Messages

Thanks... I will try that position next time.
I have the rotating table and I use it every time, as I grind edge leading and hone edge trailing, and I'm doing both from in front of the machine. Maybe I can do both from the same position without rotating the machine.

I currently use my T8 in a standing position. It's located on my workbench in my workshop, but because the bench is high, I use an old palette (approx 220mm high) to stand on while using it.

But it's a fatiguing work position and doesn't feel right. It seems I am always bending my back and leaning too far over the machine. So I am looking into making a low stand which allows me to sharpen in the siting down position. The esteemed (sadly departed) Wootz is often seen sharpening sitting down in his videos, I'd also like to try that position.

I know everyone is different, and I will certainly experiment for myself, but to get me started, I'd like to ask the community members who sharpen sitting down, what stand height works best for them? Foot stools or 5 gallon plastic buckets have been mentioned but I'm curious to learn more.

Tormek's suggestion of lifting the support bar and moving the TT-50 diamond to be able to travel inward is fairly new. [...] I suspect the lift was started because of chipping complaints from users who set the TT-50 to cut too deeply. [...] By making very shallow cuts and not needing to lift the support bar, there is no problem with misalignment. [...]

This is interesting. So I followed the recommendation in the Tormek TT-50 tutorial video and lowered the USB height by exactly 1 numeral on the adjustment ring each time. Being the curious type, I did want to see what would happen if you run the diamond tip off the edge of the stone (instead of lifting and repositioning). With the cut being set to 1 numeral, I experienced quite noticeable chipping of the stone's edge as the tip ran off it, even though I was going extremely slowly. To your comment, Ken, I guess that means the cut wasn't shallow enough so next time I will move the adjustment ring by maybe half a numeral and see if this eliminates the edge chipping.

The suggestion for a lock nut on the USB adjusting ring is good to stop you accidentally moving it, but it won't completely remove the slight amount of play when the USB is un-clamped. It's because the other leg is free to travel minutely. If the other leg also had an adjusting ring, then I think the play would be eliminated. Anyway, we are only talking about a slight amount of play, the only reason I noticed it is that when coming in from the opposite side of the wheel back to the center, the 2 cuts don't match up. If, when you lifted the USB to reposition the TT-50, it came back down at exactly the same height, this phenomenon wouldn't happen. Anyway, not a big issue, just something to be aware of.

Thanks Ken for your input. It's good to know that for most sharpening applications rounding the wheel diameter to the nearest 10mm will give an acceptable result!

Hi everyone.

I did the deed this evening and got the stone surface back to almost new. Albeit with new dimensions: Ø248.2mm. I guess I am going to need to use calculators in the future to get accurate angles...

I did go very slowly back and forth so got a very smooth and even result.

However! That TT-50 does have a learning curve! In particular, I noticed something unusual happening each time I approached the edge of the stone and had to stop to move the TT-50 tip to the outside of the stone to complete the pass coming inwards again. What I found was, even though I took extreme care not to move the USB adjustment nut as I loosened the clamp screws to raise and lower it, when it came down again it was not at the same height as it was before. Most times it was a bit lower which meant when I started my finishing pass (from the opposed side of the stone inwards), the amount of material removed was greater.

However, by doing several passes at the same height, I ended up getting a smooth and level result.

When I investigated this phenomenon in more detail I found the cause was due to the fact there is only 1 adjustment ring nut on the USB. And even if it does not change position, when you loosen the 2 clamping screws, there is a tiny amount of play in the USB (between the USB leg that has the lock ring vs. the leg that is free). This results in the TT-50 cutting bit ending up in a slightly higher or lower position when you re-clamp. Because you are coming in again from the outside of the wheel, it's hard to get this exactly right with the pass you made from the opposite side to get a perfectly even result. I tried to re-clamp as consistently as possible but was surprised how hard it was to get it perfect.

Anyway, you can overcome this by doing several passes with the USB ring nut at the same setting until you hear no more material is being removed any more from either direction. Then you can adjust down a tiny bit for the next level.

I like the idea of automating the feed screw of the TT-50! I had exactly the same idea as I was doing it manually. I have a few spare stepper motors... perfect application for one!

