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So I have an idea to assist with freehand sharpening on tormek or paper wheels or bench grinders for that matter. First use a protractor to mark the angles you want to sharpen or shape at. Second mount a laser line market overhead. Then just shoot the laser on your choice of angle and sharpen away. Just keep the edge of your knife on that laser mark to produce consistent bevels. Just thought I'd share my idea. I haven't done it yet but I will soon. The laser is pretty cheap (24$ US). And it's adjustable. Here's a link
https://www.amazon.com/Viper-Laser-Throw-Line-Marker/dp/B00FRMHZJA/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=viper+laser+line&qid=1559192992&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Or this one
https://www.amazon.com/INFINITER-Generator-cutting-Adapter-included/dp/B077JV44LM/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?keywords=laser+line&qid=1559193105&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

Thanks again Rick! Yes I agree, I'm still developing the muscle memory. I am getting better with each knife I sharpen and the slips are becoming fewer. Also I have decided to make my pivot collar with 12mm clamping collars and 3/8" stainless steel pins welded. I would have done the aluminum block method except I don't have aluminum and I just so happen to have the clamping collars and rod readily available to me. I know I could have made it out of wood but I just like the look and longevity of stainless steel. I'll post some pictures when it's complete. I might make a few extra if they turn out good. If I do I can send them to whoever wants one and hopefully make some friends here on the forum

Thanks Rick, I read the post and it gave me a lot more ideas to work with. Sorry if I asked a question that had previously been asked by other members, I probably should have spent more time looking through the forum before asking my question but I haven't seemed to able to figure out the search function all that well. The aluminum collar looks pretty easy and doable (and a great idea by the way). I see others have just glued flattened rod directly to the plastic tormek jig guide but like others have stated that forces you to work with 1/2 turns of the collar. I don't think that would be an issue though because I usually don't see the jig for adjustments, I just use the micro adjust on the universal support. I have a lot to think about now.

And since I already have this post going, does anyone know if working with a pivot instead of the basic jig is harder to keep the blade steady? I had a few mistakes with the basic jig already where I accidentally tilted my wrist and touched the blade to the edge of the wheel. No big deal, couple more passes and I could even everything out but still frustrating. Wondering if the pivot will exacerbate those types of issues. Sorry for the long post.

Thanks
Antz

I'm thinking of making my own pivot collar to use with knife jigs. I have a lot of people wanting me to sharpen skinning knives and it's difficult with the stock jig. My plan is to weld two 1.25 inch steel bars to a 12mm clamping collar. Both the collar and the bars will be 316 stainless steel. The steel bar I plan to use is .25 inch diameter. My question is, will the .25 diameter rod work well or should it be a slightly larger diameter like says 3/8 or 1/2 inch. This question is mostly aimed at people who have either made their own pivot collar or have experience with a custom pivot collar. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks
Antz

Thanks Al, I'll look into that. One of my coworkers could probably make some. I work full time for a engineering/maintenance department and we have journeymen tradesmen (carpenters, welders, pipe fitters, plumbers) we don't have a machinist though but we have the equipment so I might be able to fabricate something or have someone do it for me.

Thanks
Antz

Thanks Al! I just looked it up and the Palmgren-9682107 8" Variable speed grinder looks like the perfect solution for me. Great advice, thanks.

Also I got a question about setting up the universal support for PW and using Wootz grinding angle setter software. Is there a specific distance from the wheel that the BGM-100 needs to be mounted? As I understand it I would mount it probably on a block of wood in the vertical position but I'm wondering about the distance from the wheel to keep the software accurate. (Not sure if I'm explaining my question well)

Thanks

I'm interested as well. Will send e-mail in the morning as it's 12:30am in Hawaii and I'm going to bed 

Thanks Wootz for the reply and advice, I'll definitely look into getting a dedicated slow speed 8 inch grinder/buffer to run the 10 inch PW's. I also just wanted to say that I watched a bunch of your YouTube vids and that's what actually got me interested in getting a tormek in the first place, so for you to be the first person to respond to my first post is awesome! I hope with more experience on my new setup I can start contributing to this forum, but for now I appreciate all the advice and tips. . 

Van, I know what you mean all I can find is a slow speed Rikon grinder in 8 inch. I was hoping I could find a buffer as the arms are usually a little longer. But if that's my only choice I'll have to go with it until something else presents itself. Thanks for your reply!

Also any thoughts on the buffing compound? Should I use cbn or diamond paste instead of the supplied white compound? Thanks again for the reply's!

Antz

Hi everyone,  I'm new to this forum but I've been reading a lot of great posts and learning a lot. I've recently started sharpening professionally in Hawaii (not a lot of sharpeners out here). I'm very skilled with stones and that's how I was doing it for a good while. I recently got a Tormek T8 with hand tool kit and a six inch buffer with 8 inch paper wheels. So far I've sharpened about 30 plus knives in first week of my new set up with AMAZING results. But I was thinking about using 10 inch paper wheels instead of 8 inch paper wheels to better match the tormek wheel size. Was wondering if anyone had a good buffer to recommend or is it fine to run them on my 6 inch buffer? And advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Antz