Nice work! I really enjoy watching you nerd out about your profession. I noticed that in some videos of yours, the leather wheel is a bit off and wobbles. The stropping wheels always have three alignment pins on the inside which slot into corresponding holes for perfect seating. You might already know this but maybe someone reading the comments finds this helpful. Best regards, Alex
@@AlexanderHeindl_ thanks Alex, those pins are long ago squished into non existence. The base is cracked and re-glued and the screw have been stripped, redrilled and rescrewed. The hole is elongated. It’s like an old friend I just can’t replace. I’ve grown emotionally attached to it now. Plus I love how it upsets the puritans who fuss over aligned honing but only get 170 scores. I freehand hone on that old dog and regularly score 70s. It’d break my heart to replace it. 😂
@@iSharpen Ok, that's funny. These marks of "love" you only get when you spend a lot of time together. I also sometimes tell my costumers, that it doesn't have to be an exact science. Most knive owners don't want to use a microscope but are happy if it looks nice to the eye. If the results are what you desired and they have a great time using it then should be a satisfactory result. I would lose my sanity if i'd break my head over every kitchen knive i've sharpened.
@@MesserOpa yeah, it depends how rough I am with the grading plates and how many blue steel Japanese knives I do. after 7 wheels it’ll be interesting to see. I’ll keep you all informed because I’ve been asked quite a few times. But even at just 300 knives x $15 it’s a profitable enterprise. Not the most profitable but it pays the rent. I have lots of time to fill. I can do 50-100 knives a day when I’m in a roll. Need to work on my marketing. I refuse to pay for Facebook or Google ads because they’re such a bloody rip off. Facebook specifically makes it extremely complicated (I’m sure) so people blame themselves when the ads don’t perform. I’ve never had a successful Facebook ad ever. Plus they suck. They’re one of the worst companies on earth.
@@iSharpen Time spent doing what you like is time spent well, so... I never liked marketing either and Big G and F... you said it. Best is mouth to mouth anyway. Boy, up to 100 knives a day. That's a lot.
@@MesserOpa I did 52 in about 6 hours one day with breaks. 100 would be a big day but not impossible. I’ve done plenty of tough 12 hour days in my life. Some me in the desert as a welder. Being at home I could spend all my waking hours and have time for plenty of breaks.
(Australian dollars) that’s equal to about USD$10 which is the going rate for precision slow speed sharpening. The belt sanding guys charge less because they zoom through with a few passes. They don’t seem to care that much with precision.
@@alexramos3694 yeah I know. I watched the release video the day it was released. Lost interest half way through. Not a fan. Seems like a really long way to go about doing what the WM-200 does in three seconds. I consider it de-evolution. Just like the new knife jig. Not a fan of that either. I think Tormek is acting a bit desperate and just making new products for no good reason. I’m also pretty sure I’m the only one on earth with that opinion. I wish I didn’t have it.
5mm of wear for only 30 knives seems a bit high to me. With the wheel I’m using where I volunteer it’s been on for months and I do 20-25 each week for the commercial kitchen and a handful for other volunteers and it’s still above 195mm. Admittedly most are “sink steel” but there are a few better quality Victorinox and Global’s in the rotation and a few mystery knives that take much longer to sharpen.
Depends how you look at it I guess. It only takes me 28 knives to pay the wheel off so it's all profit from here. Yeah, Japanese knives really take a toll plus I'm on the 80 grit quite often adjusting the grit. At this rate I might average 6 knives per mm. With 50mm left (at 195 it gets tricky to do low handle ones although higher handle (chef knives, cleavers...etc) can be done at as low as 180. So if a wheel can be used until 185 that's 65mm @ 6 knives per mm = 390 knives per wheel at $15 = ? minus $425 for the wheel. Plus, some (I'd estimate 30% are charged at $20. It works for me. But we'll see how many actual knives I get for the whole wheel. This is the first time I'm actually counting them for real.
