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Chris B, in the attached drawing you can see that for a thick chisel the heel angle can be by 6 degrees larger than the edge angle grinded by a 250 mm diameter stone.

Thanks for the diagram Jan. Up until now I had only thought in terms of the bevel angle formed by the angle of the chord and hadn't considered that the angles at the heel and edge are different. I have learned something new! 

I received the book today and have just finished reading it cover to cover. There is a lot of information to take in so will need to read it a couple more times before the contents are hard-wired into my grey matter.

All I can say at this point is this is a recipe book to sharpening nirvana!

Thanks wootz for sharing your research, knowledge and experience so willingly.

Sharpco, I think Ken's suggestion of a smaller thumb screw provides a better solution as you don't need to fiddle around with a hex key. I have a selection of lower profile thumb screws I recently bought from China and I have checked and these work also.

I'm pleased to be able to hone using the USB in the horizontal position should the need arises again, so thank you for raising the question as it made me revisit the issue.

Ok, I guess the best way to achieve this is to switch the SVM-45 knife jig thumb screw with a M6-sized grub screw which you can tighten up flush with an hex key. I took one from a 12mm collar I had lying around (see pic)


Edit: meant to point out that you can see that I tried to use my SVM-45 at a fairly acute angle

Thank you for the update Ken.

Please could you also find out when they are expected to become publicly available so I can get my Tormek stockist to order some in.

Thanks, Andrew

I faced this same issue when I first attempted to use the USB to hone a knife on the leather wheel, which I guess is why much of the literature I have read suggests that knife honing on the Tormek leather wheel is done freehand.

I stand to be corrected but the only way around this issue is to mount the USB in a Front Vertical Base so the SVM-45 knife jig will not snag on the support bar pillars.

Thanks for that.

From what I have read elsewhere it would appear that trailing edge sharpening produces much better results so I definitely have the stripped-down FVB version and software from Knife Grinders on my shopping list so I can experiment for myself. 

Thank you for the detailed and insightful answer John.

It has put my mind at rest knowing that the SG-250 is suitable for the majority of knives I am likely to come across.

Good morning all,

I am just starting out on my Tormek and sharpening journey and have gained an enormous amount of knowledge in such a short time simply by watching loads of YouTube videos and reading through the numerous informative and instructional posts in this forum.

As I come from a software engineering background I can readily identify with the processes and techniques of shaping, sharpening and honing and expect I will become extremely proficient in time, however metallurgy is my achilles heal and something I'll need to work on if I am to correctly match knife steels with the various grinding wheel combinations available. Of course it could be I am over analysing the issue and should simply work towards getting a set diamond wheels which appear suitable for every type of steel and just be done with it... or maybe not, I just don't know!

No doubt many of you were in my position when you started out, so it would be interesting to hear your insights and tips for identifying different knife steels, and any links to online sources you may rely on, like a knife manufacturers almanac if it exists!

Thanks