TESTED: Tormek knife angle setter

Review and photos: David Luckensmeyer

If you have a Tormek sharpening machine (any model) and a current or previous knife jig for sharpening knives (e.g. KJ-45), this new angle setter is an absolute no-brainer. It does exactly what it needs to do to speed up knife sharpening. The angle setter does not take the place of the knife jig. Rather, the angle setter calibrates the machine and the knife jig holds the knife.

The manual’s description of ‘snap, set and sharpen’ is accurate. I won’t go through the step-by-step process here because the Tormek documentation is as clear as usual. To prepare for sharpening, I mounted the angle setter to the universal support (‘snap’), calibrated the correct ‘protrusion’ i.e. the distance from the support to the knife edge, as well as the angle (‘set’), removed the angle setter and went to work (‘sharpen’).

I found 16 knives of all sizes in my kitchen that needed sharpening. According to my stop-watch, the first couple of knives took 35 seconds to set up using the angle setter. After that, small paring knives took two minutes on average to sharpen, while larger knives took four. One badly treated knife took 10 minutes. By the time I finished sharpening all the knives, the calibration time using the angle setter reduced to 22–25 seconds per knife.

To be clear, the angle setter calibrates the machine at a chosen sharpening angle for each knife. The reason why it has to be used every time is that knife blades are different sizes and shapes, and therefore load into the knife jig differently. This variability is why I’ve never liked using the Tormek to sharpen knives, until now.

The angle setter has an analogue calibration method for the sharpening protrusion and angle, and it is very easy to dial in any angle from 8–25°. I wondered about repeatability so I took a freshly sharpened knife, went through the process of recalibrating the angle using the jig (I sharpened at 15°), and checked the grind. It appeared to be spot on. Consequently, retouching or resharpening knives in future should be quick.

This jig is fabulous and well worth the asking price.

Review tool supplied by and available from Promac https://promac.com.au/

David Luckensmeyer @luckensmeyer is a Brisbane-based woodworker and furniture maker, see www.luckensmeyer.com.au