2 questions on the leather honing wheel LA-220

[Nico]

Greetings to the community. I recently purchased a T-8 and started my knife sharpening journey! I've read the handbook cover-to-cover, watched many instructional videos on the Tormek YouTube channel including the excellent Tormek Live Sharpening Classes on Knife Sharpening with Wolfgang and Sèbastian. I've sharpened about 20 knives so far.

On the practice of honing my knives on the leather wheel, I've come up with a few difficulties. As a beginner I want to hone with the knife in the jig using the Universal Support, at least until I'm more experienced to do it freehand. Wolfgang discusses honing with the Support in the advanced sharpening class, and recommends it for special knives to preserve the coatings or finish on the sides of blades.

So first issue is, with honing long knives using the support, the tip or handle hits the grinding wheel. So the stroke is interrupted. I tried removing the grinding wheel, but it seems the T-8 won't work like that - the honing wheel slips off the drive shaft - oops! Is there another position or jig orientation I can use to hone without the knife hitting the grinding wheel?

The second issue concerns the honing edge angle. Since the honing wheel diameter is smaller than the grinding wheel, doesn't that mean to hone at the same angle you must adjust the Universal Support? In his video Wolfgang does not make any adjustments - he just moves the Universal Support to the horizontal position then starts honing. This of course could be intentional, if the best practice for honing on the support is to use a slightly steeper edge angle. Just not sure.

What do people think?

[tgbto]

Hi!

You're correct regarding the need to remove the grinding wheel to hone at a controlled angle. To do this, you can either reuse the piece of white plastic tube that came on the shaft in lieu of the grinding wheel, and put it back into place when you hone. If you've lost it, like many have, you can cut a 15mm grey PVC pipe at the right length and it will work a charm. Or you can purchase fancy spacers made for that purpose.

Regarding the edge angle, you can either :
- use the sharpie trick, but make sure you really hit the edge, even if that means leaving a bit of sharpie along the shoulders of the bevel
- use one of the many calculators available on here. Cbwx34 has some in his signature, or you can get my absolute favorite: TormekCalc².

Cheers,

Nick.

[Pietje]

Hello Nico!
I marked on my WM-200 the 215mm for the letherwheel.

When you unpacked the T8, there was a dummy on the shaft. This you can use, when the grinding wheel is disturbing you.
On the other hand think about buying a frontbase and the greater toolbar. It is higher and longer.
With this parts you win a lot of space to handle the knives.

Another way is to buy a 250mm feltwheel. It is to use instead of the grinding wheel, but can use the configuration of jig and toolbar.
But not really. With a felt you cannot work against the blade.
A lot of videos say that the grinding angle is NOT alike the honing angle.

Stay save
Pietje

[cbwx34]

...
The second issue concerns the honing edge angle. Since the honing wheel diameter is smaller than the grinding wheel, doesn't that mean to hone at the same angle you must adjust the Universal Support? In his video Wolfgang does not make any adjustments - he just moves the Universal Support to the horizontal position then starts honing. This of course could be intentional, if the best practice for honing on the support is to use a slightly steeper edge angle. Just not sure.
...

If you're referring to the "Advanced Knife Sharpening" video... he does move the Support to the horizontal position without changing anything, but he states to "adjust the angle", (and doesn't actually hone anything).

https://youtu.be/PrRwBTil1l8?t=4665

(Not sure if this is the video you're referring to?)

Just thought I'd clarify this a bit... I think it's just a general demo of the position in this case.

[highpower]

Perfect timing for this. https://youtu.be/40AoJ8UBprI

[Nico]

If you're referring to the "Advanced Knife Sharpening" video... he does move the Support to the horizontal position without changing anything, but he states to "adjust the angle", (and doesn't actually hone anything).

https://youtu.be/PrRwBTil1l8?t=4665

(Not sure if this is the video you're referring to?)

Just thought I'd clarify this a bit... I think it's just a general demo of the position in this case.

Yes, actually that was exactly the part of the video I was referring to!
Thanks for pointing out he said to "adjust the angle". I missed that.
Would have been great if he demonstrated it too.
Does he mean set it to exactly the same angle as the edge angle?
I assume with the Sharpie method, or try the calculators other people have been referring to?

Seems I have been doing this wrong! Thanks for the pointers.

[Nico]

Fabulous and super-helpful responses from all you folks who've replied.
What an awesome community!
Thank you.

[cbwx34]

Yes, actually that was exactly the part of the video I was referring to!
Thanks for pointing out he said to "adjust the angle". I missed that.
Would have been great if he demonstrated it too.
Does he mean set it to exactly the same angle as the edge angle?
I assume with the Sharpie method, or try the calculators other people have been referring to?

Seems I have been doing this wrong! Thanks for the pointers.

I can't say what their recommendation for setting the angle will be.  Maybe the video class highpower linked to will answer.   If I hone using a guide, I'll usually do it at the sharpening angle, or a couple degrees higher if the burr is "stubborn".  But the best way is just to try and see what works for you. 

For setting the honing angle, my suggestion is to use whatever method you use to set the sharpening angle (Sharpie, calculator, etc.).

Edit:  Now I can say (I watched the video)... they hone at the same angle.

[highpower]

...  But the best way is just to try and see what works for you. 

For setting the honing angle, my suggestion is to use whatever method you use to set the sharpening angle (Sharpie, calculator, etc.).

Edit:  Now I can say (I watched the video)... they hone at the same angle.

Seems like sound advise to me.

One thing I took away from today's class was how they doubled up on the LA-170 discs so that you would have access to both the 'normal' and 'thin' discs at the same time. I like that idea and ordered another LA-170 right after the stream ended.