- Joined
- Dec 27, 2004
- Messages
- 2,270
The Tormek was one of the first sharpeners I tried, and I developed a liking for it. I like the Tormek for a lot of reasons... besides being fun to use, it creates little mess, is a nice "all-in-one" package, can make repairs, no "overheating" worries, little "dust" created, easily puts a great edge on a knife... among others. Over the years though, I got involved in other sharpeners, and got away from the Tormek.
This year, I returned to either sharpening freehand on various stones, or sharpening on the Tormek. I even ended up getting a new "T-4" model... which in some respects, is a better alternative to its larger cousin for knife sharpening... smaller compact size, less expensive (machine and stones), among other reasons.
This time though, I took a look at the Tormek with a more "critical eye".
To preface: One thing that separates the Tormek from other sharpeners is that, when sharpening on a wheel, changing the location on the wheel, changes the angle. So, even though you keep the knife at the same angle, if you move up or down the wheel, the angle changes.
One thing I noted on the Tormek, is on the standard knife jig, the jig has a "jig stop" that is about 2" wide. If you pivot the knife on this stop... you can dramatically alter the angle the knife is now being sharpened at... by several degrees, because it changes the location of the knife on the stone. Not only that, but you basically have two "pivot points" to deal with. To illustrate, I've drawn a "Line of Contact" (LOC) on the stone...
... so if a knife is set at 20° (or any angle), the knife must stay close to this LOC to maintain the angle. You can see that on the straight portion of the blade this isn't an issue...
... but you can see, that if you pivot the knife to follow the belly-to-tip area, the contact location on the stone changes. (This is more of an issue on knives under approx. 3 1/2" with a more pronounced belly tip area)...
Even adjusting the clamp as far away as possible, doesn't adequately adjust for this...
... so, the solution? Replace the Tormek's "Stop Collar" (seen below on the left), with a 12mm drill stop collar (or shaft collar... seen on the right) with a smaller diameter. (A solution that can be found for under $3 in most cases)...
This allows the sharpener to correctly set the knife in the clamp, and also provides a more natural sharpening movement (compared to having two pivot points to deal with), while allowing the knife to stay close to the LOC and maintain the same angle...
A couple of more points. First, you also have the option of not pivoting the blade at all, and simply lifting the handle. To do so requires more attention be placed on where the blade is set in the clamp... specifically, the location of the belly/tip area in relation to the pivot. Also, this movement isn't as "natural" and may not work on all blade types.
And of course, you have the option of freehand sharpening, which many sharpeners do... and simply keeping the same location consistent throughout the blade. This does take some practice to do so though.
There are other changes I've made (that I'll show some other time), but this is one that I think greatly enhances the use of the Tormek for knife sharpening, and is simple and inexpensive to do!
This year, I returned to either sharpening freehand on various stones, or sharpening on the Tormek. I even ended up getting a new "T-4" model... which in some respects, is a better alternative to its larger cousin for knife sharpening... smaller compact size, less expensive (machine and stones), among other reasons.
This time though, I took a look at the Tormek with a more "critical eye".
To preface: One thing that separates the Tormek from other sharpeners is that, when sharpening on a wheel, changing the location on the wheel, changes the angle. So, even though you keep the knife at the same angle, if you move up or down the wheel, the angle changes.
One thing I noted on the Tormek, is on the standard knife jig, the jig has a "jig stop" that is about 2" wide. If you pivot the knife on this stop... you can dramatically alter the angle the knife is now being sharpened at... by several degrees, because it changes the location of the knife on the stone. Not only that, but you basically have two "pivot points" to deal with. To illustrate, I've drawn a "Line of Contact" (LOC) on the stone...
... so if a knife is set at 20° (or any angle), the knife must stay close to this LOC to maintain the angle. You can see that on the straight portion of the blade this isn't an issue...
... but you can see, that if you pivot the knife to follow the belly-to-tip area, the contact location on the stone changes. (This is more of an issue on knives under approx. 3 1/2" with a more pronounced belly tip area)...
Even adjusting the clamp as far away as possible, doesn't adequately adjust for this...
... so, the solution? Replace the Tormek's "Stop Collar" (seen below on the left), with a 12mm drill stop collar (or shaft collar... seen on the right) with a smaller diameter. (A solution that can be found for under $3 in most cases)...
This allows the sharpener to correctly set the knife in the clamp, and also provides a more natural sharpening movement (compared to having two pivot points to deal with), while allowing the knife to stay close to the LOC and maintain the same angle...
A couple of more points. First, you also have the option of not pivoting the blade at all, and simply lifting the handle. To do so requires more attention be placed on where the blade is set in the clamp... specifically, the location of the belly/tip area in relation to the pivot. Also, this movement isn't as "natural" and may not work on all blade types.
And of course, you have the option of freehand sharpening, which many sharpeners do... and simply keeping the same location consistent throughout the blade. This does take some practice to do so though.
There are other changes I've made (that I'll show some other time), but this is one that I think greatly enhances the use of the Tormek for knife sharpening, and is simple and inexpensive to do!
