Hi everyone. My post is written from my skill level, which is fairly described as beginner.
I'm a home cook with decent knowledge of the kitchen knife sharpening process from reading/watching tutorials and discussing it with japanese whetstone nerdy colleagues. My previous experience however is limited to those pull through sharpeners and diamond honing rods for my kitchen.
I got the T1 to work on my own and my colleagues knives.
I've run into a few issues I need help with:
1. Honing wheel wobble.
Probably not a big issue, but I wonder if it's a defect I should worry about?
Video of the wobble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4TL6vcI8bs
You can also very clearly hear the position of a wheel rotation cycle based on this, as the sound is difference each time to passes the "bump".
For certain parts/positions of the knife when honing, I end up with the pulse of the wobble pushing/jumping the knife a bit, forcing me to lay off the pressure a lot.
What do you think, is this something that'll affect my sharpening?
2. Jig tightness
This might be user error, but depending on the knife the jig setup becomes very tight when I try to push through the knife. To get the knife down to actually touch the grinding wheel I have to push hard enough that the jig rubber itself grips the wheel to the point where it stops the grinding wheel.
I've mainly done an angle of 10 degrees so far, I guess that would increase the risk of this?
I've had this video as my guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOkhrCjzc_4 and there it just looks so effortless in comparison.
However I've read a bit on the forum here and found a discussion about points of contact, and that maybe you're supposed to not have a wide section of the blade touching the wheel. Instead you should only have a single point of contact by angling the knife up/down accordingly. Maybe? I'm confused here, as the instructional video shows the knife somewhat straight into the jig.
3. Jig horizontal position
When the jig nut is loosened, you can move it forward/backwards and also remove it completely.
How do you decide where to position it horizontally? I thought this was the reason for the jig being too tight but depending on the position it makes it easier/harder/impossible to reach certain parts of the knife when sharpening it.
4. Knife sharpness/end result
This is the big issue for me.
The diamond sharpening wheel is 600 grit and the composite honing wheel is roughly estimated to 3500-4000 (info from Tormek on youtube comments).
Given my experience level I had hoped and assumed I would be able to repair dents/nicks in my knives and also get them super sharp.
Repairing:
I have a japanese petty knife with some dents I've been working on getting rid off. I'm still not done, and after ~20 minutes of grinding I opted to turn it off due to being very warm.
For this part I wonder if the T1 is made for this scenario and I should just keep at it, or if it's mainly meant for "just" sharpening and I'm using the wrong tool for the job?
Sharpness:
No matter how much time on the honing wheel and how much of the honing wheel I grind away (a lot of black dust is created), I can't get the knifes super sharp.
I can get them sharp, but not crazy sharp. Definitely usable for kitchen applications but not close to what I know should be possible.
I have a Yaxell Zen chefs knife. It is super sharp. I can take a printer paper, fold it in half and stand it up and cut right through it with little effort with that knife. I can also cut through paper like shown in the T1 video here: https://youtu.be/rOkhrCjzc_4?t=273 (timestamp 4:32) - meaning I don't have to firmly grip the knife and pull through the paper, it is quite effortless.
Don't ge me wrong here, the point is not for me to cut through paper all day, cooking food is the end goal, but this is a point of measure. It also a factor of hobby interest from me and my colleagues who all want to achieve having super sharp knives, comparable to what they have been able to do with whetstones by hand so far.
I've practiced on 5 knives so far, a "regular" OBH Nordica kitchen knife and a bunch of not-super-expensive japanese knives. They're all part of a set fiancé got many years ago.
One of them, a nakiri, is almost as sharp as the Yaxell Zen and I can almost cut through paper with the same effort.
However on all the knives I've worked on, they all get sharp up to a point and quite consistently so - I can get them all to the same level of sharpness.
But this sharpness is nowhere near able to cut through paper with the same small amount of effort like the Yaxell knife, or the cheaper japanese nakiri I have. Trying to cut through paper I can end up sawing back and forth and still not getting through (would probably be better explain with a video).
In any case, I can not achieve what is shown in the T1 instructional video.
My Yaxell knife is sharpened at 10 degrees so that's why I've done 10 degrees on the knives I've worked on as well. I'm thinking the angle will affect the sharpness.
At this point I'm not super happy with the purchase and wish we had gone for the T4. I get it that it takes a lot more training and skill to use than the T1 but I fear the T1 may not be able to do what we were (perhaps naively?) hoping for.
