Leon, what you say is absolutely correct and I should have mentioned the need for the edge restoration capabilities of the Tormek. I can usually get somewhere around 15 - 20 ceramic rod honings before it becomes time for the Tormek to do its edge thing.
ROY!
I was thinking and not to discount what you mentioned, as the way things usually turn out, typically when I sharpen my knives I normally get my sister, parents and neighbors to climb on board while I am in that mode. ;~) They are always waiting for me to do this the next time I sharpen knives. My knives are usually not too bad but my neighbor was almost at my house before I hung up the phone to tell her that I was going to sharpen knives again. She had 3 knives that would have been hard to tell which edge to sharpen had I been blind folded. Her knives were more similar to a butter knife.
I would like to say thank you to everyone who posted. I am now aware of options I never even knew existed to make knives sharp Paul
Everything else is preparation for the steel. Tormek or Tormek clones look like nice water cooled grinders. Dry grinding thin blades to a feather edge risks burning them.
If you're handy, you can build a wet grinder from an old garbage disposal. Cut back the case and make your wheels from plexiglas disks with fine grit wet-dry paper contact cemented to one side. 600 grit is fine enough to prepare kitchen knives for the steel.
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