Recent posts

#1

Knife Sharpening / Re: Sharpen workflow for ‘mid-...

Last post by BPalv - Today at 06:22:41 PM

Wim,
1) I sharpen the cheap stuff at 20 degrees.  I sharpened a cheap knife at 15 degrees and could see the apex flexing as I ran a fingernail along it.  Another cheapie dented when I tested it with a BESS tester at 15 degrees.  My thought process is quality knives can withstand a 15 or even a 12 degree angle in the kitchen due to hardness and the physical makeup of the steel, but cheap steel is more apt to crush or deform at 15 degrees.
I grind Quality kitchen knives to 15 degrees or whatever the manufacturer recommends. (Shun 16 degrees). I never change profiles without discussing it with the customer first.
2) Workflow.  If I have a batch I'm working on the first thing I do is repair any shape issues.  Bellies, broken tips, bolsters etc.  I usually work from the smallest/cheapest to the longest high quality.  I put as many knives in jigs as I have.  As I approach each knife I determine the grit or types of stones and grind different stones in batches. I use an 80, 400 and 1000 diamond plates to change the grit on the stone as needed but try to leave it in some mid-range grit.
Use a light touch alternating sides keeping the knife moving slowly.
After I'm 100% positive I've raised a burr I move on to Honing.  I make as few passes on the honing wheel as possible at a slightly higher angle than you ground. (different steels behave differently). You can stop honing as soon as the burr is gone the entire length. (I check by shining a BRIGHT flashlight from the back of the blade and feel) You can hone more to increase sharpness with a very light touch but the more you hone, the more you smooth out the teeth.  On high quality kitchen knives I follow the Tormek honing wheel with a 1 mu TDT diamond coated honing wheel at the exact angle.  Finally, on most knives I make one pass on a 1x30 leather belt with no compound for the final cleanup.(a hanging strop works well but takes practice).  With any luck your blade will be under 200 BESS.  If you've done everything perfectly, under 100 BESS.  If not under 170 or so double check for a burr.

Other tips: take notes of everything, light pressure, practice, read, watch videos, practice, light pressure, practice, read, light pressure, practice...

You can create crazy sharp apexes with very little extra equipment. It's all about having a good knowledge base and practice.  The single piece of equipment I purchased ( other than the T8) that shortened my journey was a BESS sharpness tester.  I can quantify my results.  No more guessing if it's razor sharp or not.  Does 5, 10 or 20 passes on a strop improve sharpness?, what emulsion performs the way you want?  Without something to quantify your results you'll be shaving your arm and cutting paper to guess how sharp it is.  Depends on what you want to focus on.
You'll want something to see the apex, a loupe, magnifying glass and or a microscope.  If you are going to be setting any angles to a specific angle you'll need either the KS-123 or a quality set of long calipers or both.  The KS-123 does work.  I get about a one degree variance using the KS-123.  For everyday knives it works fine and easily produces edges under 200.  For high end knives I still measure.

Read "Knife Deburring".

I run a very small business and spend a lot of time on the knives I sharpen.  I do not do "volume" sharpening. Depending on what your plans are, maybe a volume sharpener or farmer's market sharpener would share their workflow.

Have fun on your journey.

#2

Knife Sharpening / Re: Struggling to keep knife f...

Last post by BPalv - Today at 05:10:40 PM

I believe that is part of the journey.  I started belt sanders/sharpeners.  With those you aren't fighting the "facets" that are created on the bevel by uneven grinding in most cases.  As you learn to read "the bump" and grind without excessive pressure your bevels will clean up and you'll be generating the nice shiny even bevels that the machine is capable of and we all love.  The Tormek is more "artsy" than belt grinders in my humble opinion and it takes most folks practice to become proficient.  Honestly, I've been working on this style machine for several years and am still learning new and improved techniques.
One other comment... light is your friend.  I have my Tormek area lit up like road show.  Nothing gets by without me seeing it.  The shadow under my blade shows me if I'm laying my blade on the stone flat.

#3

Knife Sharpening / Re: Sharpen workflow for ‘mid-...

Last post by WimSpi - Today at 04:55:23 PM

Thanks for the responses. I'm going to look for some videos.  Personally, I think pressure does make a difference. But you have to be careful not to apply too much pressure when placing the knife on the stone, especially when using a coarse diamond stone. If you press too hard, you can easily cause deep damage to the cutting edge. I usually place several fingers across the entire width of the knife. Actually, you should only use one finger when placing the knife and only press the knife onto the wheel in the middle of the stone. Then you can add the other fingers.

#4

General Tormek Questions / Re: Jig collar bumps leg of su...

Last post by Sir Amwell - Today at 10:39:56 AM

I had a problem with one of my US430's.
Where one of the legs was welded to the support bar, a tiny piece was very slightly proud of the back of the support bar. Only detectable when drawing the knife jig along it, producing a bump.
Five minutes with a file sorted it out.

#5

General Tormek Questions / Re: Jig collar bumps leg of su...

Last post by Ken S - Yesterday at 10:56:38 PM

As for the US-430 not being part of the standard T8 delivery, I think that's a bit cheap.

I was involved in both the reintroduction of the US-400 and the US-430 and would like to  share what I learned from these processes:

The US-400 was originally part of the T-400, a specialized machine specifically designed for sharpening kitchen knives. The frame was longer than the standard Tormek. The longer  frame and the longer US-400 accommodated longer knives. Wootz (Vadim of Knife Grinders) was the first member to post about the US-400. He located and purchased one in Italy, quite a feat as Wootz lived in Australia. A small group of us, represented by forum member and Tormek dealer, Steve Bottorff, asked Tormek CEO, Håkan Persson to consider reintroduce it. Håkan agreed to produce a limited run. As I recall, it was for fifty units. These sold out quickly.

