My sharpening plan....

T

TwinStick

Joined
Jan 21, 2011
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I have quite a few knives, like around a hundred or so. Many of them, for what ever reason, have uneven grinds on the blades. Some are dead on but many are not. Been sharpening since I was 7 & am 57 now. I am pretty good at it but want to take it to the next level.

So, an unexpected little windfall happened & I now have a Tormek T-4 Bushcraft & wheel truer on the way. Should be here Monday. Next purchase will be the Japanese water wheel for it, in a few months.

My plan is to slowly & carefully get each of my blades even & at a 22° per side angle & polish them with the Japanese waterstone. So I don't have to take off stock wheel & switch them for each knife. I have quite a few big choppers, so I may have to end up getting the longer tool rest, but not sure about that yet.

It just plain takes too much time to fix an uneven grind by hand. I have about worn out 2 different diamond deluxe sharpener kits. I have belt sanders too. I just wanted something to give me exact angles faster and be able to polish to a mirror finish without taking all day & be able to touch them up & be repeatable.

I will periodically update this post. I gotta say, spending that much on a sharpening system makes me nervous but I have watched all the videos on YouTube & after seeing a knife cut phone book paper like a hot knife through butter, in person is impressive. I can get mine hair popping sharp but it takes too long or longer than I think it should anyways.

Anyone else have a T-4 Bushcraft ?
 
TwinStick said:
Anyone else have a T-4 Bushcraft ?
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Gonna venture a wild guess that you have joined an elite--and very small:D--group of sharpeners here who have a Tormek T4. But seriously, I'm interested to hear how it goes, love to see pics/vids of your setup and results after you get it going. I eyed the Tormek and also a Kalamazoo belt grinder a while back, but decided in my case it made sense to stay all manual. I just wouldn't use those powered systems enough to justify.
 
I don't think establishing the same angle will save much time since the distance from tool rest to the clamped edge will be different for every knife and tends to be different everytime you clamp even the same knife.


But it will do a good job for ya. Start on some beaters to learn.
 
I own the T-8 and Japanese water stone too and really like it for medium to longer blades.

Heavy handed is correct though... setting the angle is unique to each knife but don’t let that discourage you. It’s any easy adjustment to make with a sharpie.
 
rm41400 said:
I own the T-8 and Japanese water stone too and really like it for medium to longer blades.

Heavy handed is correct though... setting the angle is unique to each knife but don’t let that discourage you. It’s any easy adjustment to make with a sharpie.
Click to expand...

Trying to set a uniform angle on all your knives is probably not the best route. Pick an angle that works with each of your knifes respectively and it’s a quick adjustment and no major reprofile needed.

I’m a newb but my experience so far is exactly as HH recommended
 
That's my plan. Establish the same angle. 22° for each side. That is what most of my knives are anyways. I got it today around 2:15 pm. By 5 pm I had my 2 pre-prison Martha Stewart (LOL) kitchen knives hair popping sharp. And because I don't have the Japanese waterstone yet, I used the ceramic polishing stone on my Gatco sharpener & used the 22° setting. Worked like a champ. But really can't wait to get the Tormek Japanese waterstone for that mirrored edge. I am loving this thing so far. I saw a few reviews on YouTube that said their wetstone/strop shaft rusted after a year or so, so I used some Fluid Film on mine, hoping to avoid that problem.
 
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