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In the ongoing debate of whether to sharpen knives grinding into or trailing, one question seems to be often overlooked:

Are we grinding with the knife held in a jig or freehand?

While perhaps not the only issue, I believe this is the fundamental issue. Grinding into the edge allows for observing the water flow over the edge. it also allows for heavier grinding pressure and faster grinding times. Grinding away makes freehand grinding possible. Grinding away may also allow for more control due to the slower pace, although a case can be made for the accuracy of using the jig.

Two sub questions should be included with this question: Have we developed the skill to sharpen freehand well? And, how many knives do we sharpen in what time period?

My knife sharpening mentor, who was proficient sharpening in either direction, generally sharpened edge trailing. While he acknowledges that jig sharpening offers the most control, he sharpened at farmers markets for many years with the Saturday morning time constraint of sharpening a hundred knives within the morning. Not having to set up each knife in a jig allowed him to "get up a little speed".

I offer these thoughts as guides and do not recommend carrying them to extremes. Your comments are welcome.

Ken

For some reason, I did not receive the notification email about the upcoming online class on Nov 22. The topic is maintaining your Tormek, an important topic.
Don't miss it!

Ken

I dislike referring to a forum comment when I cannot locate the original comment. In this case, I will make an exception. The comment was about chefs using knife sharpening services. The link to this video expresses my thought in the first minute or two. (The entire video is well worth watching; however, just the first small part will give you my thought.) Here is the link:

https://youtu.be/dtEfBKJZrVQ?si=YH41OurfqQ9CNmWb

I believe most chefs form the attachment with their knives craftsmen/artists have with their tools. They may prefer to use their personal knives and either sharpen them themselves or have a trusted assistant do it for them. In the past, there were few suitable sharpening options for a fastidious chef with little sharpening training. I believe the T2 offers a practical solution. Fine knives are expensive and are critical for a fine chef.

I believe the T2 fills a need for high end chefs, just as I believe the T1 can serve home cooks. My earlier comment about the T8 supplementing was unwise for this forum. "In partnership" would be a better choice of words. Both have strong points and are more versatile when combined with the other.

Ken

One of the reasons I like the text up grinding wheel mounting procedure demonstrated by Wolfgang is that it seems adequately accurate without being overly accurate. I define "overly accurate" as adding needless complications without adding practical benefits. The alignment procedure I devised is overly accurate. It is too cumbersome to be useful, especially with multiple grinding wheels. It will not be part of "my custom".

Ken

I don't know when Tormek started to recommend radiusing the corners of the grinding wheel (not for diamond wheels). Wolfgang demonstrates this in the first (knife sharpening) online class. Before the online classes, Tormek did not seem to have an efficient way of sharing this kind of information.

I do not recall reading about it in the handbook. I do recall Jeff Farris referring to something similar in a brief ancient forum post. Jeff mentioned that he was grinding a radius in the outside corner of his grinding wheel. Unfortunately, he did not provide any reasons for doing this.

If any of the forum old timers remember anything more about this, please post and share it.

Thanks.

Ken

I do not own or sharpen any recurve knives. Therefore, I did not pay proper attention to the recurve blades online class. I rewatched it last night, and was pleasantly surprised with the valuable general information it contained. For those of you, like me, who do not sharpen any recurve blades, and may have constrained study time, there is much general knowledge in 4:40 to 11:00. I highly recommend watching at least this segment of this class. Here is a link:

https://www.youtube.com/live/aw4vJSUPXmk?si=qo-ADU5wRyJBnHCY

This segment begins with the importance of mounting your grinding wheels with the text upright. It then moves to the importance of radiusing both corners of your grinding wheel(s). Borrowing Wolfgang's phrase, I have made both of these procedures "my custom" and recommend the same to you.

Ken

https://youtu.be/3qrMejCAt3w?si=5xIi3xhCrYcwjpgD

Ken

We are increasingly expecting more precision from our Tormeks. In one of the online classes, Wolfgang used the expression that we must "make it our custom". I believe this is one of the keys to having our Tormek sharpening perform more to the expectations of the precision machine shop environment. A number of simple procedures done routinely will increase our precision. Most of these are not new to us.

Locking down our support bars starting with the sleeve on the microadjust leg.

Recently added, adjusting the MB-102 with equal pressure between the two legs will help maintain alignment.

Keeping our grind wheels trued and regularly dressed with the stone grader (SG wheels, not diamond wheels) as well as keeping our water clean.

These are a few simple procedures which should become part of our custom. Used regularly, they will increase our precision without increasing our cost. They will also improve our frame of mind.

