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I'm 100% with you on this, I even bought a T-8 custom dedicated to honing, so I just setup the FVB for honing and USB for grinding, adjust the projection distances, and I'm down to 3-5 minutes per knife if they've been ground to the preset angle already.

Exactly!

My separate honing wheel for any one interested. if the photo posting works!





Danny

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Well, yes! I still have the spacer but...

I was asking how the FVB helps give more access for honing compared to the normal horizontal base whether or not the grinding wheel is on.

I tend to do a batch of all my own kitchen knives maybe 10 or so at a time once a week(ish) and I do not want to take the wheel off and then put it back on for each knife. Hence the honing apart on a separate wheel/machine without any obstacles at all!

I can just grind then hone quickly without any faffing around or changing any set up.

Danny

...I found that using the USB on the horizontal position for honing does not work in many cases.
The position you need is obstructed by some machine component.

Using a FVB breaks you free from that limit. I knitted my own which works a treat...

Would you mind elaborating on how the FVB allows better access for honing, espescially for longer knives?

I also made a FVB which works perfectly although I still couldn't get enough space for honing knives at precise angles. I find the Grinding wheel is still in the way.

I ended up with another solution which allows me to hone knives. I got a 200mm diameter leather wheel from Shleifjunkies (excellent service, BTW) and mounted it on the slow geared drive of my cheap bench grinder. I then made a new support for the USB so that I can grind on the Tormek and then hone efficiently on this wheel.
I use Calcapp (thanks CBW,finally got my head round using it!) to get the required grinding and honing angles and now I don't do the manual honing method at all.

If anyone is interested, I could post a photo to explain, if it helps.

Danny

...if I buy it in Sweden, will the handbook also contain other languages? For example, English or German.

Thanks

simple answer - No! THey are sold with the manual in the language appropiate for the country.

More nuanced answer - The handbook is available to buy separately (for under 30 euros here in France)
If you are in Sweden, is it not possible to visit the Tormek factory and buy direct? You may find that they will do the English or German manual for you.. No harm in contacting them to find out.
 
Out of interest, I bought my T8 from Germany not too long ago and therefore have the manual in German which I do not speak!
So if you want it maybe I could sell it to you - via ebay or something?? Let me know if that is of any use.

Danny

thanks, i am from belguim

If you do decide that you want the Japanese stone, see Coutellerie Marcin 189 euros...
I have not bought from them but they seem to be OK.

Danny
PS Je suis content de parler en français si cela peut t'aider..

It is not so easy to know exactly what the difficulty is that you may be having.

Personally, I am happy with the sharpness of my knives using the standard Tormek stone. I do rough grade if necessary, then fine grade followed by the honing wheel to remove the burr finally.

I feel that there a lot of user skill involved in learning to sharpen on the Tormek, especially for knives.

If you do want to use the finer 4000 grade Japanese stone after the original stone, you need to be sure that you keep the same angle.
 
There is a video here which demonstrates using both wheels with very good results. It is using a T8 machine but the idea is the same for the T4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChYeq7hNlJU

It may help you to decide if you want buy the SJ-200 stone.

Can I ask which country you are in?

Danny

Hello sfeuxy,
This may be stupid question but...
You don't mention it in your post but are you using the honing wheel with the honing compound to remove the burr fully after grinding on the stone?

This is equally important as the grinding step.
You say "so that my knives are perfect"
How are you measuring the sharpness you want/need?

By the way, the SJ200 stone is available here in France for 198 euros delivery included.

Danny

Thanks for the replies.
I am a professional craftsman and used to making/creating things with lots of measuring etc. No worries..

Me and Maths divorced along time ago. Just after I was introduced to calculus when at the time my main interest was fashioning things out of wood 

Using the calcapp for my chisels and planes was excellent - simple and quick after a little working out. Knives, I am working on!
Thanks again,
Danny

Anyone have any idea if or when the new Tormek knife jig will be available to buy?

Just for Perra.. Are you making your jig for sale to others??
It does seem just too complicated for me to make.
It would be useful for me (and maybe for others) to know.
 
Not sure yet if I really need to get one for myself. I only really use the Tormek for my own tools and knives and for some of my neighbours' knives. I am still getting to grips with trying to use the Calcapp from cbwx34. I am not sure I have it all worked out but it seems pretty straightforward.
In general, I am someone who finds it a lot easier to learn from a demo than a book! My brain just glazes over with all the maths based methods some people here use.

Danny

880.00 ??

Are you in the US?

Hello,
I have been using the original T8 for about 6 months and I am very happy with it for chisels, planes and knives. I can't tell you about the diamond wheels though. You'll have to wait for some others to reply about that.
One thing to check is what jigs you will need. The Black edition does not come with the SE-77 jig for chisels and plane blades. The Original T8 does. If you need that jig then you will have to spend a little extra on that.

Danny

OK , thanks for the reply. Lots of useful info in the links. I am not sure if if is that or not but I think I see what you mean.
In my case, yes, I am measuring the angle with a ruler over the top and bottom of the hollow grind so I suppose the real angle near the tip is less/lower anyway. I was wrongly assuming I should just try to measure  it the same as a flat grind.
Although it is not possible for me to measure the angle just at the cutting edge (apex), it really means that the achieved results with both methods is actually pretty close to the intended 27°   

That is very useful to know. Thanks for your help.

Danny

OK, I thought I should do some tests to see if I can learn something from all your comments.

This is for chisels, not knives. I know this is in the knife sharpening section but it is about angles and it seems to me to apply.

So cbwx34 (if it was you that suggested it, or was it Rich??) I wanted to try the method with the Calcapp to set the angle for chisels.

It took me a bit of time to work it out but it is pretty straightforward to use - the SE-77 section at least. Maybe one day I will try with knives.
I like the idea a lot. I also managed to reduce the wheel diameter setting for the honing wheel to get the same angle for honing and it worked perfectly.

So, I decided I wanted to get a 27° angle so I did two chisels with this method and another chisel with the WM-200 AngleMaster trying to get 27° too.

The results: trying my best to measure the distances carefully with vernier calipers for the calcapp, both chisels ended up at 30°!!....

I am not sure why this happened. Obviously, there is always  possibility of human error involved here but I tried to be careful.

With the third chisel I followed the recommended method for the anglemaster to get 27° and this ended up at 29°!!

I measured the angles with a basic protractor and rulers. I havent got any more sophisticated way but it is fairly easy to see.

Not sure what to make of my results but at least I learned some things!

Danny

For me with my chisels. I don't really measure/check the angle after sharpening.
To be honest, compared to my hand sharpening for eons, the results with the T8 are so good that it doesn't really make a huge difference if it is 25° or 28°.
Anyway, on any hardwood the chisels are already nowhere near so sharp after 5 minutes work so it is really somewhat 'academic'.

I generally only do my own and some friend's knives and I really don't have the inclination (pun intended  ) to get them at a particular degree. I normally follow the existing bevel. I am very happy with the results so for me it is just a bit too much to go into goniometers and the difference between a few degrees and then ideas of Bess scores etc..

Horses for courses 
If there is an easy reliable gauge or jig to set up knife angles better then that is great. To me, the new angle setter does look at first glance somewhat complicated. Maybe it is much more accurate and takes a bit more learning to use it compared to the anglemaster and that may be useful for some people. It also may not be for everyone.

Danny