I emailed Håkan, suggesting that the US-400 would be amore useful tool if the legs were longer to accommodate taller cleavers. Håkan liked the idea and the US-430 was born and gifted me one of the first ones. I do not know whether I was the only one to make the suggestion.

The US-400 was never intended to be used with the regular Tormek models, even though it is compatable with them. The longer support is really only used in sharpening longer knives. Just as those who sharpen  knives exclusively occasionally complain about having  to pay for including the SE-77 with the T8, woodworkers might complain about paying to include a US-430.

I would classify the US-430, along with the rotating base and rubber work mat, as useful accessories where there is a need.

Ken

#6

Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife modification - Vinta...

Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 10:16:21 PM

The knife has already proven to be a very effective short chopper during 2019 and 2020, with it's heavy convex blade in low alloy carbon steel combined with a stick tang covered in shock dampening rubber.

Still working on thinning the convex blade shape a hair more every now and then, slowly approaching that sweet spot where the edge bites at maximum depth while at the same time the blade doesn't get stuck during chopping, and the saw on the back works best.
I think i'm almost there.
Pics were taken in the woods surrounding my home town.

#7

Knife Sharpening / Knife modification - Vintage K...

Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 10:15:07 PM

Vintage XL sawback scout knife manufactured by the no longer existing Solingen based firm of Kronenkrebs.
The stag handle was way too thick for my hands, and the low sabergrind geometry was far from ideal for it's intended use as a large allround camp knife / chopper.
The quality of the drop-forged steel in the blade however makes it worthwile for me to put in some elbow grease.
This is how the knife looked when i bought it:





First i ground the old "edge" flat on the Tormek SB-250 stone, then ground down the blade's center ridges on both sides with a Chinese 120 grit diamond file, then reshaped the blade from a low sabergrind into a full convex one with the help of a somewhat modified cheap Parkside linisher that can now also be used as a slack belt grinder.

This is the machine i have:

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

Refining the blade surfaces as well as the actual forming & refining of the apex area was done by hand on grits 240 and 400 wet & dry paper using WD40 as a lubricant, while the burr was removed on the Tormek leather wheel.
The new apex can whittle a chest hair from hair root to hair tip @ about 30 degrees inclusive.
The grinding & sanding of the blade also automatically resharpened the sawback's teeth, and the full convex blade shape makes that the sawback is now the blade's thickest part, which reduces the chances of jamming when using it for sawing or notching.

The slack belt linisher also proved very useful for shaping a new handle made from 12 thick rubber washers, each one cut from an old piece of very wear resistant & triple fiber weave reinforced industrial conveyor belt.
The ground & shaped rubber has a very nice tactile feel to it and i suspect that it will also dampen shock quite effectively, which will aid it's use in it's intended role.
Also made a thick aluminium guard as a replacement for the factory installed useless piece of flimsy brass.
Guard & pommel are now permanently installed using 2-ton epoxy, while each rubber washer is glued to the next with a good rubber glue which stays flexible.

The knife is now ready for some field testing, and if that turns out satisfactory some more refining steps will follow.
This is how it currently looks (sheath has been waxed but still needs to be restitched):

























Specs:

Overall length: 33,5 cm (13.9 inch)
Blade length: 21,0 cm (8.27 inch)
Max blade thickness: 5,7 mm
Steel type: drop-forged low alloy carbon steel
Handle materials: Aluminium guard & pommel with rubber washers
Weight: 388 grams
Sheath: leather

#8

General Tormek Questions / Re: Knife Steel Nerds

Last post by BeSharp - Yesterday at 06:57:23 PM

Does anyone know of Magnacut chef knives ? Ideally a japanese yo-gyutou or the like... I couldn't find any, only pocket knives...

North Arm Knives here in Vancouver, BC, Canada makes kitchen knives out of Magnacut. Stumbled across them from sharpening some for a customer.

https://northarmknives.com/product/alder-8-inch-chefs-knife/#description

#9

Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Kienel...

Last post by Rossy - Yesterday at 11:59:58 AM

Amazing job   

#10

Knife Sharpening / Knife restoration - Kienel & P...

Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 11:31:48 AM

Vintage XXL Fahrtenmesser/Scout knife manufactured by Kienel & Piel in Solingen, Germany.
In Germany knives this size were often used by hunters for clearing shooting stands etc, but basically by anyone in need of a good quality heavy chopper with a classic design.

Once used in the jungles of Suriname by Dutch soldiers of Third Suriname Company in the early 1960's, this knife was recently found sheathed in an attic during a house clearing after the owner had passed away.
It's blade was corroded black, somewhere in time it had been "sharpened" on a bench grinder, and all handle parts were loosened and dried out.
But as the blade was still structurally sound and i have a soft spot for vintage German knives it became another project.

How i received the knife:






I chose to regrind the originally saber ground blade to convex by hand using a Chinese 300 grit diamond file, which removed most of the corrosion & edge damage, while at the same time giving the knife a much more effective blade geometry for chopping.
Also did a few refining steps using waterproof SiC paper on a semi-hard rubber backing with WD40 as a lubricant, but just enough so i can do a bit of test chopping when time permits.
The new edge measures somewhere between 25 and 30 degrees inclusive, and i still have to remove the burr.
The original stag handle was way too thick & lumpy for my hand, so after glueing all parts together i gave it a bit more ergonomic & functional shape.
Especially the thinning of the handle just behind the guard while leaving a thicker midsection makes for a very comfortable hold with much less hand fatigue.

Hand reground blade with handle disassembeld:



How it currently looks:











Specs:

Overall length: 17.4 inches (44,2 cm)
Blade length: 12.3 inches (31,3 cm)
Blade thickness: 4,0 mm
Steel: hot drop-forged carbon steel
Weight: 476 grams