Ken

When I purchased my first Tormek in 2009, the T7 was essentially the only choice in the US. At the time, I wanted to sharpen my woodworking tools and was not especially interested in sharpening knives. I have no complaints; the T7 is a fine machine and continues to serve me well. A chance opportunity to study with Tormek knife guru, Steve Bottorff, opened my mind to the possibility of sharpening knives.

In August, during my visit to Tormek in Sweden, I had the opportunity of watching Johan Englund, Tormek's worldwide manager for the T2, demonstrate the T2. From Johan, I learned that the T2 is a specialty machine, not a machine "just" for knives. It deftly sharpens specialty non knife kitchen blades as well as cutlery. Some of these blades would be difficult to sharpen with a traditional Tormek.

I have been using my T2 more recently. As a senior citizen, my health issues make it difficult to use the stairs to reach my basement workshop. I am very grateful to have my T2 on my dining room table.

My thinking has changed to believing that a new Tormek sharpener specializing in knives might be better served by starting with a T2 instead of the tradition T8. I do not mean to discourage anyone from purchasing a T8, only to say that I believe for a knife sharpening business, he might be further ahead to begin with a T2 and use a T8 as the "supplemental" machine.

Attached is a link to the online class Johan does with Sebastien:

https://www.youtube.com/live/dCe3bKc5Ym8?si=cnhnC3HWRK07Lu2z

Ken

Whenever I encounter a new piece of equipment or technique, I tend to categorize it as immediately useful; hopefully useful at some point; maybe useful for me at best; or not for me. Sometimes a jig or technique may fit more than one category for this user.

Different aspects of the KJ-45 self centering knife jig fall into different categories for me. The main event, self centering falls into immediately useful, although not in a way one might expect. My thickest knife is my Mora Garberg, with a thickness of 3.2mm. I have several Mora knives, none of which I need. I have reached the age where bushcrafting is only a mental interest. I just like Mora knives. Looking ahead, if I ever need to sharpen my Garberg, it will be far less frequently than I sharpen my several thin paring knives. It is my thin paring knives which seem candidates for self centering. If I am being honest with myself, workarounds for my thin knives do not seem difficult.

While the inner stop of the KJ-45 might seem a possible substitute for the US-430, the ideal US-430 is the US-430.If I did not already have one, for knife blades longer than eight inches and cleavers, the genuine US-430 would be high on my wish list.

I am glad to own a jig which can handle convexing, although I doubt I will ever convex an edge. None of my Moras seem heavy enough, nor are my future plans demanding enough to warrant convexing.

These are all just personal thoughts. If I was a serious knife collector or an active bushcrafter, I would feel differently. I welcome other points of view.

Ken

I have recently read a request on the forum for facts, not opinions. In general, I agree with this, as long as the facts pertain.

I do not have definitive facts to offer; however, I would offer some observations. Regarding steel grindings clogging the grinding wheel, at the ends of sharpening sessions, I regularly observe a lot of steel grindings caught by the magnet in my water trough. (The same applies with my taped on magnet on my T4.) Are there grindings which are not caught by the magnet? Perhaps, although I am convinced that the vast majority of the grindings are trapped by the magnet.

I have watched watched a couple youtubes about cleaning superabrasive wheels with chemicals when used dry. I have never noticed a problem when using an snti corrosion solution.

I have no degree in abrasive technology, just a moderate amount of sharpening experience, enough to convince me that clogged wheels are at most a minor problem. (Noted that my SJ turns black from steel deposits. I have not noticed a problem with my SG.)

Ken

Aquataur,

I was reading your posts unsuccessfully looking for a reference to glazing and grinding material being stuck in the grinding wheel. I was reading the wrong member's posts.

Anyway:  You posted about the width of felt wheels with your T3. I learned some interesting things while measuring my T4, which is identical with wheel related measurements with the T4.

1) With the water trough removed, a 250mm wheel fits on the main shaft.

2) even though the 200mm wheels are 40 mm wide and the 250mm wheels are 50mm wide, the ten mm difference is at the edge. The 250mm wheels have a deeper center indent. The width of both sizes at the bore is essentially identical.

I would mention one caution: the all plastic housing of the T3 does not have the heat dispersing characteristics of the T4's zinc top. As long as you are careful, this should not be a problem, especially with a felt wheel.

I leave it to your creative imagination to explore all of this!

Ken

https://www.youtube.com/live/uNupoAP5gAU?si=6P6YbZ8nz1Hvz23m

September 12at 9:30 eastern time. New online class about the new MB-102 Multi Base.

