Toohr #3 knife sharpener

[Bdtry]

Happy Holidays everyone.

Between life, family, Holidays etc this post has been delayed a bit. I received a package from 777 Edge with some upgrades/parts for the Toohr. I also ordered a few things to use with those parts, did some testing and reviewing.
In the interest of openness these things were provided to me free of charge with no requirements for a review etc. My thoughts on these items are my own and I will be giving both the good and bad that I found with these items.

The items he sent for the TooHR:

From left to right: Magnetic platform, 6" and 4" stone spacers, raising spacer for the clamp bar unit. Adapter for Hapstone Modules. Leading Edge magnetic platform with scissor attachment and the long/large knife attachment. Adapters for the Haptsone clamps.

Lets start off with the upgrades.
To install the stone spacers you unthread the handle, there is a nice brass threaded insert in there instead of just a thread in the plastic. Remove the nut and one of the springs. Use the long spacer and a short spring for the 4" stones or the long spring with short spacer for 6" stones.

I left the nut a few threads back and tightened the handle up to it

And how it looks with a stone in. The 6" spacer is slightly longer than the short spring it replaced. I noticed that it seems to need quite a bit of force to pull back the abrasive holder now. I have asked about it, perhaps my spring is different than his.

Next we install the spacer for the clamp bar unit. This allows you to rotate the bar without it hanging over the edge, or lifting it up, or having something under the feet.
Begin by turning the unit over so you can access the bottom. The screws you need are under the rubber foot. There are 3 of them. You can use the 4mm hex key to poke a hole over the screws and unscrew them, or use a knife to cut out the rubber over the hole. I personally just poked holes, removed the screws, and then cleaned up the holes after removing the screws.

Holes with 1 screw partially removed.

The cleaned up holes after I removed the screws. I just took a knife and ran it around the hole to cut the rubber away.

The spacer and where it sits. There are a few lips here so you need to make sure it is in the right orientation

The original removed screws and the longer screws that were sent with the spacer. You need to use the longer ones to install the spacer.

I did notice that there was a small gap when I test fit the spacer. Given that it was getting bigger towards the lip I sanded just a hair off of it and it sat flat. Not sure if there some slight differences between our units or maybe it was just sitting funny, or there was a tiny blob somewhere from printing.

Install and tighten the screws

And now it can rotate with lots of room

Next up is the magnetic platform. This one is actually magnetic unlike the one that comes with the unit. It is a bit narrower but longer. It just fits without going over the screw.

To remove the old one you just need to slip a utility blade under it and twist a bit and it should pop right off. It is some kind of glue that did not want to dissolve so I had to scrape mine off.

The new one has some adhesive on the black, just remove the paper label and stick it on. It is very sticky so make sure it is in the right place because you won't get a 2nd chance

Now an angle cube will actually stick

And that is enough for this post, I will get to the rest of the items in the following post(s)

 

[Bdtry]

Now for the Leading Edge Magnetic Platform.

It just screws on with the included screws. The front part is both a scissor attachment, and it slides up so if you have a knife with a heavy grind you can use the front part to lift it up and support it so that it stays straight. I don't have a picture of that in action unfortunately, but here is a shot with a pair of scissors.

The magnets in it are quite strong and hold knives very well.

If you have longer or flexible knives that need support you can remove the scissor clamp and install the extension unit/support arm. It is also magnetic.

Unfortunately I had a small issue with the unit I received. The guide was slightly cupped which left a bit of a gap that thinner knives could slide under, and it also was in the way of thinner knives. These are 3d printed parts so changes in temperature and humidity can cause them to warp slightly especially with a really thin part like the guide. Going from a warm humid area to a really cold and dry Canadian winter probably accounted for a good bit of that. It was thankfully an easy fix, I just flipped the guide over and screwed it down then left it while I was busy. When I checked it ~2 weeks later it was flat. I am unsure if it is permanent so I will store it with the guide upside down.

And last but certainly not least is the adapter for the Hapstone modules. I purchased the chisel and scissor module to test out.

777 Edge told me that I could just use the stock thumbscrews that came with the TooHR to attach this adapter. So I did what any sane person would, I removed the thumbscrews from the stock clamps and went to putting it together..... Put thumbscrew in the back and turn.... and turn... and turn... pull screw out and put it back in a few times and wonder why it isn't threading.

Well, that isn't good.

So I sent off a PM asking about it and he replied "Didn't you get the longer thumb screws?" The longer thumb screwssssssssss? So off I went to the drawer of extra sharpener parts and found I did indeed get a set of longer ones. When I found the short ones worked perfectly well in the clamps I did as any sane person would and put them away in a safe place and promptly forgot about them

Sometimes size does matter

I mounted the chisel adapter in the middle since that seemed like a good place to start. And then promptly found out that the handle gets hung up on the rotating unit.

