Comparing the sharpening process and sharpness results of knives using the Tormek T8 and Work Sharp Blade Grinding Attachment. www.greatedge.co.uk Instagram: @greatedgeltd
I use the Work Sharp with the grinding Attachment and what I found after several months is: 1. No any problem with softer steels 2. For harder steels, it takes ages to reprofile the edge, because the belts are made of aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. With CMB or diamond belts could be much faster but I think that kind of belt doesn't exist. 3. Also removing burr in hard steels with those belts is a nightmare. 4. Get a BESS under 100 without a jig is a matter of luck. By hand one time I can get 90 and when I try again I get 150. 5. Set an accurate angle using the guide is impossible. I solved the problem using a goniometer. Well, tormek is too expensive for me and I can get BESS under between 70 and 150 with my Work Sharp
Thank you for the comparison! There is hardly any information to find when it comes to every day practicality of those machines, e.g. how fast are different methods and how much effort one needs. One remark, I own a Worksharp with the knife grinding attachment. After going through the WS belts I use leather belt from Super Strop with their white compound for stropping and I must say that the sharp edges after the fine belt will turn into very sharp edges after the stropping leather belt. With a 15 degree angle I can shave arm hair ageinst the grain, which indicates a 100-120 BESS score according to Vadim's book. One thing I would love to see a comparison for is, how long and how much effort does it take to sharpen not one, but say 5 knives. Half the time with the WS is spent changing belts, so when sharpening several knives you could save a lot of time sharpening all knives with one belt and then changing to the next belt for the next 5 pass of all knives. With 5 knives I take an average of 8-10min for a full grind (rebuilding an edge) or 3-5min for touching up. One question about the Tormek, how messy is it working with the water? Thanks and keep up the good work!
Great comment - thank you. And good point about the efficiency with the WorkSharp. The time to change belts through a grit progression is ‘fixed’, whether you sharpen one knife or five, so the more knives, the more time efficiency. To a certain extent that is true for Tormek too, but less so because you need to own addtional knife jigs, and they all need to be set up. About water - I don’t think Tormek is any more messy than stones, or the dust from the WorkSharp. I think all sharpening needs to happen in a space that can handle some mess. I have a rubber mat under my Tormek and that catches nearly all water (no puddles on floor etc).
I'm buying a worksharp to try and start a sharpening business. Eventually I may upgrade to the Tormek. The sharpening time and end result on the work sharp is impressive
Thank you - I hope you enjoy the Work Sharp. I find it a very good machine, and versatile for a lot of knives. Besides the speed of sharpening, another great thing is the flexibility to do knives with different shapes very easily, without changing the set-up. So it’s faster to do one knife, but it’s MUCH less total time if you have a batch of different knives to sharpen. With a Tormek you need to reposition the jig(s) and/or switch wheels. But for the ultimate in sharpness I always use the Tormek. Good luck with the sharpening business!
I enjoy your videos and your dry sense of humor and meticulousness. I’d enjoy seeing a worksharp video - I just acquired one,going to start off easy on cheap blades and use the 12,000 grit and cloth strop to try to get the hang of it and maybe get some polish as well.
Leather strop on the WS is gold. I sharpen on Tormek, very much like Great Edge. I would skip the 160 grit unless removing large chips or reprofiling. I can go 400 CBN --> 1000 CBN --> leather strop on the WS (2x passes at edge angle +2 for most kitchen knives, followed by 2x at edge angle) and predictably get a BESS score of 70-90 in less than 10 minutes. I sharpen at 15 dps and use Tormek compound on the leather belts.
Great video............I think due to the difference between the Work Sharp belts and the Tormek ceramic wheel. If you spent as much time with the Work Sharp as you did with the Tormek maybe it could have given you a better edge. It's apples and oranges. Though you didn't show the process I think people who are proficient with the Work Sharp could get a much sharper edge. I don't own either so I have no dog in the race.
Thank you for tuning in. It’s an interesting theoretical question - who could make a sharper edge, an expert Tormek user or an expert WorkSharp user? (I am neither 🙃) For me it’s not a question of time - when we get down to BESS scores of 100 or below, it’s all about the finesse of honing, and the controlled angle aspect of the Tormek will I think win out. I love the WorkSharp, but there is always a slight chance of variability in sharpening and honing angle due to the more manual aspect of it. I don’t think time is really a factor because once you have a burr there is no advantage to grinding further. I would be interested to see a comparison of beginners though - I bet WorkSharp would dominate due to ease of use…
@bennycfd The difference in time pertains to the time setting up jigs, not the amount of time he spent sharpening. Even if you don’t have one it sounds like you favor the WS. I have both and really appreciate both, but the Tormek is truely superior and incredibly diverse. The Worksharp is a small belt grinder
Thanks - I do have that stropping kit, but it’s one of the rare times where I find the WorkSharp solution to be slower. I keep that hanging strop out all the time in my workshop - much quicker to treat the knives on that than set up (and dress) the stropping belts each time…
Great to see your experiments I’m guessing you have watched knife grinders from Australia.. it’s just cost me a kangaroo strop coming to the uk.. anyway if you haven’t I’m sure you will enjoy his content. Part of the video showing stropping on Kangaroo tail >> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dhpajIaBW0c.html
Thank you for tuning in. Indeed I’m familiar with Knife Grinders and I greatly admire his work. His research has revolutionised what is possible with a Tormek. That Kangaroo strop is worth every penny, and in some of my later videos featuring more of my techniques you’ll see more KG gear being used.
There is a youtube channel called something like "Knife Grinders Australia", which is funny because the guy talking in the videos has a heavy German accent. Anyway, he does sharpening and he sharpened 2 knives and took them to different levels of polish. His final Bess scores were 49 and 34!!! 34 is so sharp it just falls through the thinnest paper.
It’s a small world, isn’t it? Sadly Vadim Kraichuk (aka Knife Grinders) passed away a few months ago. He was an inspiration to many people, and will be greatly missed.