What do you think, am I doing something wrong or are my expectations misaligned for this product?
I'm a home cook with decent knowledge of the kitchen knife sharpening process from reading/watching tutorials and discussing it with japanese whetstone nerdy colleagues. My previous experience however is limited to those pull through sharpeners and diamond honing rods for my kitchen.
I got the T1 to work on my own and my colleagues knives.
I've run into a few issues I need help with:
1. Honing wheel wobble.
Probably not a big issue, but I wonder if it's a defect I should worry about?
Video of the wobble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4TL6vcI8bs
You can also very clearly hear the position of a wheel rotation cycle based on this, as the sound is difference each time to passes the "bump".
For certain parts/positions of the knife when honing, I end up with the pulse of the wobble pushing/jumping the knife a bit, forcing me to lay off the pressure a lot.
What do you think, is this something that'll affect my sharpening?
2. Jig tightness
This might be user error, but depending on the knife the jig setup becomes very tight when I try to push through the knife. To get the knife down to actually touch the grinding wheel I have to push hard enough that the jig rubber itself grips the wheel to the point where it stops the grinding wheel.
I've mainly done an angle of 10 degrees so far, I guess that would increase the risk of this?
I've had this video as my guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOkhrCjzc_4 and there it just looks so effortless in comparison.
However I've read a bit on the forum here and found a discussion about points of contact, and that maybe you're supposed to not have a wide section of the blade touching the wheel. Instead you should only have a single point of contact by angling the knife up/down accordingly. Maybe? I'm confused here, as the instructional video shows the knife somewhat straight into the jig.
3. Jig horizontal position
When the jig nut is loosened, you can move it forward/backwards and also remove it completely.
How do you decide where to position it horizontally? I thought this was the reason for the jig being too tight but depending on the position it makes it easier/harder/impossible to reach certain parts of the knife when sharpening it.
4. Knife sharpness/end result
This is the big issue for me.
The diamond sharpening wheel is 600 grit and the composite honing wheel is roughly estimated to 3500-4000 (info from Tormek on youtube comments).
Given my experience level I had hoped and assumed I would be able to repair dents/nicks in my knives and also get them super sharp.
Repairing:
I have a japanese petty knife with some dents I've been working on getting rid off. I'm still not done, and after ~20 minutes of grinding I opted to turn it off due to being very warm.
For this part I wonder if the T1 is made for this scenario and I should just keep at it, or if it's mainly meant for "just" sharpening and I'm using the wrong tool for the job?
Sharpness:
No matter how much time on the honing wheel and how much of the honing wheel I grind away (a lot of black dust is created), I can't get the knifes super sharp.
I can get them sharp, but not crazy sharp. Definitely usable for kitchen applications but not close to what I know should be possible.
I have a Yaxell Zen chefs knife. It is super sharp. I can take a printer paper, fold it in half and stand it up and cut right through it with little effort with that knife. I can also cut through paper like shown in the T1 video here: https://youtu.be/rOkhrCjzc_4?t=273 (timestamp 4:32) - meaning I don't have to firmly grip the knife and pull through the paper, it is quite effortless.
Don't ge me wrong here, the point is not for me to cut through paper all day, cooking food is the end goal, but this is a point of measure. It also a factor of hobby interest from me and my colleagues who all want to achieve having super sharp knives, comparable to what they have been able to do with whetstones by hand so far.
I've practiced on 5 knives so far, a "regular" OBH Nordica kitchen knife and a bunch of not-super-expensive japanese knives. They're all part of a set fiancé got many years ago.
One of them, a nakiri, is almost as sharp as the Yaxell Zen and I can almost cut through paper with the same effort.
However on all the knives I've worked on, they all get sharp up to a point and quite consistently so - I can get them all to the same level of sharpness.
But this sharpness is nowhere near able to cut through paper with the same small amount of effort like the Yaxell knife, or the cheaper japanese nakiri I have. Trying to cut through paper I can end up sawing back and forth and still not getting through (would probably be better explain with a video).
In any case, I can not achieve what is shown in the T1 instructional video.
My Yaxell knife is sharpened at 10 degrees so that's why I've done 10 degrees on the knives I've worked on as well. I'm thinking the angle will affect the sharpness.
At this point I'm not super happy with the purchase and wish we had gone for the T4. I get it that it takes a lot more training and skill to use than the T1 but I fear the T1 may not be able to do what we were (perhaps naively?) hoping for.
What do you think, am I doing something wrong or are my expectations misaligned for this product?