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#21
Knife Sharpening / Re: Did I make a mistake?
Last post by BPalv - December 16, 2025, 06:02:03 PMQuote from: John_B on December 06, 2025, 09:00:22 PMAs I am sure you are aware Japanese knives are made with several styles of bevel. Single bevel, Western double bevel and a double bevel with each side at a unique angle. They may also come with smaller bevel angle than many western knives. Being left handed I have stuck with western style double bevel with my Japanese knives. Also try and develop a light touch with the diamond wheel as it cuts quicker than the SG-250. I also like to use a jeweler's loupe to inspect the entire knife edge. You will often find areas that were missed in your initial passes due to prior poor sharpening practices.
I maintain a small concierge sharpening business with limited customers as I don't want it to turn into a job. One thing I have done is create a notebook with a section for each customers knives. I include sharpening angle, jig projection length for next time and any reprofiling or repair that I need to do.
My situation is very similar. Notebook with grind grits, bevel angle, projection length and target USB height. I include the same honing information and sharpening results as measured by a BESS. Makes the next time a tad easier. One of these days I need to convert this to a data sheet for easy access.
#22
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Marble...
Last post by kwakster - December 15, 2025, 05:39:15 PMIn this case no electrolysis or naval yelly was used.
In general (also with this particular knife) i start with sanding the ricasso & back of the (disassembled) blade with 800 grit & WD40, this to see where it gets me.
Often these area's are not too damaged and there is no need to get any coarser, while at the same time it's coarse enough to remove blackness / superficial rust.
In general (also with this particular knife) i start with sanding the ricasso & back of the (disassembled) blade with 800 grit & WD40, this to see where it gets me.
Often these area's are not too damaged and there is no need to get any coarser, while at the same time it's coarse enough to remove blackness / superficial rust.
#23
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Marble...
Last post by RichColvin - December 15, 2025, 05:09:21 PMI was more asking how you restored the sides of the knife (i.e., did you use electrolysis or naval jelly)?
#24
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Vintag...
Last post by kwakster - December 15, 2025, 03:09:03 PMWith some prectice, a pinch of elbow grease, and of course my Tormek T7 to renew the slightly hollow scandi grind.
My T7 is fitted with an SB-250 Blackstone, which i use mostly to put factory-like edges on various stainless steel knives.
However, for sharpening & especially grinding wider scandi bevels on lower alloy carbon steels it is relatively slow.
The standard SG-250 stone would have been a much better/faster choice, but i do not own one.
My T7 is fitted with an SB-250 Blackstone, which i use mostly to put factory-like edges on various stainless steel knives.
However, for sharpening & especially grinding wider scandi bevels on lower alloy carbon steels it is relatively slow.
The standard SG-250 stone would have been a much better/faster choice, but i do not own one.
#25
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Marble...
Last post by kwakster - December 15, 2025, 02:02:33 PMMy first step is always to grind the old edge flat; if that is just blunt from slow wear i only use a hard silicon carbide bench stone, for instance the Tormek stone grader.
But when there is more serious damage (like in this Woodcraft) i use my trusty Tormek T7 to grind the old edge flat on the side of the stone.
This is not only about removing existing edge damage, it's also about removing fatigued steel and preparing the blade so the new apex will be made from fresh steel only.
This noticeably enhances the longevity of the new edge.
Next step is to recreate the full convex blade shape, and in this case i used 400 grit wet & dry paper (black silicon carbide) clamped on an old piece of fiber reinforced rubber conveyor belt.
As a lubricant i used WD-40 oil.
The steel in these old Woodcraft knives is possibly 52100, but probably 1095, which had a very good heat treatment & a guesstimated hardness of ~60 HRC, but it doesn't have a high wear resistance, which makes 400 grit wet & dry very effective for this purpose.
BTW: i don't grind to a burr with this 400 grit, but just to the point where the edge no longer reflects light.
Creating a burr is done with the next step, which is 800 grit wet & dry used in the same way as the 400 grit.
More grits are generally not needed imo, as silicon carbide grit is friable, and on wet & dry paper the layer is only 1 grain thick, so no new grits become available during sharpening.
Instead it just gets progressively finer & finer in use, which gives me the opportunity to tailor the "toothyness" of the new apex with only this 800 grit.
