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Messages - kwakster

#31
Scissors Sharpening / Re: Scissors for Kevlar
May 09, 2020, 08:25:31 PM
Wenger Swissors with replaceable TiNi coated and serrated blades work very well on Kevlar and many other difficult to cut fabrics.
#32
Picture of my own small knife rest as i currently use it: https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=3459.msg28441#msg28441

#33
Ham knives and long salmon filleting knives can be sharpened very well on a home made small knife rest, imo noticeably better than with the SVM-140 clamp.
#34
Knife Sharpening / Re: stropping questions
March 09, 2020, 02:31:17 PM
@Ken: the dimensions of my own MDF strop with 1.0 micron diamond paste:

Length: 20.7 cm
Width 5.0 cm
Thickness: 2.1 cm
Total hight due to the rubber bumpers: 2.5 cm

I chose these measurements based on stropping Chef knives, as these have wider blades.
The edges on the long sides have been rounded just a little bit with fine sandpaper before i put on the diamond paste. (also useful for stropping serrations)
In the future i also plan to experiment a bit with diamond spray instead of paste.

The professional grade of diamond paste i use originates from this US based company: https://microstar2000.com/metallography/26/DIAPAT+Diamond+Paste

A cheaper option might be this US based company: https://www.techdiamondtools.com/
I bought a few different diamond powders from them in the past (good quality stuff i might add, with a long lifespan in my use), and i plan to try a few of their diamond pastes as well once my current supply runs out.
Owner Yuriy has proven to be a dependable dealer, and he is based in California.


#35
Knife Sharpening / Re: stropping questions
March 07, 2020, 09:56:42 AM
This type of strop is what i sometimes make & give to people who regularly bring me a CRK or other quality (Chef-) knife for sharpening and/or some TLC, so they can maintain & keep the appearance of their new edge themselves for some time.
Even a few professional Chefs in my area with expensive gyuto's and santoku's in modern PM steel types are using these same strops with good results, so they keep telling me anyway.
I use them myself as well, and they are easy to make.

It's a new & cut-to-size piece of clean MDF coated with a thin layer of 1.0 micron (+/- 14000 grit) mono-diamond compound, and i put 4 self-adhesive rubber bumpers on the bottom.
These make the strop non-slip plus they elevate the working surface a bit more which makes the strop more convenient to use on a table (more room for your hands)
Due to the harder surface the chances of rounding your crisp apex are also greatly dimished when compared to stropping on compressible materials like leather.
The strop surface can also be cleaned from time to time with a microfiber cloth and some acetone, which will remove all or most of the swarf without removing the diamond particles, as these become (partially) embedded in the MDF surface during the stropping proces.

But this is (literally) the key element: the placement on rubber bumpers also provides the strop user with acoustic feedback by isolating the MDF from the table (a bit like the bars on a xylophone); you can actually hear when you're arriving at the very apex during stropping movements as the audible sound changes, which makes the stropping proces very easy, even for absolute beginners.

The CRK Nyala used as a prop for the pictures was reprofiled (from 35-40 degrees inclusive to an even 30 degrees inclusive) & sharpened (with 15 micron diamond compound on a Paper Wheel).
The owner only uses this quite expensive knife to cut oranges, about 5 each day, i kid you not.



#36
Knife Sharpening / Re: BESS Tester
February 02, 2020, 04:48:37 PM
Europe is worse.
Many countries within the EU are basically communist disguised as democracies.
#37
I bought my first set of Paper Wheels in Germany from Armin Dobstetter, owner of Custom Leather: http://customleather.ellvis.de/index.php?go=detail&ID=1001

My last 4 uncoated Wheels i bought in England from knifemaker Pieter Annandale, owner of Ratel Knives: http://uktechnics.com/ratelknives/razorsharp.html

Both have proven to be solid & dependable dealers.
#38
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife Blade recomedations pls
October 31, 2019, 12:34:29 PM
Yesterday i did this Spyderco PM2 in S30V steel on the Tormek SB-250 Blackstone using the small knife rest, then deburred on my homemade MDF wheel (actually a rim over the leather wheel), which is coated with 1.0 micron diamond paste.
The new edge measures ~30 degrees inclusive.





Also did this Benchmade Mini-Griptilian in 20CV steel the same way on the small knife rest, and the new edge also measures ~30 degrees inclusive.



#39
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife Blade recomedations pls
October 19, 2019, 02:28:12 PM
I think that in cases like this the small knife rest would be a better option than the clamp, but at least at the moment you would have to make one yourself as Tormek isn't offering these.

A second option would be to use a set of Paper Wheels and just sharpen them freehand.
That is what i do in general with knives like these.



#40
Here is another and probably cheaper option: http://www.techdiamondtools.com/

They also have a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/lapidarypaste

I did buy diamond powders from there twice already (using Paypal), and everything went perfect.
I'm probably going to try some of their diamond pastes in the future.

PS: i'm also in Europe, in the Netherlands to be more precise.
Here the customs tax threshold currently lies around 20 Euro's, so when you manage to stay below that in total your good.
#41
The various high quality diamond compounds i use on dedicated Paper Wheels originate from this US company:

https://microstar2000.com/metallography/26/DIAPAT+Diamond+Paste

I have their 15, 6, 3, 1, and 1/4 micron compounds, both for use on ceramic & various high (vanadium) carbide volume steel knives.
Works quite well i can tell you.

The 1 micron diamond compound also gets used on the Tormek leather wheel.
#42
The home made platform as i currently use it.



On top is a piece of 0.3 mm thin fiber reinforced PTFE tape, which aids very well in moving the blade across the platform and also to avoid scratches while doing that (up to a point)
When used in conjunction with just enough water in the trough so that it doesn't splash the platform the tape lasts quite a while before i have to replace it with another piece.
At the moment the lowest angle i can grind to is ~22.5 degrees inclusive, but in the end i want to be able to go ~20 degrees inclusive.
I've already sharpened quite a few knives with this taped platform.
#43
@ Wootz: what i take away from this YouTube clip is your dedication in what you're doing.
And i think i'm not the only one.

#44
Knife Sharpening / Re: Takamura R2 Gyuto sharpening
February 03, 2019, 03:44:51 PM
Update on the Takamura R2 210 Gyuto:

According to the Chef this edge done on Paper Wheels lasted him 2 months in his commercial kitchen, which was just as long as the factory edge had lasted him.
During that time he sometimes touched up the edge by stropping it on an MDF strop with 1.0 micron diamond compound until that no longer worked satisfactory (in the last week or so), after which he used a fine ceramic rod on it.
Differences with the factory edge were that the Paper Wheel edge had a slightly smaller edge angle (+/- 20 degrees inclusive instead of +/- 22,5 degrees inclusive), was finer polished, and had a higher sharpness.

We're still in the process of finetuning the edge to his specific requirements, and next time he brings in the knife it will probably get a little less refined edge to see if it's useful life can be prolonged a bit more.
In his kitchen the real edge killers are the mandatory plastic cutting boards which are very abrasive on knife edges, together with the almost unavoidable tiny sand particles which sometimes remain in the huge quantities of vegetables that need to be processed.
#45
With this knife i actually forgot to tape the surface of the jig, normally i use a piece of packing tape on it.
I never tape the blade itself.
BTW: maybe i've found something better than packing tape, still have to try it.

This is a customer's knife, and i don't know if he wants a sharpening notch.

The blade on this knife has not been thinned,