- Welcome to Tormek Community Forum.
News:
Welcome to the Tormek Community. If you previously registered for the discussion board but had not made any posts, your membership may have been purged. Secure your membership in this community by joining in the conversations.
www.tormek.com
Recent posts
#11
Knife Sharpening / Re: Choosing a default angle
Last post by John_B - Yesterday at 08:24:47 PMThe only people that have discussed sharpening angles with me sharpen their own knives.
#12
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 07:18:27 PMA while ago i reprofiled & sharpened this Ontario Afghan Bush in (probably) 5160 steel for a Dutch forum member, who when he received it tested it quite rigorously to see how the the knife would hold up with it's new edge.
The pictures show the knife with it's new edge measuring 35 degrees inclusive, a 15 micron diamond compound Paper Wheel finish, and a treetopping sharpness.
This was the mail i got from him when he was done testing:
(translated from Dutch)
Hereby i send you the results of the batonning test: my arm hurts and the knife just laughs at me.
I started with batonning through some standard firewood, which didn't cause any problems.
Then i proceeded to baton right through a hardwood pole with a big burl (?) in it (with a lot of effort from my side)
I then replaced the baton with a hard rubber hammer for a bit more comfort and hitting power, and with this i managed to drive the edge about half an inch crossgrain into another piece of tropical hardwood.
After this i cleaned the knife, and the edge would still pushcut through paper.
I almost forgot to mention that i also put the knife sideways with the point on a wooden block and gave it about 20 hard whacks with the rubber hammer on both sides of the knife.
Then i tested the point strength by stabbing it into hardwood and breaking it free sideways.
I think the knife already has endured more than it will ever have to in real life.
After all this i could still shave the hair on my leg on skin level, and after a bit of stropping it could treetop again.
The pictures show the knife with it's new edge measuring 35 degrees inclusive, a 15 micron diamond compound Paper Wheel finish, and a treetopping sharpness.
This was the mail i got from him when he was done testing:
(translated from Dutch)
Hereby i send you the results of the batonning test: my arm hurts and the knife just laughs at me.
I started with batonning through some standard firewood, which didn't cause any problems.
Then i proceeded to baton right through a hardwood pole with a big burl (?) in it (with a lot of effort from my side)
I then replaced the baton with a hard rubber hammer for a bit more comfort and hitting power, and with this i managed to drive the edge about half an inch crossgrain into another piece of tropical hardwood.
After this i cleaned the knife, and the edge would still pushcut through paper.
I almost forgot to mention that i also put the knife sideways with the point on a wooden block and gave it about 20 hard whacks with the rubber hammer on both sides of the knife.
Then i tested the point strength by stabbing it into hardwood and breaking it free sideways.
I think the knife already has endured more than it will ever have to in real life.
After all this i could still shave the hair on my leg on skin level, and after a bit of stropping it could treetop again.
#13
General Tormek Questions / Radial and lateral play msk-25...
Last post by rescwood - Yesterday at 06:40:13 PMI'm restoring an SA-250 found in a garage sale. I replace the old axe by the msk-250.
The original new composite bushings had about 0.25 mm radial play, even when new, which caused vibration.
I replaced the original composite bushings on my Tormek with 16×22×16 bronze bushings (3 mm flange).
The bronze bushings eliminate radial play, but I still have about 1 mm axial play.(new hole 4mm from shouder drilled).
Geometry of the shaft:
Wheel bore: 12 mm
Shaft: 12 mm → 16 mm shoulder
Wheel is fully clamped against the 12→16 mm shoulder
The 16 mm part of the shaft passes through the bronze bushing
Between the shaft shoulder and the bushing flange, there is a 1 mm gap
This gap allows the shaft to move axially until the shoulder touches the flange.
On the original composite bushings, the 12 mm washers rubbed slightly against the composite flange, so the flange acted as a thrust surface.
With bronze bushings, the flange is harder and not designed for axial thrust, so I cannot use it as a thrust face.
Has anyone addressed this axial play when upgrading from composite to bronze bushings?
What can be considered as normal play, axially and lateraly ?
The original new composite bushings had about 0.25 mm radial play, even when new, which caused vibration.
I replaced the original composite bushings on my Tormek with 16×22×16 bronze bushings (3 mm flange).
The bronze bushings eliminate radial play, but I still have about 1 mm axial play.(new hole 4mm from shouder drilled).
