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#1
General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...
Last post by av8r - Yesterday at 08:08:46 PMQuote from: John_B on Yesterday at 07:08:52 PMIf you are sharpening customer's knives I would recommend against altering the bolster unless you have shown them what it will look like and have written authorization. Some knives also have a hollow bolster that you could grind into. The other thing I do to prevent scratching is to use painter's tape beneath the clamping area.
No customers, just our knives and those from friends/family. No charge, ever.
"Never make your hobby your work" or something like that.
#2
General Tormek Questions / Re: test
Last post by John_B - Yesterday at 07:10:33 PMQuote from: KaithyHong on Yesterday at 11:43:53 AMOne thing that's helped me is making small adjustments and testing the edge after each pass instead of trying to correct everything at once. It makes it much easier to dial in the setup and avoid removing more material than necessary.
I think you posted in the wrong thread
#3
General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...
Last post by John_B - Yesterday at 07:08:52 PMIf you are sharpening customer's knives I would recommend against altering the bolster unless you have shown them what it will look like and have written authorization. Some knives also have a hollow bolster that you could grind into. The other thing I do to prevent scratching is to use painter's tape beneath the clamping area.
#4
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 06:50:36 PMSpyderco Southard with CTS-204P blade, which has been in use for a few years now with a Dutch scout leader.
It has already been sharpened several times by him on stones, plus two times by me on Paper Wheels (once up to 6 micron diamond compound, and once up to 15 micron diamond, the latter performing noticeably longer for the owner)
This time the knife was reprofiled from about 30 degrees inclusive to 25 degrees inclusive with a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, then deburred with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
This produces a polished semi-coarse edge with an aggressive bite, as the knife is going to be used to cut a lot of 10 mm polyprop rope in the coming weeks.
The owner just informed me how the edge on his Southard is doing so far.
He had used the tip of the knife to cut open about 50 dusty/dirty cardboard boxes filled with porcelain mugs, and this resulted in blunting that tip to a point that it could only barely cut copy paper.
But according to the owner this was most likely due to the fact that the tip hit the mugs every now & then.
After all 50 boxes were opened & emptied the Southard was used to cut down each box, which he measured to be a total of about 80 meters or 262 feet of cardboard.
Afterwards the edge was still able to easily shave the hair from his legs (except about 15 mm of the tip), and the owner feels that the knife isn't due for a touch-up yet.
He also noticed that the CTS-204P steel holds this edge noticeably longer than the S30V steel in his Spyderco Sage, which he had sharpened himself and used earlier for the same job
It has already been sharpened several times by him on stones, plus two times by me on Paper Wheels (once up to 6 micron diamond compound, and once up to 15 micron diamond, the latter performing noticeably longer for the owner)
This time the knife was reprofiled from about 30 degrees inclusive to 25 degrees inclusive with a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, then deburred with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
This produces a polished semi-coarse edge with an aggressive bite, as the knife is going to be used to cut a lot of 10 mm polyprop rope in the coming weeks.
The owner just informed me how the edge on his Southard is doing so far.
He had used the tip of the knife to cut open about 50 dusty/dirty cardboard boxes filled with porcelain mugs, and this resulted in blunting that tip to a point that it could only barely cut copy paper.
But according to the owner this was most likely due to the fact that the tip hit the mugs every now & then.
After all 50 boxes were opened & emptied the Southard was used to cut down each box, which he measured to be a total of about 80 meters or 262 feet of cardboard.
Afterwards the edge was still able to easily shave the hair from his legs (except about 15 mm of the tip), and the owner feels that the knife isn't due for a touch-up yet.
He also noticed that the CTS-204P steel holds this edge noticeably longer than the S30V steel in his Spyderco Sage, which he had sharpened himself and used earlier for the same job
#5
General Tormek Questions / Re: test
Last post by KaithyHong - Yesterday at 11:43:53 AMOne thing that's helped me is making small adjustments and testing the edge after each pass instead of trying to correct everything at once. It makes it much easier to dial in the setup and avoid removing more material than necessary.
#6
General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...
Last post by av8r - Yesterday at 04:38:16 AMYes, bolstered knives and yes I have been working one side too much before moving to the other. I suspected this was the issue or part of it so I'm glad for the confirmation. Stone is true/square so it is my technique causing the recurve or smile.
Thank you
Thank you
Quote from: Sir Amwell on Yesterday at 01:04:04 AMBy dishing do you mean à slight recurve or as I call it a smile?
Is this happening on all knives or particularly those with bolsters?
If it's a general occurrence I would suggest alternating your passes each time, don't work one side of the blade until you get a burr and then go to the other side. Work each side of the blade one pass, heel to tip then flip. Heel to tip on the other side then flip, one pass etc.
If it's bolstered knives in particular then you are over grinding at the heel due to the bolster getting in your way. Consider grinding down that bolster unit it is no longer impacting the process.
I don't think it's your stone causing this unless it's very much out of true. At the very least re square it to eliminate this variable.
I had a similar problem to start with but the practice of continually flipping the blade after each pass largely put paid to this problem. You will find a way with your technique to stop this happening.
