How Small a Knife Can You Sharpen? – Examples

[Tom Whittington]

I’ve done very small pen knives for customers at flea markets, it really surprises me how many people carry those things and are perfectly content with it. Well, that and how dull they always are.

I get a lot of the two and three blade ones between 1 and 2 inches per blade. It’s a fun job to do the three blade ones, because they typically come with a clip point, a drop point and a sheep’s foot blade so they made great practice!

I have one of the tiny pen knife types in my travel kit with the WEPS, I’ll have to dig it out and take some pictures of it clamped up. I tend to go with a fairly large angle setting out of necessity, and I have spare screws I’ll be turning down to give me a little extra leeway too. I’m generally happy with the 21-25 degree range on these little knives, they cut surprisingly well with a 1000 grit edge!

[Mark76]

Definitely possible Mark. I’ve been devising such a device for a couple of years, just haven’t gotten it completed. Curtis has seen some of the drawings. If a lot of people think they’d like to see it developed, I’ll push ahead with it, assuming I don’t run foul of any intellectual property of Tormec’s.

Let me be the first one. Definitely interested in this or any other type of low angle attachment.

Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge

[cbwx34]

…That would be the ultimate solution for ppl wanting to sharpen their blades at angles much lower than 13 degrees.

(On a “regular” size pocket knife.)

🙂

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[Ken Buzbee]

Nice Curtis. I gotta get me one of those.

Soon 😉

Ken

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Nice Curtis. I gotta get me one of those.

Soon 😉

Ken

Yeah when I saw it I just ordered it. My good buddy has this old little Case penknife. It is without a doubt the single hardest knife I have ever tried to sharpen!! Freehand, whatever?? I’m hoping this little tool can turn this around so I can hold my head up high again? I told my buddy if he ever brought that knife back to sharpen, I would pay him $20. just to throw it away!!

[Robert Nash]

here is a small wood marking knife from the show today – chisel grind at 22 degrees (just matched the angle on the edge, I actually started at 18 as that is what he thought was on the knife, missed the clamp but not the shoulder!). didn’t do any other measurements…

View photo here – can’t get to link into post – Mark or Curtis can you help??

interesting Tormek Clamp- thanks for putting it up Curtis. I look forward to seeing more info on how it works for people…

Like Tom I see a lot of small knives like his victorinox at shows – I do have a few pics from older shows but no details. I’ll try to get those up

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

Just got mine yesterday. Only did one knife so far? Seems like it is going to be a nice addition to the WEPS. Tried mounting it a couple different ways to check angles? I was able to put a 20* per side on a little Case my friend has and it was sharp when I was done!

[Ken Buzbee]

here is a small wood marking knife from the show today –

Gee whiz, Bob. I thought MY clamp was worn down from trying to go too low 😉

Ken

[cbwx34]

… can’t get to link into post – Mark or Curtis can you help??

I’ll just add the photo…

… so I can tell people they should check out your Facebook photos, where you have a ton of pictures! :woohoo: :woohoo:

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[Jared Hunter]

This was the first knife i sharpened for some one else. A double bladed buck 303. What a pain it was. The other blade was shorter but the same height.

[Leo Barr]

Funny after reading about the Tormek small knife Jig I thought I would finally get one as yet I await my WE but I do have a Tormek
I do not like the knife Jigs on the Tormek they are quite difficult to use properly and adding this small knife jig just makes it feel even more ungainly it also feels as if the whole thing is flexing.

I think it will probable work and feel a lot better on the WE.

I could not upload the image of it still if you look at it set up on the Tormek it is cumbersome and it is difficult to do a low angle so for a Tormek it is not a lot of use.

[Eamon Mc Gowan]

I got one of the Tormek small knife jigs. At first I thought I really liked it on the WEPS? But as time goes on I find myself never using it and just doing the small knifes on my bench stones. The friends that I sharpen for don’t really care if their 1″ blades have a sub micron edge. I clean them up on a Arkansas stone, strop and be done with them. 😛

[cbwx34]

Funny after reading about the Tormek small knife Jig I thought I would finally get one as yet I await my WE but I do have a Tormek
I do not like the knife Jigs on the Tormek they are quite difficult to use properly and adding this small knife jig just makes it feel even more ungainly it also feels as if the whole thing is flexing.

I think it will probable work and feel a lot better on the WE.

I could not upload the image of it still if you look at it set up on the Tormek it is cumbersome and it is difficult to do a low angle so for a Tormek it is not a lot of use.

I actually do think it works better on the Wicked Edge than the Tormek, but (and don’t take this the wrong way) did you read on how to set it up on the Tormek? I didn’t…. and I set it up wrong, and had the same issues you’re describing, which is why I wondered. Set up right it works better (imagine that haha)… and I could pretty much hit 0 deg. if I wanted.

But yea, it works pretty cool on the WE…. and you don’t have to save it for small 1″ blades, but for blades you may want to hit a “lower than normal” angle on.

[Leo Barr]

Perhaps I should check the instructions again !!
I am beginning to get a feel for the Tormek which I use chiefly to repair blade geometry or to remove knackered serrations which I do freehand I find the knife jigs feel clumsy I do however like the chisel jig which is probable the best jig I have.
Probable the most amazing jig they do is for sharpening drill bits but you would need to sharpen loads to justify the couple of hundred Euros that jig costs.

The small knife Tormek jig used on the WE could be interesting for low angle bevels still I patiently await my WE to try it out.

[Mario Contino]

Would the riser and arms of the Pro Pack 2 upgrade be able to allow shallower angles on a smaller blade? On a GEC’s pen knife, the lowest it can go is about 20-21, and was hoping the riser would help bring it below 19 without completely grinding off the corners of the clamps.

I’m thinking it wouldn’t help much, since the clamp itself is in the same spot relative to the blade, at which point I was looking at the other clamp option, the low angle adapter.

I’d rather not buy both of them for the sake of trying, but I have some SAK blades I’d like to do at a shallower angle, primarily the pruner and electrician blades.

[Author]

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