Geometry of the shaft:
Wheel bore: 12 mm
Shaft: 12 mm → 16 mm shoulder
Wheel is fully clamped against the 12→16 mm shoulder
The 16 mm part of the shaft passes through the bronze bushing
Between the shaft shoulder and the bushing flange, there is a 1 mm gap
This gap allows the shaft to move axially until the shoulder touches the flange.
On the original composite bushings, the 12 mm washers rubbed slightly against the composite flange, so the flange acted as a thrust surface.
With bronze bushings, the flange is harder and not designed for axial thrust, so I cannot use it as a thrust face.
Has anyone addressed this axial play when upgrading from composite to bronze bushings?
What can be considered as normal play, axially and lateraly ?
#14
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 01:14:03 PMAn older one, a user custom Jens Anso from a Dutch knifeforum member after a tune-up by a Dutch knifemaker.
Part of the tune-up was a two-step stonewash treatment of the RWL34 blade, which unavoidably also removed the original edge.
Before sharpening:
After sharpening.
I put on a new edge using a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit, refined it with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond paste, and finally removed the very small burr on the Tormek leather wheel with some 1 micron diamond compound
This leaves an edge that looks almost polished, but has more bite than when finished with the polishing Paper Wheel using standard aluminum oxide.
Part of the tune-up was a two-step stonewash treatment of the RWL34 blade, which unavoidably also removed the original edge.
Before sharpening:
After sharpening.
I put on a new edge using a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit, refined it with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond paste, and finally removed the very small burr on the Tormek leather wheel with some 1 micron diamond compound
This leaves an edge that looks almost polished, but has more bite than when finished with the polishing Paper Wheel using standard aluminum oxide.
#15
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 01:10:39 PMA Chinese Ganzo 704 as i received it from Hong Kong:
A very nice knife for the money (i paid about 17 US dollars including shipping from Hong Kong to the Netherlands), but with quite an obtuse edge angle of about 35-40 (ish) degrees inclusive and also a bit blunt not a very good cutter.
On the blade it says 440C stainless steel, but it's more than likely it's Chinese cousin 9Cr13MoV.
Reprofiled with a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit to 30 degrees inclusive, refined it just a bit with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and finally removed the tiny burr with a third Paper Wheel coated with 1 micron diamond compound.
It cuts hair above the back of my hand and can slice single layer toilet paper.
A very nice knife for the money (i paid about 17 US dollars including shipping from Hong Kong to the Netherlands), but with quite an obtuse edge angle of about 35-40 (ish) degrees inclusive and also a bit blunt not a very good cutter.
On the blade it says 440C stainless steel, but it's more than likely it's Chinese cousin 9Cr13MoV.
Reprofiled with a standard Paper Wheel with silicon carbide grit to 30 degrees inclusive, refined it just a bit with a second Paper Wheel coated with 15 micron diamond compound, and finally removed the tiny burr with a third Paper Wheel coated with 1 micron diamond compound.
It cuts hair above the back of my hand and can slice single layer toilet paper.
#16
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 17, 2026, 10:11:40 PMThe edge on the Takamura R2 gyuto in the clip below was done on Paper Wheels with diamond compounds.
According to the professional Chef who owns the knife he could work with this edge for about 2 months in his commercial kitchen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID9KZW0d9ss
His rank in the kitchen is Chef-de-Partie (just below head Chef and sous-Chef), and he and his team are responsible for prep cutting all the meats, vegetables, and patisserie ingredients.
Basically all he does is cutting food, and he is one of my prime sources of detailed feedback regarding my edges.
The knife had already been used for two months in the commercial kitchen and it was time for it's first resharpening, which i did on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound and then deburred on a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The idea was to make an edge that would do both slicing & pushcutting well, and also to remove as little steel as possible from the fine and thin R2/SG2 blade @ 63-64 HRC.
The new edge measures ~ 20 degrees inclusive (~10 degrees per side) and can whittle a chest hair from root-to-tip at about 4 centimeters from the point of holding, and after a few test cuts into a old piece of beechwood cutting board.
I took these pics with an old Ipad and actually wanted to erase them again as being not good enough until i enlarged the last picture twice.
At first i thought i saw small dirt spots on the new bevel, but those tiny white specks were actually the sliced off peaks of the micro-dot structure on the inside of the flimsy plastic blade protector sleeve.
According to the professional Chef who owns the knife he could work with this edge for about 2 months in his commercial kitchen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID9KZW0d9ss
His rank in the kitchen is Chef-de-Partie (just below head Chef and sous-Chef), and he and his team are responsible for prep cutting all the meats, vegetables, and patisserie ingredients.
