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New items are gradually being added to parts pages. Recently, I have found the knife jig for the T2, apart for the DBS22, and a tube of oil for the leather honing wheel. The oil is shown in this link:

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Leather-Honing-Wheel-Oil-P2070.aspx

(These may also be available through other dealers.) Frankly, I have always used whatever oil is handy (3 in 1, mineral oil from the drug store, the Tormek oil) All have worked fine.

Parts pages are worth checking out.

Ken

My new 50th Anniversary T8 Black Edition arrived yesterday. It's delivery was delayed slightly because the first shipment to the US was already sold out.

I have mixed feelings about the 50th edition. The thrifty, practical New England Yankee part of me is fully aware that it is mechanically identical with the regular T8 and that the DF-250 diamond grinding wheel and composite honing wheel can be purchased separately or as part of the T8 Custom. With my eyes closed, it is indistinguishable from the regular T8. The Tormek fanatic side of me thinks differently.

I have always been partial to the traditional SG grinding wheel and leather honing wheel. I will continue to use them for much of my sharpening. However, I can see diamond wheels and composite honing becoming  increasingly important in the future (already here). The fiftieth anniversary T8  comes out of the box with both.

I have faith that Tormek will honor the fifty year warranty. My T7, my oldest Tormek, has never given me any trouble. I suspect my heirs will still be using both of them when I am long gone.

Ken
 

This is a "must see" for all Tormek buffs:

https://youtu.be/dgSg86S0bUk

Enjoy!

Ken

I found the technique and dedication used in this video outstanding.

https://youtu.be/XA4FR4Fq3K4

Ken

I have read numerous replies recommending that the original poster purchase a set of superabrasive wheels or various honing wheels to solve the problem. While these may well solve the problems, many of these problems can be solved for considerably less cost.

Demonstration videos start with grinding. Once sharpening is complete, PA-70 honing compound is applied to the leather honing wheel, and the honing part of sharpening begins. Wolfgang mentions a simple improvement in the online classes . The honing compound is most effective (aggressive) when the compound is almost dry.  Why not apply the honing compound at the start of the sharpening session and allow it to dry during set up and grinding? This also makes the honing compound more grit versatile at no extra cost. If the almost dry compound seems too aggressive, just add fresh (wet) compound.

All of the knives I sharpen are either stainless or carbon (mostly Victorinox, Henckel, Mora or Buck). I don't know how well this would work with supersteels. It certainly seems worth a try before purchasing several hundred dollars for specialized honing equipment.

There are many gems in the online sharpening classes.

Ken   

The initial breaking in period of diamond wheels has been well covered. What is less well covered is wear beyond the initial period. Wolfgang mentions this at around 37:45 in the pressure class linked here. Beyond the initial breaking in period, if your diamond wheel grit gets finer, you are using too much pressure.

Ken

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

This morning I rewatched the pressure online class. This class is not designed to pertain to any particular tool. It does contain much valuable information. It answers many questions I have had for many years.

Our time watching or rewatching it will be well rewarded.

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

Ken

https://youtu.be/bKXwiSfRqJo

Ken

https://youtu.be/W75rD3ikA18

Ken

https://youtu.be/pVyQC8nfHns

Ken

https://youtu.be/6IbPmyb6U_Q

Ken

The online class covering the KJ-45 and KJ-140 self centering knife jigs is very well done and informative. That said, I don't completely agree with everything said in the class.

Wolfgang states that while he uses the SVM in the neutral position for muscle memory, making adjustments with the height of the support bar. He notes that some users refer to adjust the jig by changing the Projection. I agree with everything to this point. He goes on to state that in the future (with the KJ-45), adjustments will exclusively be made by adjusting the height of support bar. I disagree with "exclusively".

Adjusting the height of the support bar is certainly a logical choice; however, it is not the only choice. The clamp has 13mm of holding range (15mm minus 2mm minimum). Most knives are less than 50 mm wide. A range of 0 to 60mm will easily over he waterfront. Depending on how close we are willing to skate to the edge of the limits, four to six "second edition kenjigs" will cover that same waterfront. I should note that this is for 15 degree per side bevels. I have standardized on this setting. Feel free to change to different settings if you wish. Each degree setting will probably require a separate set of kenjigs. Occasional changes of bevel angles can be accommodated with the microadjust.

Adjustments for wheel wear are really not much of a problem. Diamond wheels do not wear. The SG wears slowly with knives. Check with whatever table or app you use and consider making a new set of kenjigs when you reach what you feel is a critical wear point.

Here are a couple links:

https://www.youtube.com/live/JFHqQg5wZEg?feature=share

https://sharpeninghandbook.info/Images/Tool-Jig-KenJig.pdf

I welcome comments.

Ken

We first encountered the concept of modifying design expectations with Herman's Homemade Small Platform. The SVD-110 platform is an essential tool for larger tools like turning scrapers. While is serves this function well, it is, in my opinion, clumsy for small knives. I do not sharpen carving knives; however, looking at the Tormek drawings, it appears that the SVM-00 should work well with carving knives with round wooden handles. I have found it clumsy with small pocket knives and other small bladed knives.

I found this video by Paul Seymour of Arlington, Virginia. Although he and I have some different ideas, his technique seems very solid. His homemade small knife jig seems quite practical. Here is a link to his video:

https://youtu.be/MF8nWESRd_c

Meaning no disrespect, I might approach this differently. I would base my idea for a small knife jig on an existing KJ-45. This would be designed only for small knife blades ranging from pen knife very small blades through smallish pocket knives. For these purposes, the "non adjustable" criticism of the KJ-45 is meaningless. These blades are essentially all minimum width. The flexibility of insertion depth in the clamp should prove adequate.