So I moved it off to one side. There is enough room for it to fit.

Ignore the nasty chisel, it has been the "toolbox" chisel for at least the last 20 years and was last sharpened with a portable belt grinder, so there was little to fear in experimenting with it. No, that was not me who tried to sharpen it that way. One thing I noticed is that it would be nice to see some lines going up and down so you can line things up straight easily. My eye-cromiter was slightly off so one side was getting sharpened more than the other. I grabbed a ruler and it was off by about 0.1mm. I forgot to take a picture but I moved the guide rod unit over in line with the chisel. Very handy feature.

Next I tried the scissor module and ran into a huge issue. No matter what, I was unable to get enough angle to sharpen the scissors. It always hit just on the very edge of the blade instead of the entire flat. The module would need to be bent, or a new adapter would need to be designed with an angle on it instead of being flat like the current one.

Just the very edge, hard to get a good picture of it but there is a while line in the middle of the sharpie on the edge.

Next I tried mounting it on the bottom to give a bit more clearance and a better angle. It worked slightly better and got slightly more of the flat but still did not have near enough angle to properly work.

I didn't get pictures but I also tried flipping the scissors around and putting the edge facing me and lowering the arm as much as I could but that did not work. I tried flipping the module upside down at 777 Edge suggestion but the middle clamp that holds the blade doesn't extend up high enough that way. So for now the scissor module is no good. I intend to try one of the magnetic table modules once I get more fun money.

 

[777 Edge]

I didn't get pictures but I also tried flipping the scissors around and putting the edge facing me and lowering the arm as much as I could but that did not work. I tried flipping the module upside down at 777 Edge suggestion but the middle clamp that holds the blade doesn't extend up high enough that way. So for now the scissor module is no good. I intend to try one of the magnetic table modules once I get more fun money.

Awesome, thanks for the update B Bdtry !

I tried the chisel & scissors module with some of mine and it worked well but it's good to see the difference in grinds and limits. That said, I think I tested the scissors module before I installed the raising block, so that was likely why I didn't have issues with it.

I'll be designing an angled dedicated scissors adapter for the Hapstone scissors module within the next week or two. That should give a better range of angles.

 

[777 Edge]

To install the stone spacers you unthread the handle, there is a nice brass threaded insert in there instead of just a thread in the plastic. Remove the nut and one of the springs. Use the long spacer and a short spring for the 4" stones or the long spring with short spacer for 6" stones.

I left the nut a few threads back and tightened the handle up to it

I forgot to mention, if you remove the nut in front of your handle (its not really necessary as the thread secures and locks well without it), then the length of the spacer and corresponding spring tension works best for 6 inch stones. (I designed it based on removing the redundant nut.)

Here is a pic of how mine is installed:

 

[777 Edge]

Ok, so the adapter that B Bdtry used above is the primary adapter to mount the Hapstone Chisel module and V8 / M3 magnetic modules only to the TooHR bar.

I am now working on a dedicated Hapstone scissors specific module to allow better scissors sharpening angles - some initial images below. I plan to have the Hapstone scissors module attach to the bottom (25 degree) slanted angle of the adapter. This should give a range of scissors angles that should suit just about any pair of scissors.

Note - The images below are in the print orientation. The actual mounted orientation will have the left side of the module in the images face towards the bottom and the Hapstone scissors module will attach on this bottom 25 degree angle.

 

[777 Edge]

I've just finished making the dedicated adapter for the Hapstone Scissors module. Having the scissors clamp angled to 25 degrees allows the TooHR to have an average scissors sharpening angle right in the middle of its angle range. I tried every pair of scissors in my house and the angle works perfectly for all of them. Pics below :

 

[Bdtry]

I've just finished making the dedicated adapter for the Hapstone Scissors module. Having the scissors clamp angled to 25 degrees allows the TooHR to have an average scissors sharpening angle right in the middle of its angle range. I tried every pair of scissors in my house and the angle works perfectly for all of them. Pics below :

View attachment 2030196


View attachment 2030197

Looks great, and with that angle it really should be able to sharpen most if not all standard scissors.
I will switch around my handle set up like you pictured. I guess the nut is just to keep pressure off of the handle itself.

 

[Officer's Match]

Just became aware of this intriguing sharpener this morning... for anyone with experience with one, would the movable tower also be useful in finding the "sweet spot" for blades with upswept tips? With the Wicked Edge I used to use, the knife itself had to be repositioned in the clamp (vise). It would appear to me that this system would allow a simple movement of the "tower" to find the spot that yields the most even bevel.

