Knife protection in knife jig

[JeffPPrice]

I'm new to Tormek but a collector of fine knives. I've seen in some tutorials that there is a black protective covering between the jig and the knife blade, which seems safe and reasonable, especially if the knife is worth more than a T-8. Looks like it's a thin black rubber square, but I have not seen it offered anywhere. Does anyone know what it is and how to get or make one? I sure don't want to scratch a good blade, and I don't want to loosen the jig's hold on the knife.

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Jeff.

Brian Pratt makes the protective covering you are looking for. I purchased a set of two from him, one for the SVM-45 and one for the SVM-140. I like them. Brian is a Tormek user and knife sharpener.

His company is Bootheel Customs in Missouri. His contact email is prattswelding@yahoo.com.

Ken

[RichColvin]

Has anyone tried using plumbing gasket material like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Keeney-6-in-Rubber-Washer/1082955 ?  It is cheap, easily available, and can be cut to size.

[Ken S]

Interesting idea, Rich.

Brian used to sell on ebay. (Listed under "tormek"). When I purchased the adhesive pads, they were $7.99 US. He stopped listing on ebay because of the fees.

Ken

[RickKrung]

Paper tape. 

I think this was first mentioned by Knife Grinders, but I do not know if they still use it.  I think it was said it can serve as shims for centering some knives. 

I have some but don't use it because I haven't noticed scratching of blades that I've sharpened, so do not find the need to "protect" them. 

What I have is "itape".  Just a bit wider than the knife jig.  The web site looks targeted at distributors rather than retail as there are no links or listing of prices, etc. like one finds on most.  Not even a "where to buy" link that I could find. 

Rick