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#11
General Tormek Questions / Re: SJ Wheel wheels rant
Last post by tgbto - September 15, 2025, 05:16:36 PMQuote from: DonS on September 14, 2025, 03:37:08 PMHow large is the delta between the T8 shaft OD and the wheel hole ID? Is it large enough (>0.4mm) so that one could simply 3D print a sleeve (e.g., using a 0.2mm nozzle) to slide over the shaft whenever mounting a wheel, or perhaps turn a thin sleeve on a lathe?
I would be wary of anything that might increase strain on the stone, as it seems to be rather fragile. I wouldn't want to initiate a crack in the stone when the stones expands ever so slightly because it is wet.
As to the wobble in the stone, tightening the nut when the label is upright has become second nature. I don't even think about it anymore, it really is not that much of a loss of time.
#12
Knife Sharpening / Re: Advice needed on sharpenin...
Last post by Royale - September 15, 2025, 11:55:17 AMMany thanks for the follow up Nick.
I currently record images of customer knives, before & after, as well as digital microscope images of the before & after.
I don't typically send them out to customers post work, and use them more like a "break glass in case of emergency" type deal... You know, in case I get that unsatisfiable customer.
But I got a good review from the customer, so it all ended up well. But I'm always thinking of how to recreate good results more consistently and predictably in future.
I currently record images of customer knives, before & after, as well as digital microscope images of the before & after.
I don't typically send them out to customers post work, and use them more like a "break glass in case of emergency" type deal... You know, in case I get that unsatisfiable customer.
But I got a good review from the customer, so it all ended up well. But I'm always thinking of how to recreate good results more consistently and predictably in future.
#13
Knife Sharpening / Re: Advice needed on sharpenin...
Last post by tgbto - September 15, 2025, 11:33:39 AMIn that case, maybe it would be a good idea to just use a microscope, and give the knife back with a before/after emailed picture of the bevel ? There are cheap usb microscopes that will still make adequate pictures.
I use bench binoculars with the left eyepiece replaced by a CCD sensor, and get fairly good images in a matter of seconds.
I use bench binoculars with the left eyepiece replaced by a CCD sensor, and get fairly good images in a matter of seconds.
#14
General Tormek Questions / Re: SJ Wheel wheels rant
Last post by RichColvin - September 14, 2025, 08:14:32 PMDon,
I'm also not a professional sharpener yet I use the SJ Japanese waterstone often. There are tools like my secateurs which don't need this level of smoothness on the edge, but it does make using them much nicer.
Rich
I'm also not a professional sharpener yet I use the SJ Japanese waterstone often. There are tools like my secateurs which don't need this level of smoothness on the edge, but it does make using them much nicer.
Rich
#15
General Tormek Questions / Re: SJ Wheel wheels rant
Last post by DonS - September 14, 2025, 03:37:08 PMHello,
This is my first post to the forum as I'm a new Tormek T8 owner (DIY home use, not a sharpening professional). I have only the original SG-250 wheel at the moment but I'm curious about the SJ-250 stone and reports of wobbling due to the loose fit of the wheel on the T8 shaft.
How large is the delta between the T8 shaft OD and the wheel hole ID? Is it large enough (>0.4mm) so that one could simply 3D print a sleeve (e.g., using a 0.2mm nozzle) to slide over the shaft whenever mounting a wheel, or perhaps turn a thin sleeve on a lathe? I may never purchase a SJ-250 as it would probably be overkill for my home needs, but still wondering if there's a better solution to the wobble issue than needing to remount the wheel in the same orientation each time, i.e., the orientation in which it was trued.
Cheers,
Don
This is my first post to the forum as I'm a new Tormek T8 owner (DIY home use, not a sharpening professional). I have only the original SG-250 wheel at the moment but I'm curious about the SJ-250 stone and reports of wobbling due to the loose fit of the wheel on the T8 shaft.
How large is the delta between the T8 shaft OD and the wheel hole ID? Is it large enough (>0.4mm) so that one could simply 3D print a sleeve (e.g., using a 0.2mm nozzle) to slide over the shaft whenever mounting a wheel, or perhaps turn a thin sleeve on a lathe? I may never purchase a SJ-250 as it would probably be overkill for my home needs, but still wondering if there's a better solution to the wobble issue than needing to remount the wheel in the same orientation each time, i.e., the orientation in which it was trued.
