Bevel Angle Change Question…
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I use my Tormek to profile and finish on my WE all the time. The hollow bevel from the Tormek is so insignificant that I’ve not seen an issue.
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Hogdog, thanks. Just what I needed to know. It’s a bit of a pain to haul out the “Tank”, as I call it, but as I suspected and you confirm, it should save me some time and effort and the cost of buying more stones. I knew the hollow grind was very shallow, however I wasn’t sure if it might cause another issue for the WE. Thanks.
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Well, I used the Tormek to get a 20* hollow ground bevel on this thrift store knife. It took about 2 passes per side, to establish the new bevel and go from super dull, to burrs on both sides. From there, I went straight to the WE and set it to 20 dps. I blacked the bevel, took a swipe with 800 grit and it turned out to be a near perfect degree match, with only a very slight amount of hollow. I started with the 400 grit stones and wiped out the black after just a few strokes. Boy, did that save me a ton of strokes. I just have to get over the trouble of taking out the Tormek and setting it up. Here’s a pic of the hair-splitting finished edge…
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Anytime you face a situation where there’s a lot of steel to remove, do not hesitate to take the mindset that doing so one stroke at a time is simply not reasonable. Any of the driven systems, whether a WorkSharp, a Tormek, a bench grinder or one of the belt sanders will save you hours and hours of tedious work as well as unnecessary wear on your diamonds. Pick a system you think will do the best job at profiling at your target angle and go with it. Your WE won’t care how the starting bevel got there; it’ll simply do what it does best – finish the bevel with a precision, wicked edge.
Cleavers, at least those I’ve worked on, have extremely heavy bevel shoulders, with bevels five to ten times as wide as the typical kitchen/cook’s knives. This translates into very large amounts of steel to be removed, even in touch-ups if you find a significant nick in the edge.
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No I don’t. If I could have gotten the Tormek to work to my satisfaction, considering the limitations of the original stone, then I was going to purchase more stones for more refined edges. As it was, “polishing” the one wheel to a 1k grit, then stropping, never gave me the consistent, refined edge I wanted. Even if you stopped your WE sharpening at 1k stones, then stropped, it would be a far better edge than that of the Tormek.
So, in answer to your question, I chose not to go with higher grade Tormek stones and opted to put the $ into my WE, which I am loving, the more I use it.
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Ok…just because…I went back and hit the edge with 6 and 3 micron films, then stropped again. It really did improve the scratches. Don’t know if you can tell by my poor pics, but take a look…
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For those of you that can’t afford or want to lug out a secondary sharpening system or have room for grinders etc . . .
I find the WE 50/80 stone set is a Godsend and a huge time-saver when reprofiling for removing metal fast especially on beater type knifes. Just use light pressure so as not to impart deeper scratches. I find the next stone set 100/200 removes the scratches quickly that the 50/80 leaves behind. When I get tired of too many strokes especially on the harder steels I whip out those 50/80’s and I’m off to the races!
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Hi Timm:
Well, I’ve done it. File mounted on Wicked Edge system with at least some success! Video to come soon.
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