If i create a burr early on the 800 grit that apex will be more toothy than when i create a burr after longer use, and on hunting knives like these i prefer a bit toothy edge.
I don't hunt, but i do sharpen various hunting knives for people who do.
But when there is more serious damage (like in this Woodcraft) i use my trusty Tormek T7 to grind the old edge flat on the side of the stone.
This is not only about removing existing edge damage, it's also about removing fatigued steel and preparing the blade so the new apex will be made from fresh steel only.
This noticeably enhances the longevity of the new edge.
Next step is to recreate the full convex blade shape, and in this case i used 400 grit wet & dry paper (black silicon carbide) clamped on an old piece of fiber reinforced rubber conveyor belt.
As a lubricant i used WD-40 oil.
The steel in these old Woodcraft knives is possibly 52100, but probably 1095, which had a very good heat treatment & a guesstimated hardness of ~60 HRC, but it doesn't have a high wear resistance, which makes 400 grit wet & dry very effective for this purpose.
BTW: i don't grind to a burr with this 400 grit, but just to the point where the edge no longer reflects light.
Creating a burr is done with the next step, which is 800 grit wet & dry used in the same way as the 400 grit.
More grits are generally not needed imo, as silicon carbide grit is friable, and on wet & dry paper the layer is only 1 grain thick, so no new grits become available during sharpening.
Instead it just gets progressively finer & finer in use, which gives me the opportunity to tailor the "toothyness" of the new apex with only this 800 grit.
If i create a burr early on the 800 grit that apex will be more toothy than when i create a burr after longer use, and on hunting knives like these i prefer a bit toothy edge.
I don't hunt, but i do sharpen various hunting knives for people who do.
#26
Scissors Sharpening / Re: Anouther question about sc...
Last post by Royale - December 15, 2025, 01:24:34 PMI'm waiting for my 1x30 belt sander to supplement my bench polisher.
I plan to use it for deep scratch removal, before blending everything together with my bench polisher and radial bristle discs/muslin wheels. (I do it because I have an optional component of knife polishing, in addition to my sharpening package)
In future, I plan to use the belt sander to do heavy reprofiling/material removal and polishing, but still use my Tormek T8 for sharpening. My business selling point is precision edges, and not speed + quantity at low-low prices.
It's really your call on how you plan to position your sharpening business. What I can say, is if you position yourself similarly to the majority businesses in your area, then you run a tough race where you've started very late, and everyone races to the bottom. But if you position yourself differently (like how I provide precision sharpening, repairs and refurbishing) then you may very well end up running a race where there's much fewer people. If you're trusted by people as a good sharpener, then nobody will care about price.
I plan to use it for deep scratch removal, before blending everything together with my bench polisher and radial bristle discs/muslin wheels. (I do it because I have an optional component of knife polishing, in addition to my sharpening package)
In future, I plan to use the belt sander to do heavy reprofiling/material removal and polishing, but still use my Tormek T8 for sharpening. My business selling point is precision edges, and not speed + quantity at low-low prices.
It's really your call on how you plan to position your sharpening business. What I can say, is if you position yourself similarly to the majority businesses in your area, then you run a tough race where you've started very late, and everyone races to the bottom. But if you position yourself differently (like how I provide precision sharpening, repairs and refurbishing) then you may very well end up running a race where there's much fewer people. If you're trusted by people as a good sharpener, then nobody will care about price.
#27
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Vintag...
Last post by Rossy66 - December 15, 2025, 11:28:34 AMAmazing work, how did you achieve that result. 
#28
Scissors Sharpening / Re: Anouther question about sc...
Last post by Rossy66 - December 15, 2025, 11:24:08 AMSo, I ordered the SG-250 after watching a few more videos, $450 for the DE-250 is too much of an investment to possibly ruin it and since I can't seem to get a straight answer , I'm just not willing to take a chance. I am however looking at buying a 1x30 system and returning all my Tormek stuff.
#29
Knife Sharpening / Re: Knife restoration - Marble...
Last post by RichColvin - December 15, 2025, 12:31:32 AMWhat process did you use to restore the blade?
#30
Knife Sharpening / Re: KJ-140 middle gap normal?
Last post by Sir Amwell - December 15, 2025, 12:20:46 AMSurely the answer here is to use the tried and tested 'increase the spine thickness by adding layers of tape to the desired tolerances' which I think is between 2 and 3 mm?