Recent posts

#1

Scissors Sharpening / Re: Deburring?

Last post by RickKrung - Today at 03:56:34 AM

Where does the procedure/process of deburring by "opening" the blades against each other - after having held them apart so they do not touch when closing them - fit in the scheme of scissors deburring.  I'm not sure where else I heard/saw this professed, other than Steve Bottorff, Sharpening Made Easy, but I'm pretty sure I have.

Also, I have heard/read/seen that dragging scissors through wood end grain does not adequately deburr them, meaning I believe there is some disagreement about this method. It really is only able to remove small burrs and can leave ragged tags of burrs.

#2

Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - NYKC H...

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Today at 02:05:07 AM

it was already rather dry again when i applied the Ballistol

Yes. I probably would have given it (now I know!) a though clean with turps before applying the Ballistol.

#3

Scissors Sharpening / Re: Deburring?

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Today at 02:00:20 AM

Scissors need some roughness to cut effectively. If you strop then the edge is too smooth and the paper or cloth will tend to slip. This does not apply to secateurs or shears since they are cutting much more sturdy material.

The wood method will remove the burr without damaging the edge too much. Closing them would perhaps be too violent on the edge and tend to rip holes into the edge.

#4

General Tormek Questions / Re: T-4 Limescale Cleaning

Last post by bacallado - Yesterday at 08:24:07 PM

Many thanks for the replies so far!

My first question is, do you drink this water? If not, why would you allow it to be used in your Tormek?

That was blunt, but totally necessary haha. If I drank that water I would have a stone the size of a fist in my kidney, so yes, in hindsight absolutely not a good decision and I definitively would not make that mistake twice. Thanks for the eye opener!

Any leads on how can I securely take apart the motor from the head of the machine? It seems that the citric acid seems to be the consensus to remove the scale, but submerging the part in any liquid doesn't seem an option with an electric motor attached... I have read somewhere in this forum a very scarce indication where somebody says to knock the flat edge of the pin... but that´s for a T-8.  That´s all the info I got.

#5

Tormek T4 and T4 Bushcraft / Re: T4 - Wobble (video include...

Last post by NorSharp88 - Yesterday at 04:49:44 PM

I don't believe the second knife (the one with the black handle) has been suddenly "eaten" by your T8. It has seen a lot of sharpening time before it went to a standard convex (or straight) shape to this concave shape.

The first one I can believe, and is a common problem with Tormek machines. It can be avoided with :
- careful technique (compensating by spending longer at the heel, not using too much pressure, ...)
- a few tips. Notably, the biggest improvement for me was rounding out the shoulders of the wheel after truing it. Too sharp corners will dig into the blade whenever the blade does not rest fully flat against the stone. Also, I always make sure to lay down the knife ever so slightly tilted so the heel hits the stone first and not the other way around. Of course you have to aim for flat, but better to err on the heel-first side rather than heel-last.

As for your wobble, is your video taken right after truing ? That would be odd. My bet would be that the stone has been trued, taken off, then put back on, but rotated. There has to be some clearance for the wheel to slide onto the shaft. So if you put it back in a position that's different from the one used for truing, then that will create some wobble (proportional to 1-cos(alpha_truing-alpha_sharpening) ). Standard practice is to always put the stone on the shaft "label up".

Also, please keep in mind that such wobble is unstable. Said otherwise : it will create a more uneven surface over time, especially if you use heavy pressure : the blade will kind of dig in each time it encounters a low spot, making it even lower. This is another reason to use reasonable pressure, and to often true  the wheel a little as opposed to seldom true it a lot. However, if every part of the blade sees the wheel a similar amount of time, the effect of this wobble will be homogeneous along the length of the blade and will not create dishing.

Hope this helps!

Hello!

Yes, the video is taken seconds after I once again tried to get the stone level.

As for placement of the stone, I always orient it with the label facing upwards.

I see the wobbling on the honing wheel also, so I suspect the shaft itself is no longer straight or something inside the machine is causing it to jump up and down, because one of my plants on the table where the Tormek is placed seems to be swaying rhythmically to the machine as well.

BTW, I have the T4, not the T8.

#6

Tormek T4 and T4 Bushcraft / Re: T4 - Wobble (video include...

Last post by tgbto - Yesterday at 04:37:45 PM

I don't believe the second knife (the one with the black handle) has been suddenly "eaten" by your T8. It has seen a lot of sharpening time before it went to a standard convex (or straight) shape to this concave shape.

The first one I can believe, and is a common problem with Tormek machines. It can be avoided with :
- careful technique (compensating by spending longer at the heel, not using too much pressure, ...)
- a few tips. Notably, the biggest improvement for me was rounding out the shoulders of the wheel after truing it. Too sharp corners will dig into the blade whenever the blade does not rest fully flat against the stone. Also, I always make sure to lay down the knife ever so slightly tilted so the heel hits the stone first and not the other way around. Of course you have to aim for flat, but better to err on the heel-first side rather than heel-last.

As for your wobble, is your video taken right after truing ? That would be odd. My bet would be that the stone has been trued, taken off, then put back on, but rotated. There has to be some clearance for the wheel to slide onto the shaft. So if you put it back in a position that's different from the one used for truing, then that will create some wobble (proportional to 1-cos(alpha_truing-alpha_sharpening) ). Standard practice is to always put the stone on the shaft "label up".

Also, please keep in mind that such wobble is unstable. Said otherwise : it will create a more uneven surface over time, especially if you use heavy pressure : the blade will kind of dig in each time it encounters a low spot, making it even lower. This is another reason to use reasonable pressure, and to often true  the wheel a little as opposed to seldom true it a lot. However, if every part of the blade sees the wheel a similar amount of time, the effect of this wobble will be homogeneous along the length of the blade and will not create dishing.

Hope this helps!

#7

Tormek T4 and T4 Bushcraft / T4 - Wobble (video included)

Last post by NorSharp88 - Yesterday at 03:45:49 PM

Hello everybody.

I've had my Tormek for a couple of years now, maninly to sharpen my knives, but the results seem to be getting worse and worse lately.

I've tried truing the stone using the TT-50,to no avail, can't get it completely level no matter what I do, and I suspect it may have to do with the wobble I am seeing, video of this is included.

https://streamable.com/xh0qqv

I also suspect this may be the reason for why two of my knives have been "eaten" by this machine, please see included pictures.

Is this really normal for a machine in this price range and my use? No heavy tools have been sharpened, nor has the machine been subjected to any prolonged, heavy usage. 🙁

#8

Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - NYKC H...

Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 11:07:58 AM

You could very well be right about that.
The air rifle had been previously lubricated with another type of oil (Tri-Flow), but it was already rather dry again when i applied the Ballistol.

#9

Knife Sharpening / Re: How to achieve less than 1...

Last post by tgbto - Yesterday at 10:52:59 AM

It will also show you when you've stropped too much.

Can you elaborate on this ? What are the effects of too much stropping ? Do you mean honing on the honing wheel ? What is your process ?

I have never experience such a thing as too much honing, but maybe it is because I haven't done enough testing...

#10

Scissors Sharpening / Re: Deburring?

Last post by KaithyHong - Yesterday at 10:40:03 AM

One thing I'd add is to make sure the stone is properly trued and the support bar is firmly locked before making any adjustments. Small setup differences can have a bigger impact on the final result than most people expect.