#7
General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...
Last post by Sir Amwell - Yesterday at 01:04:04 AMBy dishing do you mean à slight recurve or as I call it a smile?
Is this happening on all knives or particularly those with bolsters?
If it's a general occurrence I would suggest alternating your passes each time, don't work one side of the blade until you get a burr and then go to the other side. Work each side of the blade one pass, heel to tip then flip. Heel to tip on the other side then flip, one pass etc.
If it's bolstered knives in particular then you are over grinding at the heel due to the bolster getting in your way. Consider grinding down that bolster unit it is no longer impacting the process.
I don't think it's your stone causing this unless it's very much out of true. At the very least re square it to eliminate this variable.
I had a similar problem to start with but the practice of continually flipping the blade after each pass largely put paid to this problem. You will find a way with your technique to stop this happening.
Is this happening on all knives or particularly those with bolsters?
If it's a general occurrence I would suggest alternating your passes each time, don't work one side of the blade until you get a burr and then go to the other side. Work each side of the blade one pass, heel to tip then flip. Heel to tip on the other side then flip, one pass etc.
If it's bolstered knives in particular then you are over grinding at the heel due to the bolster getting in your way. Consider grinding down that bolster unit it is no longer impacting the process.
I don't think it's your stone causing this unless it's very much out of true. At the very least re square it to eliminate this variable.
I had a similar problem to start with but the practice of continually flipping the blade after each pass largely put paid to this problem. You will find a way with your technique to stop this happening.
#8
General Tormek Questions / T8 user, starting to get blade...
Last post by av8r - July 22, 2026, 01:42:18 PMI've been using my T8 with the supplied stone wheel for a few years. This weekend I sharpened about 40 knives for family/friends and some ended up with some "dishing" (may not be the correct word) near the heel of the blade. I check the true of my wheel before every session and don't apply heavy pressure (I think) when sharpening. 2 of the knives are my own kitchen knives and I've not noticed this happening before. Any suggestions on what to look for or change in my technique?
#9
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 21, 2026, 06:22:02 PMRecovered some pictures from an old harddisk.
Several years ago i got sent these two user Emerson folders from neighboring country Belgium; a Commander model with a Krein regrind and a CQC7 model.
The owner was unable to get them sharp again with only his Sharpmaker, and the request was also to give the new edges a bit of bling.
As they came in:
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After sharpening/polishing.
On the CQC7 i made the asymmetric bevel a bit wider to remove all different scratch patterns, and just touched up the existing mini-bevel on the other side.
Both knives could now be easily touched up on the Sharpmaker again and the owner was happy, :-)
Several years ago i got sent these two user Emerson folders from neighboring country Belgium; a Commander model with a Krein regrind and a CQC7 model.
The owner was unable to get them sharp again with only his Sharpmaker, and the request was also to give the new edges a bit of bling.
As they came in:
After sharpening/polishing.
On the CQC7 i made the asymmetric bevel a bit wider to remove all different scratch patterns, and just touched up the existing mini-bevel on the other side.
Both knives could now be easily touched up on the Sharpmaker again and the owner was happy, :-)
#10
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 21, 2026, 06:18:40 PMVintage Al Mar Denali mid-backlock folding knife with hollow ground blade from the 1980's and made in Japan. (probably by Moki)
The cocobolo handle is inlayed with a gold shield picturing a fighter plane and the text "United States Navy Fighter Weapons School".
The 1986 movie "Top Gun" with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was partly filmed on the grounds of this elite school for US Navy pilots.
Bernard Levine thinks this version with the gold shield was a special edition, not standard production.
The original edge measured about 35 degrees inclusive and wasn't really sharp, so i changed the angle to 30 degrees inclusive with a treetopping sharp bling & bite finish.
Specs:
Length open: 17,3 cm
Length closed: 10,0 cm
Blade length: 7,5 cm
Blade thickness: 3,0 mm
Steel: Masahiro RS30 stainless steel
Hardness: 57-58 HRC (?)
Handle material: Cocobolo wood & satin stainless bolsters on brass liners
Handle thickness: 11,0 mm
Lock type: Mid-backlock
Weight: 100 grams
The cocobolo handle is inlayed with a gold shield picturing a fighter plane and the text "United States Navy Fighter Weapons School".
The 1986 movie "Top Gun" with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis was partly filmed on the grounds of this elite school for US Navy pilots.
Bernard Levine thinks this version with the gold shield was a special edition, not standard production.
The original edge measured about 35 degrees inclusive and wasn't really sharp, so i changed the angle to 30 degrees inclusive with a treetopping sharp bling & bite finish.
Specs:
Length open: 17,3 cm
Length closed: 10,0 cm
Blade length: 7,5 cm
Blade thickness: 3,0 mm
Steel: Masahiro RS30 stainless steel
Hardness: 57-58 HRC (?)
Handle material: Cocobolo wood & satin stainless bolsters on brass liners
Handle thickness: 11,0 mm
Lock type: Mid-backlock
Weight: 100 grams