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I need to check out the local college and see what tools they have available.

Anyone else have any ideas on where4 do it yourself machine shop equipment might be had?

I add a couple of drops of Dawn dish soap in my water. I wonder how a bit of CLR would work in tour case?

The only STL file I have seen from Tormek is for Tilt Feet. There are many STL files for different things that individuals have developed; they take some research to find.

https://tormek.com/en/products/accessories/tf-2-tilt-feet

I came across a video (not Tormek related) on a cheap and easy way to sharpen serrated knives. I have an older serrated bread knife that is used at least daily and often more than that. Over the years I have noticed it's performance on sourdough bread worsening. I tried the method shown in this video and based on my sample of one it worked remarkably well. My serrations are scallop shaped. I would be interested to hear your experience using this method if you try it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jfpij6MvpY

I deburr most knives at 1.5°-2° greater than the sharpening angle. This is what Vagim recommended in his book on sharpening and deburring for most steels. Is this a micro bevel? If so it has worked well for my knives and my customers.

Lucky for me my customers don't sharpen anything, some have actually said they try and use the steel after I gave them some training. I think many of the chips come from inattention or poor handling. They also forget and throw several together for hand washing. I'm making progress, none use dishwasher any more.

I only sharpen knives from a select group of customers. I don't want it to turn into a job. The knives I sharpen are mostly European, French and Japanese with a few Dalstrong or Chinese knives. None are super steels. Most of the knives have only been sharpened by me so I rarely have much to do. The worse I get are chips from careless use.

Thanks for those tips TGB I will bring them to our library and see how much they want to print them. 3D printing is one area I have no experience with. I missed this during my engineering career. I was quite active in creating 3D computer models for stress calculations.

Found it

They mentioned printing your own for individual use. Does any one have link to the file?

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.

Most things sold today are not easily repaired at home. Spare parts if available are often expensive after shipping is added making it cheaper to buy yhe newest model. Repairable items often have embedded computer or firmware that cannot be user serviced or you need special diagnostic equipment to tell what's wrong. The list of things that can be worked on at home is dwindling.

Can you tell us what brand of knives you have?

I find that the SG-250 returns to an average 600 grit after a couple of knives. If I am resharpening a knife I have previously done I will use this mid grit then use the stone to get near 1000 for finishing before honing.

How long it will stay at a particular grit is also related to the pressure you apply but it won't be too long.

My daughter and SIL have watched several videos and will try it when they have some spare time. The are off to Florida for the cheerleading national championships. Ome of my granddaughter's teams won last year.

It was a very informative video. I think the black wheel may be an underutilized economical alternative for harder steels. These videos do increase my lusting for more wheels.