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#1

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by kwakster - Today at 01:31:38 PM

Also an older one: a DPX Hest folder with D2 steel blade from a Dutch forum member.
This one was reprofiled to an ever so slight convex edge of between 25 and 30 degrees inclusive on a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit, then refined on a second Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond paste, and finally i removed the very small burr on the Tormek leather wheel.






Close-up of the 15 micron finish:

#2

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by kwakster - Today at 01:28:11 PM

Spyderco Paramilitary 2 in CTS-20CP steel.
The previous owner tried to sharpen it on an Edge-Pro, which sadly resulted in quite uneven bevels, several chips along the edge, and a piece of unremoved burr.

I removed the apex of the old edge by cutting a few times straight into a silicon carbide stone, and then resharpened it to an almost exact 30 degrees inclusive on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound, then removed the tiny burr with a second Paper Wheel with 1 micron diamond compound.

Although i couldn't get both bevels exactly even in width, the new edge is now treetopping sharp without chips or burrs.
I call this a bling & bite finish, as to the casual observer it may look like a mirror finish (diamond compounds cut very clean), but when inspected up close with a loupe you can see a fine scratch pattern perpendicular to the edge that still provides for enough bite for most EDC tasks.

#3

Knife Sharpening / Use of KS-123 with adjustable ...

Last post by Dutchman - Today at 12:16:28 PM

The angle-setter KS-123 is not directly suitable for use with the adjustable knife jigs SVM-45 and SVM-140. However, with a relatively small correction, this is possible. In the attached report, I have described the problem and derived two possible solutions.

One of the solutions requires some calculations, so I expect again several spreadsheets to result. 

#4

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by kwakster - Today at 12:11:13 PM

If the sharpening itself was done right, just deburring generally takes only a couple of passes on a slotted wheel.
(Semi-) polishing an edge will take longer: with standard steel types it can be mere minutes, with steels that have a high vanadium carbide content it can take hours.
Plus for this category you need diamond compounds. as the aluminium oxide isn't hard enough to cut & shape these carbides.

For most standard stainless knives i prefer the original slotted Wheel used with the block of white aluminium oxide, and for higher end knives (especially the ones with lots of (vanadium) carbides in the apex) i prefer a Wheel with fine diamond compound.

Regarding dust production: when new a standard slotted Wheel used with the block of white aluminium oxide will produce some airborne dust (both from the deburring process itself as well as some cardboard fibers that will come loose from the surface.
This will however diminish over time once the Wheel has been used for a while and becomes a bit blackened.
Then the dust production drops off sharply.
So especially in the beginning i would wear a good dust mask, later you will probably not need one anymore.

When sharpening/deburring with diamond compounds a slight amount of debris (a combination of diamond particles, oil, and steel particles) is slung off the Wheel during the process, gets airborne for only a fraction of a second, and then attaches itself to the wall behind my grinder. (see pictures)
Nowadays i put a piece of cardboard against the wall and exchange that from time to time.
Because no debris remains airborne (it is an ever so slightly "wet" process) i do not need a mask.
I do however always wear a quality pair of safety glasses (this is important)

This is my basement workplace:

#5

General Tormek Questions / Re: Radial and lateral play ms...

Last post by rescwood - Today at 10:58:55 AM

As read in the Tormek manual the original composite bushings allow about 0.1–0.2 mm radial play and around 1 mm axial play.
Is it normal that brand new msk-250 kit shows higher value (0.25) ?

#6

General Tormek Questions / Re: Sharpening a curved herb k...

Last post by Rossy66 - Today at 01:06:57 AM

I received one from a customer and spent nearly 3 hours trying every jig I have, and I have nearly all of them but was unable to sharpen it with the Tormek. I ended up using my Worksharp Ken Onion which sharpened it it in about 6 minutes. I wish these type of mezzaluna had screw in handles, like some of the old ones did.

#7

Tormek T4 and T4 Bushcraft / Re: T4 Water Trough Improvemen...

Last post by Rossy66 - Today at 01:01:51 AM

Fantastic, is this available for the T8?

#8

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by Rossy66 - Today at 12:25:02 AM

I have been interested in adding a paper wheel to my deburring part of my sharpening business and your thread is pushing me even further into it. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind...

1. how long do you think it typically take you to get a finish your happy with (deburring only)
2. Is the a lot of dust particles flying around during use?

I ask these questions because I am a mobile knife sharpener and picked the Tormek so I don't have to wear PPE in the van while sharpening.

Your images, by the way, are amazing and the video with the grape was an eye opener.

Thanks

#9

Knife Sharpening / Re: Choosing a default angle

Last post by Rossy66 - Today at 12:09:53 AM

In regards to the original post. I have sharpened for customers at 20, 17 and 15 degrees primarily.  I now sharpen pretty much any decent kitchen  knife to 15 degrees... They always come back to me needing sharpened.  That's to say, I can't tell if one angle held up better or not. 
All but the cheapest steel should be stable at 15%.  Wootz or Larin showed the sharper the knife is, the longer it stays sharp.  The geometry allows a sharper edge at 15°.

 In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter. 90% of your customers won't know or care what angle they are sharpened to.

Great that this thread grew, It has been just over a month since I decided on 15 degrees and its serving me well. I am fully mobile with 2 T8's one with a 200 grit CBN and one with a 1000 grit CBN. Unless a customer asks for a specific angle, 15 degrees it is and up to now, no complaints. I also have a microscope I use to check some knives for chips as my eyesight, even with glasses is not too good.

The KS 123 has been invaluable as I am sharpening up to 50 knives at the farmers market (8am-1pm) and during an 8 hour day up to 70-75 knives (not every day obviously    ) I try to get my customers on an email list and check in every 3-4 weeks for feedback, not one complaint up to now and lots of compliments on edge retention. I tried a test with the KS123 by sharpening a knife, unclamping it, re-clamping it and setting the angle back to 15 degrees and before sharpening, do the sharpie test and scrape the blade as if recreating the edge for a customer, it was super close to the previous sharpening angle of 15 degrees, just a hair off, and I tested it under the microscope which made me happy.

The freely offered knowledge here has helped my start and maintain a successful mobile sharpening business and to that I an eternally thankful, I find real world findings always trump armchair opinions (no disrespect intended) and I am getting ready to add a 3rd T8 to my arsenal to speed things up a bit quicker because as the old saying goes, "time is money"

#10

Knife Sharpening / Re: Choosing a default angle

Last post by Dan - Yesterday at 11:02:15 PM

The only people that have discussed sharpening angles with me sharpen their own knives.