Topics

Serrated knives have been discussed various times here on the forum. This is following up after reading Chiltop's thread.
http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1836.0

That thread  was old enough that I started a new one instead of adding to his.

Ken uses dowel rods with self stick abrasive on them.

Jeff uses the corner of the Tormek wheels and/or grinds the back side of the knife.

I have used tapered diamond hones from Buck and DMT. The DMT can be used with their alignment jig.

Chiltop cut grinding wheels thin for His Tormek. (brilliant idea!!)

Foley Belsaw, years ago, had a grinder with approximately 2" wide grinding wheels for serrated knives. The serrations were crushed into the grinding wheels by steel rollers being turned and pressed  into the wheel. This allowed several serrations to be ground at the same time. So a person had several grinding wheels and rollers with it. I couldn't find the number of the machine.

Another fellow here on the forum (I think his name may been Steve??) talked about getting thin (1/4") paper wheels. I don't remember seeing his results posted.

While trying to find the Foley machine online, I stumbled across the following link:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BggYojTm9xw

I found it interesting.

A person should have a record of passwords, I suppose, regardless of what is said.

When my computer died, the automatic login for my the Tormek Community was lost as a result. I did not remember the password nor have it written down. I tried the password recovery but it would not function as I never received the necessary reply code from the forum. This was tried multiple times with the same result each time. I made sure to check the junk and trash boxes but nothing was ever there.

After emailing Tormek corporate I received an email back about it being looked into. I didn't receive any more in regard to it even after posting another email to them. I am NOT putting corporate Tormek down, I know they are busy.

I saw no way of contacting forum administration when you can't login.

Multiple times of trying to guess what my password was made with no success. Next I tried creating a new account. No success, once again no verification code would show up. I had this problem when my original account was set up. At that time I was able to contact Sharp Tools US and Jeff had someone (I suppose the administrator) override things so I could get in. So I tried contacting them again and was told someone would get back with me. It didn't happen. Once again I realize they were busy.

Several months passed during these attempts. Finally I decided to try to guess the password again persistently. That time I got it!! Thence the reason why you are having to put up with me again.

My question is, what can be done so that one can get in touch for help in case this would happen to them?

Let me start off by saying, I wish that I found this forum before buying a used Tormek.

Jeff has plainly stated (in similar words at least) that buying a used Tormek can become an expensive proposition. That can be very true.

Mine is an older square frame model with no serial number purchased through EBay. It was a good functioning unit with several jigs and has served well. It was being sold by someone for a friend as I found out later, my guess would be the widow of the owner/operator.

The bad things about it:
   It didn't have the following  necessary items.
     1) leather honing wheel
     2) trueing tool
     3) stone grader

When it arrived the wheel was not true enough for use.  Upon closer inspection, the drive shaft was bent AND the stone was rusted to the shaft but not cracked. Stop, return it! Who, ME? After all Ken says I am a "Popular Mechanics" guy! Ha!      Hindsight is always 20/20.

Is it neccessary to remove the grinding wheel when transporting?! ABSOLUTELY!

Long story made short: I cracked the stone trying to remove it even though the shaft was soaked with WD 40 several days.

After conferring with the seller, I was refunded the price for a new shaft. However, I could not conscientiously request for grinding stone replacement cost as the stone was not cracked when I received it.

I do use it with the cracked wheel. I CAN HEAR THE COMMENTS COMING FROM THAT REMARK! I use it very sporadically and yes I have to use the trueing tool almost every time I use it. That makes the stone get smalller quite quickly.

Is a used unit worth it? From my experience, no. There would sure be several questions to ask and things to look for before considering it.

Someone else posted about this and I thought it was interesting. Make your Tormek earn more of its pay!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCn87uMRwIc&feature=endscreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbLtTgFvj4Q

The second link appears to be a second prototype.

I didn't know coffee beans were available in the non-roasted state unless you lived around where they grew.

If a person was feeling really industrious, You could make a tumbler using the same principle. It would be turning a little fast for cartridge brass but should be a good speed for other things.