This design has no need to handle thick "Bowie Knife" blades. Nor does it need to handle long blades. It also does not need thick clamp jaws.

I envision this jig as a complement to the regular jig. it will not be used to sharpen larger knives, only small knives which do not fit well in the standard jigs. Thoughts?

Ken

I have read a lot of chatter over the years about whether to sharpen knives vertically or horizontally. Tormek presents a very good case for vertical grinding starting at 44:45 in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/live/0htKSoTBjoI?feature=share

What I have not seen posted is the just as logical case for sharpening knives horizontally. I learned this from Steve Bottorff. Although Steve is a real deal knife sharpening master with the Tormek, his general knife sharpening method is very different than the orthodox Tormek method.

Steve believes in using the Tormek knife jigs for "absolutely even knife bevels". However; during a busy Saturday morning at a farmers market, he needed to modify his technique to keep up with demand. He does the initial (more coarse) sharpening with his Tormek and either a SG-250 or (more recently) with an SB-250. He grinds freehand. No jigs and horizontally (grinding away from the wheel as is done with honing.)

Instead of using the stone grader to grade the stone fine, he uses paper wheels for fine grinding and honing. These, like the freehand grinding, require skillful, careful workmanship, which he has from long experience.  He has enough skill to produce quite satisfactory edges quickly.

Steve's method of horizontal grinding for freehand, high volume sharpening makes a lot of sense. The standard Tormek vertical grinding method, as demonstrated by Sebastien and Wolfgang, also makes a lot of sense. I do not think of either as being "right" and the other as being "wrong". I think of "the best" method as whichever fits one's sharpening needs. For a more occasional sharpener like me, the traditional Tormek method works very well. I have no plans to ever start a "weekend warrior" sharpening business. However, if sharpening a hundred knives during a Saturday morning ever became reality, I would definitely develop my horizontal knife sharpening skills.

Ken

I have noticed a lot of questions about the FVB (Frontal Vertical Base). The FVB converts the horizontal (grinding away) to vertical. This is only used with honing. Unfortunately, the best source of information, the inventor (Vadim Kriachuk of Knife Grinders) passed away. I will try to give a fair description of the FVB.

Knife honing can be done on the Tormek in two ways. The method preferred by Tormek is freehand. Using this method, no FVB is required. The second method, favored by Vadim Kriachuk and others, uses a knife jig the support bar, and an FVB.  Both methods use grinding away.

Raising the support bar allows the plastic locking knob of the knife jigs to clear the two vertical legs of the support bar. (The two plastic locking knobs of the horizontal sleeves also require raising the knife jig.) Substituting headless socket set screws (also called grub screws) can do the same thing as a FVB, although, the FVB does this  much more easily.

Whenever there is a choice of two methods, I recommend trying to master both before deciding between them. I recommend learning both freehand and jig held honing.

Ken

I was curious about whether the fifty year warranty on the 50th anniversary model could be transferred. (At age 73, I may not be around in fifty years....)
I emailed Tormek. Here is the reply:

"Yes, The warranty is transferable to another person like always but they need to have the original receipt.
We also recommend them to change the name on the registration on the Tormek website. They do that by contacting us."
 
Ken

I received an email from Håkan Persson today. After seventeen years of service with Tormek, Håkan will be retiring as CEO of Tormek. Håkan is a highly respected expert with superabrasives (diamond and CBN). I am sure Håkan was the leader in Tormek moving from the traditional Super Grind wheel to a choice of six wheels, including three diamond wheels. Håkan worked with Sebastien during one of the online classes covering diamond wheels. Here is a link:

https://youtu.be/38c95D6z5D8

Fortunately, Håkan will remain a Senior Advisor with Tormek. All of his wealth of lifelong experience and expertise will not be lost. The day to day operations will be taken over by Samuel Stenhem, who has been Tormek's Marketing Director for the last five years. Here is a link to an online class he did with Sebastien covering the T1:

https://www.youtube.com/live/nqD0cefN0yU?feature=share

Samuel is a member of the T1 design team. I look forward to the future of Tormek with Samuel at the helm.

Ken

https://www.youtube.com/live/LQ3gcUhk29U?feature=share

Ken

This was just posted on the Tormek (US) website.

https://tormek.com/en/other/promo-offer-usa/buy-a-tormek-t-4-original---get-a-free-kj-45-centering-knife-jig

I have seen similar inclusion offers for the T8 over the years. This is the first I have seen for the T4.

Ken

Over the years, I have observed our members following different paths. I would like to share some observations on three of these paths. I do not think any of these paths is mutually exclusive. Also, I do not wish to imply that any of these paths is superior to the others.

One path is what I call the traditional Tormek technique. This is the path honed by Tormek for half a century drawing heavily on generations of orthodox sharpening. This method is designed to produce superior sharpening results for most tools using standard Tormek equipment. Most of us can use this method to quickly obtain good edges. With the handbook and the online classes, this path requires the least study outside of Tormek

The second and third paths are for those who enjoy exploring and solving special problems. One of these paths focuses on computer mathematics to develop  organized, precise ways to set bevels. This path requires that someone have a solid knowledge of computer mathematics. Fortunately, several members have generously shared their expertise, allowing "us mere mortals" to tag along with their expertise.

The other path involves designing, making, or purchasing custom jigs and accessories. Part of the skill set with this path is either having machinist skills or establishing a good relationship with a local machinist.(I recommend
most of us find a good local machinist.) While this path may require more expense, the results can be satisfying.

Most of us use a combination of these paths. The Tormek is a very versatile machine.

Ken