Honing on the TORMEK

[Burt Pierce]

I have all kinds of trouble honing kitchen knives on the leather wheel. I can't seem to get the bevel angle right and keep rounding over the edge. Is there a Tormek jig that will set the bevel angle on the smaller, leather honing wheel so I can match the grind angle? Or can somebody direct me to a source where I might be able to get some help? THANKS

[David Weaver]

I had but no longer have a tormek. The leather is too soft when loaded to really be ideal for a knife. Softness and compound is not a great combination.

Remember that everything you do on a knife angle is done twice, so what seems like a shallow angle will be doubled. On a good quality knife, that kind of steepness isn't needed.

I'd suggest using the tormek to establish the bevel and doing the rest by hand. You may get to a point where you only sharpen the knife by hand then after that.

If you'd rather use the graded wheel and then use a strop, get a nice flat reasonably hard strop and do the stropping on that so you have a good idea what angle you're using.

Even when I still had a tormek, it didn't take long to realize that once a knife was set, I could keep a much better edge using two stones - at this point I use a soft arkansas stone and a translucent arkansas. Maintenance sharpening is rare, and little metal needs to be removed - certainly not the amount the tormek removes.

[Andrew Hughes]

Hi Burt, I have good results hold to knife at a slight angle,kinda in line with the leather wheel.

If you hold the knife at the right angle like when the blade was being ground on the stone it will round over your work.I also use the honing compound with oil.Been using it that way a long time the leather is pretty hard now.I like the the tormek don't give up on it too soon.