There was an interesting discussion of a small knife jig in the Tormek User Group (post #3187) starting on Feb 3, 2007. It started by modifying a Lo-Ray or Lansky style blade holder. It clamps the blade instead of the handle like the SVM-00.  It would eliminate scratching of the blade from being in contact with a rest. It would be limited to smaller (possibly medium sized) blades.  There are pictures in the appropriate photo album.

Check it out on the Tormek User Group. As stated in a previous thread, you must be a member to access.

Another idea to play with!    I'm not saying saying this is better, just another approach that came up several years ago.

Pictures attached


In response to a previous thread about sharpening yard tools, etc., here is a list of suggested sharpening angles from an old book.

This is from:

Saw and Tool Sharpening Guidebook
By Roman Dicaire and Ronald A. Skoglund

[Note:]

Pictures attached

Following is a modification done by Kurt Johansson of Sweden to the DBS-22 drill bit fixture. It allows brad point drill bits and spade drill bits without spurs to be sharpened with the DBS-22 on the Tormek. He had posted on the Tormek User Group about it. Steve Bottoroff helped to get the pictures posted.

I am posting the following with his permission. Thank you, Kurt!

Elden
____________________________________________________




The first picture with the text says in Swedish: New fulcrum, which is just a 6mm hole for the bolt.
(Note: Check the size of your fulcrum (pivot bolt). Mine is smaller than Kurt's. Drill an appropriate size hole for your pivot bolt.  Elden)


By using the new fulcrum you can as you can see sharpen brad point or spade bits without spurs.  stevebottorff Mon Jul 25 12:47:25 PDT 2011





Enclosed is a new picture that might help you to find the location for the
new point of fulcrum. First lock the screw at P but not to hard, then remove
the fulcrum bolt, next swing the plate counter clockwise till the position
on the picture. After that lock the screw at P fairly hard and drill a new
hole trough the bottom plate using the existing hole on the top plate as a
starting point. Please note that you have to take in account the underside
of the top plate so that you do not interfere with the slides under the top
plate.
Du har fått 1 bild.
________________________________________________


Kurt's email sent with the photos:
_______________________________________________

Hello Steve

I hope the pictures will come through.

The pictures where made originally for Tormek so they could consider the
possibilities.

The first picture with the text says in Swedish: New fulcrum, which is just a
6mm hole for the bolt.

By using the new fulcrum you can, as you can see, sharpen brad point or spade bits
without spurs.

The last picture shows my early drill sharpening jig. Pictures of this jig where
sent to Torgny Jansson a couple of years ago. <I did not post this photo>

I have been cooperating with Tormek for almost 20 years and have given them
quite a few new ideas during the years. Among others the SVD 180 jig, the
horizontal toolrest and others. I have earlier noticed that people are having
difficulties in sharpening lefthand scissors. I found out that it is possible to
use the knife jig SWM-45 on the horizontal toolrest for that job.

Kurt Johansson
_____________________________________________
Thanks to Ken and Juhani Tahvanainen for getting the allowable number of attachments increased to eight.

The new photo that Kurt mentioned is pretty much the same as the fourth photo and is now in this post.
Elden

Today I went out to the shop and did a modification on the high dollar DBS-22. I haven't even finished sharpening 1 drill bit on it yet.

While checking out the Tormek User Group, I ran across a modification done by Kurt Johansson to allow him to sharpen brad point and spade bits. The spade bits cannot have spurs on them.

Starting with about message number 6616, details are given.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tormekusers/message/6616



There are picture pictures posted as well that help.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tormekusers/photos/album/1258823406/pic/list


All that is required is the drilling of a new pivot hole. The original pivot allows the changing of the point angle (the 90 to 150 degree adjustment).

My pivot is smaller than what he said his was. He said 6 mm, I drilled mine 5/32".

You will have to be a member of the Tormek User Group to access their info. It is an easy join up process.

Has the machined version of the XB-100 Horizontal Base always had 2 locking knobs or was there an earlier version with 1 knob?

Sorry, I meant to post this in the general topic area.

Shown below are pictures of a serrated knife from a rummage sale. It has scalloped serrated teeth and is beveled on both sides.


What would you suggest for sharpening?

Here are some pictures of the apparatus that I have fixed up to allow the raising and lowering of the working height of the Tormek. Also shown is the swivel table.


