Guidelines shown below are for Included Angles (⍺).

Notes about Secondary Bevels are at the bottom of this page.

If you want to get truly sharp, Dr. Vadim Kraichuk with KnifeGrinders has a really good method and has adapted the Tormek system to these wheels. The KnifeGrinder method is one that is proven, and has great tools to assist with making it easy.

CB created an excellent USB Projection Calculator which can be used to calculate the settings you will need to use with the Tormek knife jigs. His calculations have been vetted for accuracy to the sub-degree level, so I recommend this over the one I'd previously created.

General Guidelines
Type	⍺	Secondary (Micro) Bevel	Notes
Carving Knife	20º	+1 to +2º	Image courtesy of CB Could be up to 25º included angle. Some carvers do not like to use a carving knife with concave grinds. They have reported that honing the knife on flat stones (or the side of the SJ wheel) works best. The image to the right shows an exaggerated view of this beside a Scandi grind and a micro bevel grind.

Information regarding Grindstones

• Secondary Bevel Notes :
  • Some recommend a secondary bevel angle of +5º, even up to +10º. That is a decision the user should take over time.
  • Dr. Vadim Kraichuk's research showed that +0.4º is recommend for the best sharpeness (see also, "Sharpeners Report", February 2018).
  • Once this becomes too time consuming (i.e., the secondary bevel becomes too large), then you will have to regrind the primary bevel.
  
  
• Online Calculators that can be used for sharpening knives.


• Research Articles, Other Information, and some Final Thoughts.


• It is a common, but quite bad, practice of drawing the newly sharpened knife edge through a piece of wood or some other media to “rip off” the remnants of the burr. When this is done, the ripped off metal builds up on the front of the slice, and you then drag the rest of the edge through this crud. This crud, together with breaking off of ledges of material along the edge, will roughen the edge and worsen sharpness.

  The following scanning electron microscope (SEM) images show the burr on a knife in the 1st image, that was then “ripped off” by cutting cross-grain into a piece of redwood in the 2nd image – loss of the sharp edge is obvious.

  
  Click on either image for bigger size.
  Images courtesy Todd Simpson via Dr. Vadim Kraichuk of KnifeGrinders

  Key take-away from these photos : don't skip the honing step.



• Jan Svancara posted a design for using a knife sharpening platform in 2015 on the Tormek Forum. This is certainly worth reading, and there are also pictures of this in the jigs section.

• Good videos showing use of the Tormek KVM-45, KVM-100, and KVM-140 Knife Jigs, and the SVM-00 Small Knife Holder :
• Jeff Farris - Knife Sharpening with Tormek
• Steve Bottorff - Using Tormek Knife Jigs
• Tormek Knife Jig SVM-45
• Tormek Long Knife Jig SVM-140
• Tormek Small Knife Holder SVM-00


• Good videos showing use of the Tormek WM-200 AngleMaster :
• Tormek AngleMaster WM-200


• Good video by Herman Trivilino showing the use of a platform jig :
• Tormek Knife Jig


• Good videos by Knife Grinders showing sharpening of knives with complex curves :
• Convex
• Concave
• Mounting the Pin Pivot Collar on your Knife Jig
  
  
  Pin Pivot Jig

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