 

[Blade Lab]

Moving the tower wouldn't have any effect on the edge angle. Where it would be useful is in sharpening serrated knives (assuming you had appropriately sized rods). It could also be useful for some bolstered knives where the radius of the swing path can cause the side of the stone to hit the bolster or ricasso, making it difficult to get the heel of the blade. Many Spydercos have that issue.

 

[Officer's Match]

Moving the tower wouldn't have any effect on the edge angle. Where it would be useful is in sharpening serrated knives (assuming you had appropriately sized rods). It could also be useful for some bolstered knives where the radius of the swing path can cause the side of the stone to hit the bolster or ricasso, making it difficult to get the heel of the blade. Many Spydercos have that issue.

I can absolutely verify that changing the position of the blade (forward/backward, not up/down) changes the angle on upswept blades - no question whatsoever. Wicked Edge themselves has videos explaining the "sweet spot" for achieving even edge bevels on these types of blades. In fact, that is the reason I abandoned clamp-style fixed angle systems. I currently use an Edge Pro, i.e. hand-held system, specifically so I can maneuver the blade to achieve an even distance from the guide pivot.

 

[Blade Lab]

I can absolutely verify that changing the position of the blade (forward/backward, not up/down) changes the angle on upswept blades - no question whatsoever. Wicked Edge themselves has videos explaining the "sweet spot" for achieving even edge bevels on these types of blades. In fact, that is the reason I abandoned clamp-style fixed angle systems. I currently use an Edge Pro, i.e. hand-held system, specifically so I can maneuver the blade to achieve an even distance from the guide pivot.

Yes, moving the edge perpendicular to the pivot changes the edge angle. Moving it parallel does not.

 

[Officer's Match]

Yes, moving the edge perpendicular to the pivot changes the edge angle. Moving it parallel does not.

Agreed, that is why I was talking specifically about upswept blade shapes, where the tip may in some cases, such as a Persian, may raise "above" the spine where the clamp is positioned. I am speculating that the movable tower could facilitate finding the distance that most closely approximates the rest of the edge bevel. Makes me think that perhaps some movable "stops" for positioning the tower might be beneficial when flipping sides through the grit progression.

 

[Bdtry]

Alright, I got around to cleaning the linear bearing as in the video posted earlier in the thread by 777 Edge . I won't go into much detail since the video does that but I will note my particular experiences.

All the parts ready for soaking minus the red wipers.

What I used to soak them.

Kind of hard to see but there is a fair amount of dirt and swarf left in the bottom of the bottom of the container. I did give this bearing a preliminary cleaning earlier on but did not take it apart. It seems that it should be a required step.

Unfortunately I noticed some crud left over in the bearing race hole in the main part of the bearing so I wet some paper towel with alcohol and pushed it through with a 2.5mm allen key to clean it out. This was a good idea because it seems even a 20 minute soak did not remove some of the crud. I had to push several wipes through each side until they came out clean.

Same thing with the outer races. Lots of grime that needed to be actually scrubbed off.

Thankfully these ones are a bit easier and a qtip worked well. Lots of grime and more metal swarf. While I was at it I cleaned out the race on the base bar as well again due to accumulating grime from the bearings I was unable to clean the first time.

Fully reassembled. There are 44 bearings per side in mine. The gap on both sides is even.

Cleaning did result in a significantly smoother bearing but it is not anywhere near as smooth as the one in the video. There are times where it will hang up and needs to be pushed through and it smooths out again. For the sharpener use it is fine

 

[Bdtry]

Agreed, that is why I was talking specifically about upswept blade shapes, where the tip may in some cases, such as a Persian, may raise "above" the spine where the clamp is positioned. I am speculating that the movable tower could facilitate finding the distance that most closely approximates the rest of the edge bevel. Makes me think that perhaps some movable "stops" for positioning the tower might be beneficial when flipping sides through the grit progression.

I actually just sharpened a knife as you described.

I did move the tower from side to side to try and keep the angle consistent. An angle cube can help there. Rather than the rubber stops I used the ruler marked on the bar to move to when switching sides. This number will not be the same on both sides.

 

[Bdtry]

I forgot to mention, if you remove the nut in front of your handle (its not really necessary as the thread secures and locks well without it), then the length of the spacer and corresponding spring tension works best for 6 inch stones. (I designed it based on removing the redundant nut.)

Here is a pic of how mine is installed:

Oh, I completely forgot to mention, I removed the nut from in front of the handle and the force required to pull back the abrasive holder went down significantly. You wouldn't think that such a small amount of space would make such a big difference but it does.

 

[777 Edge]

Oh, I completely forgot to mention, I removed the nut from in front of the handle and the force required to pull back the abrasive holder went down significantly. You wouldn't think that such a small amount of space would make such a big difference but it does.