See photo #1
The swivel table is mounted on a Mojack lawnmower lift that I already had on hand for the ZTR mower. The old forklift wheel serves as a counterbalance.
The table is at my working level, but can be raised quite a bit higher.


See photo #2
A carriage bolt, with the treads cut off, serves as the locating pin for the swiveling table.


See photo #3
The locating pin is located on the honing wheel side of the table so that it can be reached without removing the Tormek from the table or removing the water trough. Here it is shown with the table orientated so the honing wheel would be on the operators left if the Tormek was present. The pin drops into a different locating hole underneath the table than was used in previous pictures.


See photo #4
The arm that the table is mounted on can slide out of the Mojack. It also can pinned so that it can be used at an extended position to allow more foot room. The straps on the sides of the table are positioned so as to keep the Tormek from slipping off the table.


See photo #5
The underneath side of the table.


See photo #6
Edge view of the swivel that came from a swivel kitchen chair.  It really needs to be taken apart and repaired as the keeper for the ball bearings has come partly out allowing the bearings to move from their spaced out positions. However, it rotates beautifully.


See photo #7
Entire unit with table spun 90 degrees from either working position.


See photo#8
Tormek in position with operator in approximate working position.

Edit 09/15/2017: This post originally was a little longer and had two more pictures. The pictures were hosted by Photo Bucket. As they stopped us using those pictures here on the forum, I am posting the same pictures using the forum's attachment capabilities. As no more than 8 pictures can be posted in a post, the rest of the original post will be located at the bottom of my second post in this thread.

Following are some pictures of my version of the Ionut-Herman jig.


See first photo


It has its own mount for mounting on the USB eliminating the use of the Tormek scissors or tool rest jig. The spacer is welded to the pipe. The plate has 2 extra sets of holes for varying the length of the rest. This may be changed by adding another set of holes. Once all holes have been added, I intend to shorten the plate.

See second photo


The bevel on the edge was done with the Tormek (that was getting my feet wet before I attempt a plane blade). The other bevel was done with a handheld angle grinder.
I didn't have the pipe and spacer square with the plate when marking for the holes in the plate. Consequently, the plate is not exactly in line with the wheel. It should be close enough not to cause any problems when sharpening.
The hand wheel has ten facets.


See third photo


At the present there is no attempt for torque amplification of the clamping device on the USB.


See fourth photo


At this setting, approximately a 15 degree edge bevel can be accomplished.


See fifth and sixth photos


So far, I believe that I have spent less than $0.50 as all materials were on hand other than a fine thread nut for the locking knob.

 Rob
Sr. Member
Re: Angle master WM-200......subtle clarification in use
« Reply #6 on: Today at 04:45:33 pm »
Quote
I don't know about you but I find if I don't use a sharp chisel for a long time, the sharpness gets less. My tools are in a damp cold garage so I guess it's rust at the microscopic level messing with the edge?


  ionut
Full Member
Re: Angle master WM-200......subtle clarification in use
« Reply #7 on: Today at 05:16:20 pm »
Quote
What you experience is rust, if you don't protect your edge with a bit of light oil after sharpening, even if you don't use the tools after a while they don't seem to be having the same keen edge.

Ionut



Rob  and Ionut bring up the interesting topic of rust in the thread about the Angle Master WM-200. http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1597.0

On  pages 23 and 24 of Leonard Lee's book, A Complete Guide To Sharpening , while discussing stainless steel, he mentions that most people do not realize how rust lessens the quality of an edge even though it is not visible without magnification. He also has a picture there showing rust on an edge that was not seen with the unaided eye.

I find it interesting that rust can be formed even in our shops that are "in the dry." I generally think that things put under the shop roof, which doesn't leak, as being "safe."

Recently, I found out this is not so. I had buffed rust off some 1" (25.4mm) diameter steel shafts. In so doing, the rust protection that still remained was removed. They looked nice and bright and were stored in the "dry" shop.  Due to humidity increase from rain, quite a crop of rust showed up the shafts because I had not put oil on them.

Guess I have to remember that for the wood chisels! Thanks Rob and Ionut!

After watching the video of Jeff that Ken posted, I watched the following:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n1RccAzxLg

I think it is an interesting idea, it would be a cheap way to get a two facet drill bit. The concept sounds solid, but I haven't tried it. The cutting edge would introduced squarely to to grinding surface same as when hand grinding.

