Good to see you back! Whetstone station, strops, towels, waxes, pastes etc upwind of belt grinder and machines. Non magnetic knife rack. Steel particles stick to everything including the rack and knives. If I had the room I would have my finishing station in the same room as “workshop”. Enjoy and you can always change things around as you go.
Hi Gregory, you do you, but for me, I have several options, similar to your situation. My favorite way to sharpen is three dedicated, slow speed, Tormek style grinders. Each one has CBN wheels starting at one 180 grit and finishing at 1000 grit. I don't use a water bath. However, I spray the wheels with water before sharpening. I still have the option of belts and several stroping options from wool wheels to leather. The guided sharpening setup I have is very accurate and reliable. Keep up the good work! I enjoy watching your channel. I only subscribe to sharpeners who know what they're doing. You are at the top of the list.
Was just thinking you hadn't posted in a while. Welcome back. Also, i was considering that platen for myself and it sounds like it was difficult to attach.
I appreciate your collaborative approach & willingness to share. With your new sharpening rig it looks like you will be attentive to behind the edge thickness. - I believe the importance of what happens behind the cutting edge is underrated. - I just finished up an automated knife blade testing rig, built specifically to test blades with medium & high density fruits & vegetables. - Dull to sharp on standard cutting edge testers amounts to a 50% reduction in cutting force. - Preliminary testing with a 10º blending bevel did yield a 34% reduction in cutting force on a new knife. - I always knew behind the edge thickness mattered but that single data point left me amazed. - If anyone is interested in more details, I am willing to share.
No angle guide on the belt machine? The tormec is a nice machine but not fast enough for anyone trying to run a sharpening business. I think lighting would be the biggest upgrade you could make, and some dust collection for the powered machines.
Not a professional sharpener but I've done many many knives for friends and family and before deciding on the workflow of your workstation you gotta figure out first what type of clients and level of service you are looking to give. Are you mainly expecting to handle more quality and generally well cared for knives i.e. chefs and enthusiast cooks? Or are you going to be more general public sharpening service where you will encounter a lot of cheaper/softer steel, poorly sharpened and likely chipped as well as a "quarter inch overdue for thinning" knives? What level of finish are you willing to do for standard? Just at "Git-er-sherp" level or refined polish or in between? Though in general I would say that if I were to make a sharpening service I would put my equipment into categories 1. Belt Grinder: for total repair, thinning, and re-profiling generally reserved for worst of the worst cases, so unless you're encountering a lot of those cases shouldn't have to need it on the table permanently. Though of course if you're doing thinning you shouldn't forget to learn about how to clean up and polish using different belts to pretty up the knife again. 2. Tormek: Primary "first stone" for establishing your bevel given that's where 90% of good sharpening happens and will probably be a lot faster too. From what I've seen of the Tormek you don't need to reset and adjust it to every knife, it would be more efficient to sharpen knives of similar sizes and profiles like "western chef knife" as the variance in the geometry would probably be negligible from 8 to 10 inch knives 3. Whetstones/Hand Sharpening: After the Tormek you can just do a couple passes to refine the edge and remove the burr by hand and even out the scratch patterns for softer steel knives (generic kitchen knives
i only sharpen for myself and family so no need for speed, so im okay with just whetstones. but as i understand, commercial sharpeners use tormek a lot and most of all you need angle jig, not sharpening by hand. with angle guide on tormek you shold be sooo much faster then by hand.
Good to see you back!
Whetstone station, strops, towels, waxes, pastes etc upwind of belt grinder and machines.
Non magnetic knife rack. Steel particles stick to everything including the rack and knives.
If I had the room I would have my finishing station in the same room as “workshop”.
Enjoy and you can always change things around as you go.
Very good advice here. I’d add a decent dust collection system for the belt grinder.
First thing I would look into by looking at this video is a higher work station. Your back will thank you
Very true!
Hi Greg, nice to see you back, looking good 👍
Looking forward to see new stone & stropping videos perhaps some stone wars as well 😊
Welcome back, I’m looking forward to this project. But yes, you definitely need a station for stones.