It also looks a lot nicer and cleaner without that ugly nut in front of the handle.

 

[FoghornLeghorn]

Alright, I got around to cleaning the linear bearing as in the video posted earlier in the thread by 777 Edge . I won't go into much detail since the video does that but I will note my particular experiences.

All the parts ready for soaking minus the red wipers.


What I used to soak them.


Kind of hard to see but there is a fair amount of dirt and swarf left in the bottom of the bottom of the container. I did give this bearing a preliminary cleaning earlier on but did not take it apart. It seems that it should be a required step.


Unfortunately I noticed some crud left over in the bearing race hole in the main part of the bearing so I wet some paper towel with alcohol and pushed it through with a 2.5mm allen key to clean it out. This was a good idea because it seems even a 20 minute soak did not remove some of the crud. I had to push several wipes through each side until they came out clean.


Same thing with the outer races. Lots of grime that needed to be actually scrubbed off.


Thankfully these ones are a bit easier and a qtip worked well. Lots of grime and more metal swarf. While I was at it I cleaned out the race on the base bar as well again due to accumulating grime from the bearings I was unable to clean the first time.


Fully reassembled. There are 44 bearings per side in mine. The gap on both sides is even.


Cleaning did result in a significantly smoother bearing but it is not anywhere near as smooth as the one in the video. There are times where it will hang up and needs to be pushed through and it smooths out again. For the sharpener use it is fine

 

[FoghornLeghorn]

Hey man...

I did notice this bearing assembly can be had on AliExpress if you felt it necessary to replace..
US $9.69 16%OFF | Manufacturer original sales micro special linear guide slider bearing block MGW15C/MGW15H

11.65€ 16% OFF|Manufacturer original sales micro special linear guide slider bearing block MGW15C/MGW15H|Linear Guides| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

And also the guide bearing that goes into the gimbal can be purchased as a direct replacement to what came in the sharpener or 2 other possible bearings that may work as good or possibly better?

The LM8UU Below should be a direct replacement.
US $0.38 50%OFF | 12/10pcs LM8 LM8UU LM10UU LM6UU LM12UU Linear Bushes 8mm 6 12 10mm CNC Linear Beare for Rod Rail Linear Shaft Optical axis Part

0.46€ 51% OFF|12/10pcs Lm8 Lm8uu Lm10uu Lm6uu Lm12uu Linear Bushes 8mm 6 12 10mm Cnc Linear Beare For Rod Rail Linear Shaft Optical Axis Part - Bearings - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

While this one is copper and graphite. Self lubricating.
US $1.47 5%OFF | 1pc 8x15x24 mm linear graphite copper set bushing oil self-lubricating bearing JDB LM8UU LM8 8mm

1.77€ 5% OFF|1pc 8x15x24 Mm Linear Graphite Copper Set Bushing Oil Self-lubricating Bearing Jdb Lm8uu Lm8 8mm - Shafts - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

Then the good ole solid polymer bearings.
US $10.36 17%OFF | 12Pcs/Lot LM8UU Solid Polymer Bearing 8MM Linear Bearings（8X16X25MM） For Mendel 3D Printer Replace Parts

8.99€ 17% OFF|12pcs/lot Lm8uu Solid Polymer Bearing 8mm Linear Bearings（8x16x25mm） For Mendel 3d Printer Replace Parts - Bearings - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

BTW, I read every single thread before commenting. I hope you have my setup by the end of the month.

 

[downdog]

Regarding the race do you think the slide action would improve if the voids were filled with more bearings?

 

[Bdtry]

Hey man...

I did notice this bearing assembly can be had on AliExpress if you felt it necessary to replace..

And also the guide bearing that goes into the gimbal can be purchased as a direct replacement to what came in the sharpener or 2 other possible bearings that may work as good or possibly better?

The LM8UU Below should be a direct replacement.


While this one is copper and graphite. Self lubricating.


Then the good ole solid polymer bearings.


BTW, I read every single thread before commenting. I hope you have my setup by the end of the month.

Thanks for the links, but I don't see a need to replace them. The linear base bearing is smooth enough and works perfectly fine for me, it just needs to be well cleaned before use. The LM8UU bearing(s?) also work perfectly so unless yours come defective there is no need to replace them. If that is the case then Amazon is likely a slightly more expensive but significantly faster way to get replacements since these bearings are commonly used in 3D printers.

Regarding the race do you think the slide action would improve if the voids were filled with more bearings?

I don't have any other experience with this type of bearing so I am unsure if the gap is needed for them to work properly or not or if adding another ball or perhaps 2 to each side would improve things and eliminate the occasional sticking problem. It could simply be a tolerance issue, or the retaining wire is touching the bearings causing them to drag slightly which is preventing mine from sliding freely as the one in the video.