Tormek advice

joesrx

joesrx

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 4, 2008
Messages
601
I just got the T8 and have a question on what wheels should I get. This would be for a my own knives, not a business. I have various steels and some high vanadium, do I need the diamond or cbn? What is preferred? Researching a lot and it goes both ways. If I went with diamond, would the 600 do some light re-profiling? Thanks
 
I would start with their standard wheel. I would wait till you have sharpened 100 or so knives to buy your CBN or Diamond wheels. While you are learning, focus on a light touch. That's to say, let the abrasive's do the work. Focus on keeping the work area perpendicular to the stone and keep all of the bevel in contact with the stone. This becomes important as you step up in grit. If you don't, you will create "facets" in your bevel... areas that show it wasn't ground evenly.
It took me about a year until I really got the hang of it.
I'm not saying you won't create a razor sharp edge in the beginning, I'm just saying there's a good chance your bevels won't be display quality for a while.
So, my advise would be to wait a while for the CBN or Diamond wheels. You will be less apt to ruin your shiny new CBN or Diamond wheels by using too much or uneven pressure.
600 CBN is a decent middle of the road option. Cuts very aggressively. I prefer a higher grit for kitchen knives though. I haven't used their Diamond wheels yet.
Al
 
joesrx said:
I just got the T8 and have a question on what wheels should I get. This would be for a my own knives, not a business. I have various steels and some high vanadium, do I need the diamond or cbn? What is preferred? Researching a lot and it goes both ways. If I went with diamond, would the 600 do some light re-profiling? Thanks
Click to expand...
As far as light reprofiling, yes 600 will work. I use an 400 grit CBN to reprofile. Gets the job done quickly, but so does the SG-250, Tormek’s stock stone…
I will mention that although the SG-250 is aluminum oxide it does a nice job on supersteels as well. Under magnification you will see the carbides standing tall but I can’t say the knives perform any differently when using CBN and grinding off the carbides. Probably like a “faster” computer, measured in nanoseconds. I’m guessing the difference in performance is negligible. Maybe someone else has noticed a difference, but I can’t say I have.
The main reason I favor CBN is the wheel is always the same diameter. I can switch grits without re-measuring. And there’s the carbide thing. When I’m attempting to sharpen to 50 I would give CBN’ or diamonds the nod.
Again, light tough, focus on technique, watch the Tormek video’s. You will soon find honing to be the challenge.
 
As Gottagofishn said, stick with the stock wheels for now while you learn the ropes. Working on a wheel (even with jigs) is a bit of a learning curve. You'll want to work on getting the feel for it before investing in CBN or diamond wheels, but you'll definitely want those eventually if you plan on using it on high vanadium steels. For everything else, the basic wheel will be fine. The biggest deal with high vanadium is mostly in final finishing stages, though, as coarse grinding just kind of rips the carbides out of the apex anyhow since they're very small.
 
A big tip if you end up doing any freehand grinding on it--get used to thinking about your contact point as where a radius of the wheel is coming to, and your edge angle is measured relative to a plane perpendicular to that. So if your blade is a certain angle relative to the ground but your contact point on the wheel shifts forward or backwards, your angle to the wheel is also changing. One way to minimize this is to skew the tool 45° to the wheel and it allows you to "roll" the edge along the stone while maintaining a more regular angle. You can also use the changing angle dynamic to your advantage in creating convex bevels by pulsing forward and backward a little (the degree to which you do so will alter the convex produced and the depth of the grinding) which is useful on axes and the like. They're VERY versatile tools once you learn the ropes, but there'll be some accidents as you get the hang of it, so you'll want to experiment on tools you don't mind scratching up a bit!
 
Question for T8 users. I’ve been sharpening a batch of long kitchen knives. As I slide the jig across the support bar the collar of the jig hits the left upright just a tad, but it leaves a bump on the bevel when the collar bumps the upright.
I’m wondering if anyone knows of a modification or different jig or technique that would resolve this issue.
Thanks,
Al
 
A home made small knife rest might be what you need.
Problem is that you would have to make one yourself, as Tormek still does not manufacture one.

Home made small knife rest for Tormek

Several years ago i made this small knife rest, a variant based on the original design by Tormek forum member Herman Trivilino. Mine is being used for reprofiling/sharpening various blade shapes & sizes (flat ground is ideal, but saber ground is also p...
forum.tormek.com
 
I was just taking a look at my setup. I think the issue is caused by the shape of the collar on the self centering KJ-45. It has a split in the middle and the collar flares out a tad so the collar is not flat against the USB. On lower angles (15 degrees) when I'm doing longer knives, as I move the right to the left, sometimes that flare bumps the left support resulting in a unperfect bevel.
I will find a setup that causes it and take pics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top