Cheers,
Don
#16
Knife Sharpening / Re: Is there still a wire burr...
Last post by Brock O Lee - September 13, 2025, 07:03:20 AMYes I am convinced that you still have a burr at 200 BESS.
I started to test my edges after I read Vadim's opinion about lingering burrs over 100 BESS. In my experience he was spot on.
I also like and use his very simple Rizla cigarette paper cutting test to detect a burr. In my experience, if a fresh edge (finished at 1000+ grit and stropped to remove the burr) does not cleanly slice thin Rizla paper from heel to tip, I know I still have a burr. This burr is small enough that I cannot see it under bright light or feel it. A sub-1000 grit edge or even a tiny burr does not cut Rizla paper cleanly.
I sharpened the Umnumzaan above on the Edge Pro, but the Tormek is no slouch... At the moment I feel I can get sharper edges with the diamond wheels than the SG. This was on the DE-250 diamond wheel and stropped.
I was always a "coarse/toothy edge" kinda guy, until I read this article. These incredible micrographs made me more aware of persistent burrs, and made me pay much more attention to deburring. This whole site is a gold mine of knowledge.
https://scienceofsharp.com/2024/02/03/seven-misconceptions-about-knife-burrs/
I started to test my edges after I read Vadim's opinion about lingering burrs over 100 BESS. In my experience he was spot on.
I also like and use his very simple Rizla cigarette paper cutting test to detect a burr. In my experience, if a fresh edge (finished at 1000+ grit and stropped to remove the burr) does not cleanly slice thin Rizla paper from heel to tip, I know I still have a burr. This burr is small enough that I cannot see it under bright light or feel it. A sub-1000 grit edge or even a tiny burr does not cut Rizla paper cleanly.
I sharpened the Umnumzaan above on the Edge Pro, but the Tormek is no slouch... At the moment I feel I can get sharper edges with the diamond wheels than the SG. This was on the DE-250 diamond wheel and stropped.
I was always a "coarse/toothy edge" kinda guy, until I read this article. These incredible micrographs made me more aware of persistent burrs, and made me pay much more attention to deburring. This whole site is a gold mine of knowledge.
https://scienceofsharp.com/2024/02/03/seven-misconceptions-about-knife-burrs/
#17
General Tormek Questions / Re: Where do you keep your jig...
Last post by Brock O Lee - September 13, 2025, 05:45:31 AMImpressive setup @MikeK !
I converted a cheap warehouse shelving workbench in my garage into a sharpening station. I lowered the benchtop to comfortably stand upright when sharpening. A wooden frame with pegs store the wheels for quick and easy access and drying. No more awkward stacking of heavy and fragile wheels with no place to unstack them. The wheel you need is always at the bottom! I keep the jig kits on the shelf below the machine. The most used jigs live in a small metal tool box.
I converted a cheap warehouse shelving workbench in my garage into a sharpening station. I lowered the benchtop to comfortably stand upright when sharpening. A wooden frame with pegs store the wheels for quick and easy access and drying. No more awkward stacking of heavy and fragile wheels with no place to unstack them. The wheel you need is always at the bottom! I keep the jig kits on the shelf below the machine. The most used jigs live in a small metal tool box.
#18
Knife Sharpening / Re: Advice needed on sharpenin...
Last post by Royale - September 13, 2025, 05:34:54 AMTotally agree with you Nick.
I think a bit of background to this "theory", is that I'm still working on a framework to categorise my sharpening services pricing for my business, as well as streamlining workflows.
Almost all my customer knives have required repairs of different extents, and I was tired of doing these repairs without getting properly paid.
So I developed a framework (that included estimated bevel height) so that I could consistently move customers towards the appropriately priced service tier, to be fairly paid.
So when receiving knives, I measure the behind-edge-thickness, estimate the bevel width, and let them know what the final product will look like. Most of them gauge the quality of service based on the appearance of the knife (strange, I know) I still find it odd how my sharpening business really picked up after I got a bench polisher.
So, for this knife in conversation, I told the customer beforehand that the recommended sharpening angle range (15-20 DPS) would produce a bevel of 1mm width or less, and it would be hardly noticeable. And if she was agreeable with it, then I would proceed with work.
