The Black Stone.

[bobl]

Its Bob The Knife Grinder.
Would the Black Stone be any quicker sharpening the carving knives or any knives for that matter, than the original stone. ?
any knife sharpeners out there able to help?
Cheers.
Bob

[Ken S]

Bob, If you can wait until next month, Steve Bottorff's sharpening school DVD should be available.

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

I believe the major shortcoming of the SB grindstone is that it's more difficult to change grits with the stone grader. Thus it would make knife sharpening more difficult. Stig says he sharpens his knives sometimes with the SB grindstone.

[Ken S]

I have heard that the SB is quicker sharpening knives, and I have heard that it glazes very quickly. Both comments came from longtime Tormek users I respect. I would concentrate on consistency in your knife sharpening business and not be so worried about speed. Speed will come with experience. It sounds like your already are showing a profit. Enjoy the profit and the opportunity for more experience.

Ken

[OBR]

I guess it's time to contribute my experience after all my lurking   My knife sharpening experience is limited to just one year at our local farmers' market using a T7. I started with the original grey stone & then moved to the SB in the middle of last summer's market when the original wore down. I quickly found that I didn't have to change grits back and forth with the SB stone. I leave it at the fine grit and that grit handles almost every knife even ones with small nicks that require extra grinding. Staying with the fine grit is faster, and the customer will get more life from the knives because I'm removing less metal. I end up honing the edge with the Razor Sharp paper wheel honing wheel & their honing compound.

[grepper]

Thanks OBR, and welcome. 

Nothing is better than folks contributing from experience and it's greatly appreciated.  That is some good and useful information. 

Please keep posting!

[Herman Trivilino]

I quickly found that I didn't have to change grits back and forth with the SB stone. I leave it at the fine grit and that grit handles almost every knife even ones with small nicks that require extra grinding.

Thanks for contributing, OBR. If I try to do that with the grey SG grindstone I find that it clogs quickly. I have to use the coarse side of the stone grader to clear out the metal particles, then the fine side to get it ready for another knife. Not so with the SB?

[Elden]

   Curt,  welcome to the forum. Thanks for posting your findings. As far as the lurking goes, that is permissible. However, we are glad that you decided to post. I look at who is logged on usually when I log on and  at other times during the session. Sometimes when there is a user logged on I don't recognize, I will click on them and check their stats. A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a user that way who had registered early in 2010. They have never posted but have been monitoring (lurking) regularly since I stumbled across them. It is great to have them there. It would also be great to have them post.

[Ken S]

Welcome, Curt.

Your observations about using the blackstone are exactly what I hoped to receive when I posted the request for blackstone success stories. I was not being sarcastic when I made that post. I have been frustrated with mine, and hoped someone could shed some light on the subject. I am glad you have finally posted and hope you will cintinue.

Your knife sharpening technique has the ring of Steve Bottorff. By any chance, have you studied with Steve?

Steve was the one who made me think I was doing something wrong with my blackstone. He told me he often gets knives sharp in one pass using it. Coming from Steve, that comment makes me think that my problem is me rather than the stone.

Ken

[stevebot]

I have been using the Black wheel for several years now on my market machine, but have the original SG wheel on my teaching machine. My technique is freehand 90% of the time.  I do not grade the wheel but let it retain its natural state. I move on to non-Tormek finer wheels for the honing and stropping stages.

I find that the SB wheel cuts 25 to 50% faster than the SG wheel and lasts half again as long. Most knives sharpen in 1 or 2 passes on the SB, 3 is rare. 2 and 3 are the norm on the SG and 4 is not that uncommon, 5 is rare. I was replacing SG wheels every year, SBs last a year and a half.

The SB is definitely worth the premium for a knife sharpener, IMHO.

[Ken S]

Excellent post, Steve. I am looking forward to your teaching DVD next month.

Our conversation about your use of the blackstone made me decide to leave the jury out on it.

Ken

[Rob]

Has anyone tried it on planar knives?  I would be very interested to hear experiences in that area?