Quite a few years ago, I lived and worked on a farm. We raised hogs and cattle. Electric fences were used quite extensively for keeping them where we wanted. For the fences to remain "hot" (electrified), weeds and grass had to be kept from coming into contact with the fence wires.

Thanks to a young man that had spent time in Grenada of the West Indies, we became well acquainted  with the use of a machete or a cutlass as they called them. He would not call what we had a cutlass, however. I logged hours of machete use and learned to sharpen the machete in the manner that he learned in Grenada. This was before string trimmers became prevalent. The machete still is better for large weeds!

The machete, as he showed us, is sharpened with 3 different bevel angles. I am not going to give degrees of the angles as these can vary for user preference.

The most blunt angle is located on the backside of the tip (on the spine of the machete). It is ground about 3-4 inches long from the point back towards the handle. This is used to cut (really chop) grass , weeds, or saplings that are up against rocks or any hard object that you don't want to hit the normal cutting edge into. The machete should be made of quality steel that stands up to abuse well, but I don't care to abuse the normal cutting edge that much.

On the normal cutting side, the second bevel angle covers most of the edge. It extends from the point back to 3-4 inches from the handle. This is the intermediate cutting angle. It is sharp and beveled enough to cut well with the pivot of the wrist. It is not beveled so much that it is easily dinged however, if it hits a rock or other hard item. This section of the blade is what receives the most use.

The sharpest and smallest cutting bevel is located close to the handle. It extends 3-4 inches from handle towards the tip on the normal cutting side. This is made sharp like a knife. I never did hone it back then, but it could be. This is used to cut clumps of grass close to hard objects and is used as a knife would be. It has a lot more leverage than knife would and works well.

This is one way of sharpening a machete that worked well for our usage. It is definitely a work man's approach that wouldn't be necessary for a display machete.

I know that I keep digging things out of the archives. This is out of the wood turning section, but reaches to all Tormek aspects. Ken's response listed below is phenomenal.

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1305.msg3906#msg3906

The link to the whole thread is:

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1305.0

Probably most people do not use the knife jig when using the honing wheel. When doing certain knives, I quickly found that the large locking knob would contact the leg of the USB due to the horizontal positioning of the USB.
A trip to the hardware store to purchase a metric bolt of proper length and diameter, helped solve the problem. Most of the time, I use the regular stock part. Hmmm, I wonder where I left that metric bolt?! 

Excellent questions and excellent answers about how the stone grader works with the grinding wheel for one who wonders how the different grades of grit are accomplished on the wheel.

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=41.0

While it does not discuss what most new owners fear of the stone wearing away quickly because of grader use, it is alluded to in that it states:
"When the stone grader fractures the aluminum oxide crystals, it does not pull them out of the binder that holds the stone together." Jeff Farris 

Thought this might be considered for new operator pointers.

In reading through the old threads, I have seen the subject of wheel wobble and being out of round show up time after time.

In the following link, Jeff covered the subject very well.

http://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=44.0

I did notice in later threads, that the twisting of the washer on the inside of the wheel by 1/4 of a turn, was stressed versus the use of the stone grader on the wheel. I did file the use of the grader in my memory. Seeing that my wheel is rusted on the axle shaft, that doesn't affect me now.

I think this should be information that new owners should be aware of because of the frequency of the question reoccurrence.

I have been going through old threads (currently down to about page 31 of the general questions) where I ran across this comment:

Second, if the things you are trying to sharpen are truly cold chisels, and it sounds as if they are, I wouldn't bother trying to sharpen them on the Tormek or anywhere else for that matter. They don't need to be sharpened./i]


The proper angle (general usage) for cold chisels is 60 degrees, increase the angle somewhat for harder metals and decrease somewhat for softer metals.

I have never done a cold chisel on the Tormek and probably never will, but they definitely need a sharp edge. Even the good old dirt shovel benefits from a proper cutting angle, approximately 70 degrees according to one source.

For some things, the bench grinder and files are excellent tools.

Not sure why the last three paragraphs are italics as they were my comments and not showing that way on my post. EH