I actively try to avoid getting into disputes with uninformed customers who receive their knives post sharpening, and ask me why almost nothing was done, because they didn't notice any significant difference. (When handing over knives, I typically do a paper cut test in front of them, before they make payment. Using my PT50A test results just goes over their heads, but they can recognise a paper cut test)
So thinking back, my question was more of dealing with customers and what standard of work was deemed "acceptable", in a commercial sharpening context.
I think a bit of background to this "theory", is that I'm still working on a framework to categorise my sharpening services pricing for my business, as well as streamlining workflows.
Almost all my customer knives have required repairs of different extents, and I was tired of doing these repairs without getting properly paid.
So I developed a framework (that included estimated bevel height) so that I could consistently move customers towards the appropriately priced service tier, to be fairly paid.
So when receiving knives, I measure the behind-edge-thickness, estimate the bevel width, and let them know what the final product will look like. Most of them gauge the quality of service based on the appearance of the knife (strange, I know) I still find it odd how my sharpening business really picked up after I got a bench polisher.
So, for this knife in conversation, I told the customer beforehand that the recommended sharpening angle range (15-20 DPS) would produce a bevel of 1mm width or less, and it would be hardly noticeable. And if she was agreeable with it, then I would proceed with work.
I actively try to avoid getting into disputes with uninformed customers who receive their knives post sharpening, and ask me why almost nothing was done, because they didn't notice any significant difference. (When handing over knives, I typically do a paper cut test in front of them, before they make payment. Using my PT50A test results just goes over their heads, but they can recognise a paper cut test)
So thinking back, my question was more of dealing with customers and what standard of work was deemed "acceptable", in a commercial sharpening context.
#19
Knife Sharpening / Re: Advice needed on sharpenin...
Last post by tgbto - September 12, 2025, 08:42:58 AMI'm not 100% sure your intuition matches what actually happens at the edge.
What happens at the edge is a local phenomenon : Whether the edge is prone to rolling/folding or not depends on the material and the edge angle.
Even a .1mm high bevel is still orders of magnitude bigger than the small elementary deformations that happen when an edge rolls or not.
So changing bevel height will not modify the robustness of the edge. You can have a look at the excellent Science of Sharp blog to get precise measurements.
On the contrary, I can direct you to a bunch of traditional japanese knives who have like a 20+mm high bevel, but the edge will never roll.
As for whether a smaller bevel will make the knife wedge itself into the food, remember the primary bevel is more acute than the edge bevel. So if it indeed has a discernible effect, it is the other way around : the higher the bevel, the more you have to wedge into the food. I attached a drawing of the same blade sharpened at the same angle, but the right one has been ground to get a higher bevel. It gets intuitive which one will put more strain on the carrot ^^.
In my book, the lower the bevel the better, because you get lower sharpening time and amount of metal removed. So you push back the time when the knife needs to be thinned.
Hope this helps !
Nick.
What happens at the edge is a local phenomenon : Whether the edge is prone to rolling/folding or not depends on the material and the edge angle.
Even a .1mm high bevel is still orders of magnitude bigger than the small elementary deformations that happen when an edge rolls or not.
So changing bevel height will not modify the robustness of the edge. You can have a look at the excellent Science of Sharp blog to get precise measurements.
On the contrary, I can direct you to a bunch of traditional japanese knives who have like a 20+mm high bevel, but the edge will never roll.
As for whether a smaller bevel will make the knife wedge itself into the food, remember the primary bevel is more acute than the edge bevel. So if it indeed has a discernible effect, it is the other way around : the higher the bevel, the more you have to wedge into the food. I attached a drawing of the same blade sharpened at the same angle, but the right one has been ground to get a higher bevel. It gets intuitive which one will put more strain on the carrot ^^.
In my book, the lower the bevel the better, because you get lower sharpening time and amount of metal removed. So you push back the time when the knife needs to be thinned.
Hope this helps !
Nick.
#20
General Tormek Questions / Re: Why so quiet?
Last post by John Hancock Sr - September 12, 2025, 02:41:25 AMQuote from: tgbto on September 03, 2025, 08:35:25 AMJohn, sorry to hear about your wrist. I hope you get well soon.
Thanks for the document, it is very clear and informative. I'm waiting for your video !
thanks. It is healing well. Should be back at it in no time.