The tormek looks like the parlor trick. Look like setup takes longer than just honing a knife.
Knife honing free hand. Why bother?
- Thread starter buca3152
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- #122
I don't have a tormek. Paper wheels work. I have one. The purpose of the thread is time. Your time my time. Freehand works. I know because I do it. There are other ways. As far as a tormek goes. I would think it's a one time setup start to finish. But again I dont have one. The results are pretty common knowledge. Use it don't use it
Doesn't matter to me. Just offering up what's out there. You don't need one. Don't have to have one. But if your time is valuable it's something to think about.
Doesn't matter to me. Just offering up what's out there. You don't need one. Don't have to have one. But if your time is valuable it's something to think about.
My kitchen knives are free-handed on my Narutaki. My Edge Pro pro has sat in it's lovely carrying case for years. It was built for me about 15 years ago. Someone will get it and put it to use one of these days...
I don't sharpen knife enough to need something like that. I watch TV while sharpening, so my time is already being wasted. If I honed professionally, I could see the time savings. Plus this step would become routine. Which would need to be done for each knife (sorted by width to reduce # of spins on collar)
Edit- Rethought this, only needs to be changed if angle changes, so only an issue if you stick with factory angles that can vary based up steel and hardenings.
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- Thread starter
- #125
Marking the wheel with a protractor to the angles you use makes it easy to get consistent results without using a guide. There's many how to videos on YouTube if anyone wants to see.
I've been free handing my Case "whittler" and Boker Barlows lately. I have three triangle steels also, but just wanted to try to stones.
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- #127
Nothing wrong with freehand. It works. But there are alternatives and that's what the thread is about. There's a lot of skepticism. And that's fine. I think anyone should use whatever method he's comfortable with. I don't think one method is superior to another. A well skilled free hander can create a beautiful edge on a knife. Just like a skilled user of alternate methods can do in a much shorter time.
I disagree with that last statement. Unless the knife has very thick bevels or it is an initial grind that needs reprofiling it would not be much time difference at all.
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- #129
A few licks on a diamond plate would get you cutting again for sure. But a few licks on a wheel would do more. And the benefit IMO is that it does the stropping for you. How many laps by hand would someone have to do compared to a wheel moving at 1700 rpms? I don't want to think about it. But it's a lot of stropping.
I never strop more than 15-20 laps with my knives, so it’s way quicker for me to do it by hand vs going out to the shed to turn on some gadget. Unless you’re polishing layered steel we’re only talking 5 minutes of freehand honing here, and I’d much rather spend 5 minutes honing on stones than two minutes honing on a machine. If time was that big of a deal we’d all just send them out for honing.
@Clay S my dad used to sit in front of the Tv watching Matlock and hone his knives on a lansky. Good times.
@Clay S my dad used to sit in front of the Tv watching Matlock and hone his knives on a lansky. Good times.
If it were Matlock I was watching I'd feel old, or rather older I guess
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- #132
When the wife makes dough which is often she rolls it out on the granite. She cuts it on the granite. Plain edge steak knives on ceramic plates. Cutting veggies and other on the same. They get the DMT licks often. But after three weeks everything gets done on the wheels. 6 steak knives, 3 chef knives as well as the paring knives get done. So I'm doing close to a dozen at a clip. I'm done in 15 minutes or less. THATS why I love my machines. Lol.
I really enjoy free handing knives, but I am also very interested in all of the fixtures for sharpening. Many of the ideas are transferable to thinning or re profiling the primary grinds which is much more of a power tool thing.
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- #134
For the harbor freight there is an angle guide available. From 10 to 45 degrees. Fits in the platen. I modified it to approximately 5 degree. I can use that to taper the bevel 5 degrees all the way to the edge. And then create the cutting bevel at whatever you want that to be.
Yeah nobody is arguing that the machines don't work. Personally I'd rather just not abuse the knives though. My old lady would be getting her OWN set of knives if she did as you describe yours doing. I sharpen my kitchen knives maybe once a month.
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- #136
Yes. But after almost thirty years you learn to pick your battles. She's making dough right now as we speak! Lol. Casualty report as of now is 2 dead, several wounded.
Double bevel edged cutlery, sure. But Im not so sure how well a belt sander will do when it comes to single beveled Japanese blades
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- #139
I dont have any of those! Carbon steel is a no go. Everything ends up in the dishwasher here.
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- #140
End grain up to save the knives right? Lol.30 years is more than enough time to change all of the counters to butcher block
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