Ken

My first hardbound copy of the handbook, which came with my T7 in 2009, is well worn and full of underlining, hi-lighting, and margin notes. I have learned a lot from it. Since the advent of the online classes, I confess to spending a lot more time with the youtube classes than with the handbook.

My nine hour flight from Stockholm to Newark made me rethink my priorities. I can't sleep on airplanes. While United offered free excellent personal movie selection, I wanted to review what I had learned at Tormek. I pulled up the handbook loaded in the books program of my mini iPad. I was able to re read through most of the handbook. I discovered that more had changed over the editions than I had known. Many points of interest also demonstrated in the online classes were reinforced in the online version of the handbook. My iPad screen is backlit, which made reading easy when the cabin was darkened.

In good light, the printed version of the handbook is still the easiest to use. Flipping back and forth between pages is tedious with the online handbook.

My future study plan is to triple team. I will still study the online classes, including being part of the classes during presentation whenever possible. My mini iPad and copy of the handbook take up little space in my satchel. Neither requires Wi-Fi. Even after much study, the learning possibilities are still very fertile.

Ken

Part of our program at Tormek was an afternoon of our sharpening questions. The instructors divided the subjects so that everyone's questions were discussed. The program took place in the sharpening studio. (The line classes are also made there.)

Before traveling, I had emailed Wolfgang some specific questions. Wolfgang wisely realized that these questions might not interest most of our group. He suggested that the two of us find a quiet area to discuss my questions. It doesn't get any better than private tutoring with the Sharpening Doctor! I will gradually share the conversation with the forum.

I asked Wolfgang to elaborate more about a comment he made about the Anti Corrosion Concentrate. He emailed me an answer. Here it is:

"That was me, that mentioned it, it will give a coating when the liquid dries up, especially the wheel. A certain protection for the tools too as long as it not interfere with the material you work on.
 I had a Tormek user that complained that the wheel developed stain, even he was using the ACC. He was painstakingly drying the wheel after he used it, thinking to prevent the wheel to rust.
The ACC leaves a thin "protection layer" on the wheel."

Eventually Håkan and Mats joined us. I was having a discussion with the Holy Trinity of Tormek experts!

Ken

One of the exciting things I saw last week during my visit to Tormek in Sweden was the new MB-102 Multibase. The official launch date is this morning, September fourth. This new Multibase combines the full adjustability of theMB-100 with being able to work vertically using the horizontal (grinding away) sleeves. One amazing feature of this new Multibase is that it combines these two features for around the same cost as just the original Multibase.

Here is the information sheet from Tormek as well as a link to the instruction sheet:

https://tormek.com/en/products/accessories/mb-102-multi-base

https://tormek.com/download/18.462ab74e188bd9ef5f07d4f5/1692630821038/Instruction%20MB-102.pdf

Ken

Some of us use the BGM-100 to combine the accuracy of Tormek jigs with the speed of a high speed grinder. I found a good video with some ideas on how to use a dry grinder more efficiently. Using a BGM-100 really requires high speed dry grinding thinking. Here is a link to the video:

https://youtu.be/GB-Pa73Snp4

The magic in this technique comes from using the right (friable) grinding wheel and from grinding a crown into the grinding surface instead of having it straight across. The crown limits the contact surface, causing it to grind cooler. A side effect with the limited contact surface of the crown it higher grinding pressure. Wolfgang explains this early in the Grinding Pressure online class.

Ken

Just like many new Tormek owners today, I was in a great hurry to acquire the extra grinding wheels when I began with the Tormek in 2009.  I was convinced that acquiring an SB-250 and an SJ-250 would quickly advance my sharpening.  I soon acquired both. (This was before Tormek introduced diamond wheels and before CBN wheels were used with the Tormek.) In hindsight, I was wrong. I would have been much better off to learn the subtleties of the SG-250.

Today I watched the Grinding Pressure online class linked here:

https://www.youtube.com/live/7laP_ysnMwo?feature=share

I have watched this class before. I believe I was finally able to better absorb it today. I highly recommend this class; it contains a lot of subtle sharpening wisdom.

Ken

I have never had a problem aligning the studs and holes with my honing wheels, until this week. This may be a freak occurrence; however, I devised a work around to use if it should ever occur Alain. Both surfaces are black.Alignment  can be difficult to see. By putting a small drop of white paint on one of the studs, alignment is easy to see with good light or a flashlight.

Ken

Knife sharpness is demonstrated from around 1:30 to 2 minutes. I also found the rest of this video interesting.
Bon appetit!

https://youtu.be/x-SJATl3GgY


Ken