Hi Gregory, you do you, but for me, I have several options, similar to your situation. My favorite way to sharpen is three dedicated, slow speed, Tormek style grinders. Each one has CBN wheels starting at one 180 grit and finishing at 1000 grit. I don't use a water bath. However, I spray the wheels with water before sharpening. I still have the option of belts and several stroping options from wool wheels to leather. The guided sharpening setup I have is very accurate and reliable. Keep up the good work! I enjoy watching your channel. I only subscribe to sharpeners who know what they're doing. You are at the top of the list.
WOW great start for 2025!!! god bless your family Greg!
I would suggest you try a 1x30 or 1 x 42 with an angle guide for leading edge.
Was just thinking you hadn't posted in a while. Welcome back. Also, i was considering that platen for myself and it sounds like it was difficult to attach.
Cork with a coumpound is good for a mirror finish on blades
Look into a 80/20 extruded aluminum work bench to raise the height up, save the back. Thanx for the videos appreciate it!!!
Thank you for your comment on the T8 I think the same
I appreciate your collaborative approach & willingness to share.
With your new sharpening rig it looks like you will be attentive to behind the edge thickness.
- I believe the importance of what happens behind the cutting edge is underrated.
- I just finished up an automated knife blade testing rig, built specifically to test blades
with medium & high density fruits & vegetables.
- Dull to sharp on standard cutting edge testers amounts to a 50% reduction in cutting force.
- Preliminary testing with a 10º blending bevel did yield a 34% reduction in cutting force on a new knife.
- I always knew behind the edge thickness mattered but that single data point left me amazed.
- If anyone is interested in more details, I am willing to share.
No angle guide on the belt machine? The tormec is a nice machine but not fast enough for anyone trying to run a sharpening business. I think lighting would be the biggest upgrade you could make, and some dust collection for the powered machines.
This video may be interesting to the belt sharpeners, but ho-hum to me. Tune out.
Not a professional sharpener but I've done many many knives for friends and family and before deciding on the workflow of your workstation you gotta figure out first what type of clients and level of service you are looking to give.
Are you mainly expecting to handle more quality and generally well cared for knives i.e. chefs and enthusiast cooks?
Or are you going to be more general public sharpening service where you will encounter a lot of cheaper/softer steel, poorly sharpened and likely chipped as well as a "quarter inch overdue for thinning" knives?
What level of finish are you willing to do for standard? Just at "Git-er-sherp" level or refined polish or in between?
Though in general I would say that if I were to make a sharpening service I would put my equipment into categories
1. Belt Grinder: for total repair, thinning, and re-profiling generally reserved for worst of the worst cases, so unless you're encountering a lot of those cases shouldn't have to need it on the table permanently. Though of course if you're doing thinning you shouldn't forget to learn about how to clean up and polish using different belts to pretty up the knife again.
2. Tormek: Primary "first stone" for establishing your bevel given that's where 90% of good sharpening happens and will probably be a lot faster too. From what I've seen of the Tormek you don't need to reset and adjust it to every knife, it would be more efficient to sharpen knives of similar sizes and profiles like "western chef knife" as the variance in the geometry would probably be negligible from 8 to 10 inch knives
3. Whetstones/Hand Sharpening: After the Tormek you can just do a couple passes to refine the edge and remove the burr by hand and even out the scratch patterns for softer steel knives (generic kitchen knives
can you make a full collection tour of all your knives?
I might use my 2x72 to set a bevel but I wouldn’t sharpen on it. Get CNB wheel for the tormek.
I agree with you, but the CBN stones are so expensive. I think the necessary but man is gonna cost a lot of money.
i only sharpen for myself and family so no need for speed, so im okay with just whetstones. but as i understand, commercial sharpeners use tormek a lot and most of all you need angle jig, not sharpening by hand. with angle guide on tormek you shold be sooo much faster then by hand.
I came across a UA-cam channel that uses Tormek as the main sharpening tool. You might already be familiar with it: www.youtube.com/@iSharpen
ua-cam.com/video/my5LnUQaU6k/v-deo.html
My suggestion is stop making videos. 6 in 6 months is pointless.