Tormek Compound or Venev Diamond?

[joe103]

Hello, everyone. Well, after a couple years of sharpening with a couple different systems, I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a new Tormek T8. I got the hand tool bundle sale through Sharpening Supplies, the new knife angle setter, and the black silicon wheel. I want to solicit some opinions from the experts here. I'm trying to decide if I should use the Tormek compound on the leather wheel, or the 2 micron Venev diamond compound I have. It's the waxy stuff that comes in a lipstick-type tube. I intend to steer away from supersteels for a while until I get a handle on the T8 and get the diamond or  CBN wheels. My intent is to use the black silicon wheel graded at 200-ish, and the SG-250 graded fine. I bought diamond plates to grade with after watching the Knife Grinders Australia videos. Any and all opinions will be greatly appreciated. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Now if only UPS would do their job and deliver the packages! (Long story).

[John Hancock Sr]

Honestly, any honing compound will do the job. The Tormek compound is deliberately oily in order to maintain the suppleness of the leather. The Tormek compound I suspect to be Aluminium Oxide but it is probably a medium grit as honing compounds go. There is nothing stopping you hand stropping after the fact. It would not take much to refine the edge further.

[John_B]

If you are not doing super steels yet I personally do not see a need to use the SB-250 unless a knife has damage that needs to be fixed. For the knives I have sharpened or my own knives I use the SG-250 ungraded which is I think towards the finer side of middle of the grades possible. For the final passes before honing I will quickly grade it fine. Graded coarse the SB-250 works well to fix minor damage and eliminates the need for a wheel change

For honing I use the Tormek paste for customer knives. For my own I have a second leather wheel and I use 1µ diamond. It would be my recommendation not mix your diamond and the Tormek paste on the same wheel.

If you are serious about consistently getting the best edge I would suggest guided honing using the Tormek setup shown in their angle setter video or a Front Vertical Base (FVB). There are numerous threads on this subject. I found that learning how to consistently hone freehand was the most difficult aspect of my overall learning. When the merits of guided honing werre discussed I adopted it in my process and have not looked back.