Basically all he does is cutting food, and he is one of my prime sources of detailed feedback regarding my edges.
The knife had already been used for two months in the commercial kitchen and it was time for it's first resharpening, which i did on a Paper Wheel with 15 micron diamond compound and then deburred on a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.
The idea was to make an edge that would do both slicing & pushcutting well, and also to remove as little steel as possible from the fine and thin R2/SG2 blade @ 63-64 HRC.
The new edge measures ~ 20 degrees inclusive (~10 degrees per side) and can whittle a chest hair from root-to-tip at about 4 centimeters from the point of holding, and after a few test cuts into a old piece of beechwood cutting board.
I took these pics with an old Ipad and actually wanted to erase them again as being not good enough until i enlarged the last picture twice.
At first i thought i saw small dirt spots on the new bevel, but those tiny white specks were actually the sliced off peaks of the micro-dot structure on the inside of the flimsy plastic blade protector sleeve.
#17
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by RichColvin - July 17, 2026, 04:35:02 PMMy experience has been that:
I've not seen any analysis on this, so I am wondering what others are finding.
- The paper wheels make a very shiny edge, but
- The Tormek leather stropping wheel provides a sharper and longer lasting edge.
I've not seen any analysis on this, so I am wondering what others are finding.
#18
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 17, 2026, 04:15:06 PMCustom Sponaugle 154CM droppoint hunter Loveless style from a professional hunter.
The knife has been in use for some time, and it was kept more or less sharp by the owner with the help of a Spyderco Sharpmaker.
However, due to the original edge angle being somewhat too large (35/40-ish near the heel developing into 35/30-ish towards the point), and also being a bit uneven keeping it in working condition was becoming a nuisance, and the point becoming rounded was not helping either.
Before sharpening:
After sharpening.
A new very slightly convex edge of almost exactly 30 degrees inclusive was made with just a standard Paper Wheel, after which i removed the burr on my Tormek leather wheel (the edge keeps a little more bite that way, which works better for hunting knives imo)
The new edge now transitions smoothly into the ricasso and there's a new point too.
The knife has been in use for some time, and it was kept more or less sharp by the owner with the help of a Spyderco Sharpmaker.
However, due to the original edge angle being somewhat too large (35/40-ish near the heel developing into 35/30-ish towards the point), and also being a bit uneven keeping it in working condition was becoming a nuisance, and the point becoming rounded was not helping either.
Before sharpening:
After sharpening.
A new very slightly convex edge of almost exactly 30 degrees inclusive was made with just a standard Paper Wheel, after which i removed the burr on my Tormek leather wheel (the edge keeps a little more bite that way, which works better for hunting knives imo)
The new edge now transitions smoothly into the ricasso and there's a new point too.
#19
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 17, 2026, 04:05:14 PMSome old pictures dating back to 2011, showing my vintage Puma 6383 Buddy made in 1972.
The first set of pictures show the knife as it was before sharpening, still with it's original factory edge which was very obtuse and couldn't cut anything well.
The picturess below show the knife after reharpening the edge on my first set of (standard) Paper Wheels, using the silicon carbide grit Paper Wheel for reprofiling/sharpening, and the slotted Paper Wheel charged with the white aluminium oxide for burr removal & semi-polishing.
Specs:
Overall length: 9.6 inch (24,3 cm)
Blade length: 4.8 inch (12,2 cm)
Blade thickness: 3,1 mm
Steel: New Stainless Super Keen Cutting Steel
Hardness: 57-59 HRC
Handle material: Sambar Stag
The first set of pictures show the knife as it was before sharpening, still with it's original factory edge which was very obtuse and couldn't cut anything well.
The picturess below show the knife after reharpening the edge on my first set of (standard) Paper Wheels, using the silicon carbide grit Paper Wheel for reprofiling/sharpening, and the slotted Paper Wheel charged with the white aluminium oxide for burr removal & semi-polishing.
Specs:
Overall length: 9.6 inch (24,3 cm)
Blade length: 4.8 inch (12,2 cm)
Blade thickness: 3,1 mm
Steel: New Stainless Super Keen Cutting Steel
Hardness: 57-59 HRC
Handle material: Sambar Stag
#20
Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels
Last post by kwakster - July 17, 2026, 03:20:05 PMBoth for full sharpenings as well as for deburring & (semi-) polishing after creating an initial edge on (for instance) my Tormek T7.