Thanks guys for all the feedback. Haven't repaired the wheel yet, but will get to it in the next few days.

I had assumed that from now on I'd have to be measuring the diameter of that wheel each time I grind (polish) a new angle.

As we say in Japan, "shoga nai".

Nico

At the risk of re-asking the obvious...

I too was interested in the FVB. It's claim was "Controlled-angle honing and edge-trailing grinding of knives, cleavers and wide blades".

OK, so I am using the USB in the standard horizontal position on my T8 for honing. When switching from grinding to honing, I adjust the wheel diameter on the AngleMaster to 215mm and re-set the USB horizontal distance using that tool, the same way as I use it for setting the edge angle when grinding with USB in the vertical base.

I've assumed that this process will give me accurate control of the honing angle, but now wondering with the FVB's claims whether that approach has been wrong?

Aside from the other virtues of the product (e.g. better ergonomics, overcoming the interference with the jig screws, working with KG's software to get more accurate and repeatable results, etc. etc.) do I need the FVB to get a better honing angle than my current method?

To the community: Pontus from Tormek support has also responded to my request for help and offered this instructional video:

https://youtu.be/_9izVW7g6uo?t=591

The video confirms tgbto's comment about always truing from the edges to the center of the stone with the TT-50.

Thanks to all,
Nico

Thanks a ton for that advice.
I will give it a go... and let you know how it went.

Nico

Did something boneheaded the other day and accidentally damaged my Japanese Waterstone.

It'd been a while, and I'd forgotten that you're supposed to use this stone edge-trailing. I was polishing the blade into the wheel and the inevitable happened: as I lifted the blade off the stone, the edge caught the wheel and dug into it, creating a small gouge.

I am hoping (praying) that this can be repaired somehow, maybe with something like the TT-50 Truing Tool?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Fabulous and super-helpful responses from all you folks who've replied.
What an awesome community!
Thank you.

If you're referring to the "Advanced Knife Sharpening" video... he does move the Support to the horizontal position without changing anything, but he states to "adjust the angle", (and doesn't actually hone anything).

https://youtu.be/PrRwBTil1l8?t=4665

(Not sure if this is the video you're referring to?)

Just thought I'd clarify this a bit... I think it's just a general demo of the position in this case.

Yes, actually that was exactly the part of the video I was referring to!
Thanks for pointing out he said to "adjust the angle". I missed that.
Would have been great if he demonstrated it too.
Does he mean set it to exactly the same angle as the edge angle?
I assume with the Sharpie method, or try the calculators other people have been referring to?

Seems I have been doing this wrong! Thanks for the pointers.

Greetings to the community. I recently purchased a T-8 and started my knife sharpening journey! I've read the handbook cover-to-cover, watched many instructional videos on the Tormek YouTube channel including the excellent Tormek Live Sharpening Classes on Knife Sharpening with Wolfgang and Sèbastian. I've sharpened about 20 knives so far.

On the practice of honing my knives on the leather wheel, I've come up with a few difficulties. As a beginner I want to hone with the knife in the jig using the Universal Support, at least until I'm more experienced to do it freehand. Wolfgang discusses honing with the Support in the advanced sharpening class, and recommends it for special knives to preserve the coatings or finish on the sides of blades.

So first issue is, with honing long knives using the support, the tip or handle hits the grinding wheel. So the stroke is interrupted. I tried removing the grinding wheel, but it seems the T-8 won't work like that - the honing wheel slips off the drive shaft - oops! Is there another position or jig orientation I can use to hone without the knife hitting the grinding wheel?

The second issue concerns the honing edge angle. Since the honing wheel diameter is smaller than the grinding wheel, doesn't that mean to hone at the same angle you must adjust the Universal Support? In his video Wolfgang does not make any adjustments - he just moves the Universal Support to the horizontal position then starts honing. This of course could be intentional, if the best practice for honing on the support is to use a slightly steeper edge angle. Just not sure.

What do people think?

I also read in the handbook (p.44) that occasionally, it is recommended to re-oil the honing wheel, in addition to recharging the honing compound. The handbook said one application of compound lasts for honing 5-10 tools. After that, it recommends you re-impregnate the honing wheel with a few drops of oil and apply fresh compound.