactly flush with the top of the wood. I personally chose to place this XB 100, 1mm higher, because I want to measure from the XB-100 and not fromt the wood, if necessary.

I have only named the essential points of interest. You could also have a woodworker plane the wood to exact dimensions.
(28mm x 53mm, length: 300mm).

Good luck in making it and I hope the translation is clear.

I'm new to this forum and hope to learn a lot and maybe answer questions in due course.
I come from the Netherlands and hope the translation goes well.

50 years ago, as an carpenter in education, I learned to grind on a large sandstone rotating in water. Slow, slow, but sharp. And that, honing the chisel with a famous Belgian honingstone.

Since a week I now have a Tormek T8 with a lot of accessories. I could take it over and the T8 was less than a year old.

This week I performed the first grinding operations.  The results are encouraging, but not yet optimal.
It also reminds me a bit of 50 years ago......

My first question is of a more general.
I find the water tank spills quite a lot of water. Especially because the side almost touches the stone. There is only 3mm space between it and the water sometimes flows over it. (See drawing)

Am I doing something wrong?