Portable sharpening set-up

[Bill Hoffman]

I was always a Tormek user for our sharpening business, but Richard J's boosting
of paper wheels made me curious, so I bought some and practised. Got edges
which were just stupidly sharp.

I decided to add the wheels to our business set-up. However, I liked the Tormek
method of holding correct angles so I added a frame to use the Tormek guides with
the paper wheels. Wow! Fast and sharp and repeatable.

The photos below show our equipment.Hopefully, I've done this correctly. We
still use the Tormek, but mostly for shears and scissors. It's set up to the right
of the paper wheel bench. You can just barely see it in photo #2.
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[aread]

That's a really nice setup!! Well thought out.

Thanks for posting. Are the clamps from Tormek?

Allen

 

[Bill Hoffman]

Allen,

The clamps are from the Tormek sharpener. It's the best of
both worlds. Really sharp and really consistant.

I also use the Tormek angle gauge to set up the blade angles.
It couldn't be simpler.

Bill

 

[richard j]

that is a neat setup. the pictures are real small though. can you email me larger pictures? what keeps you from going too low or too high on the wheels?

i thought about fixing something up like that years ago but never did due to the time it would take to attach the clamp, sharpen the knife and then unclamp it.

you should practice sharpening without the jig. that way if you had a bunch of customers you can get them done real fast .

 

[Astrowood]

I made a portable setup for my paper wheels as well. I like yours, seems relatively simple, and well thought out. What speed is the grinder ?

 

[Bill Hoffman]

Astro,
1725 rpm.

Richard,
Attaching the clamp and setting the angle takes a few seconds. The Tormek clamp and the adjustable
guide bar keeps the blade at a constant angle on the wheel every time. I can adjust the angle if the
customer has a preference. Generally, I sharpen at an 18 degree angle on each side for an included
angle of 36 degrees. If I know the customer uses the blade on veggies or non-bony meat, I'll
lower the angle to 25-30 degrees included.

You are right. The paper wheels do a superb job. I just like the repeatability of the angle guides.

If I can figure out how to enlarge the pix, I'll email them to you. Let me know if you get them.

Bill