Tormek the terminator

[Phillip Ford]

>Erwinspiano@aol.com writes:
>
>>Tormek sharpening sytems has an awesome wet stone setup that is a dream 
>>come true. My friend Bob Davis got one and demo'd  it at a chapter 
>>meeting and I was sold.[snip]
>>   When the edge gets a little dull about one minute on the 2.5 inch wet 
>> wheel will true the edge at the same angle each time.
>
>
>Bob here. Yes, we do like ours, very much. I want to point out that when 
>Dale says 2.5" he means the width. The diameter is 10", which produces a 
>very shallow, usable hollow grind.. We bought the whole banana, with all 
>the jigs and whistles. The jigs are guides which make it easy to repeat 
>setups. The other side of the machine has a leather-covered wheel of about 
>9 inches, to which one can apply a paste containing 6000-grit abrasive for 
>burr removal and a fine polish.
>
>It's great for plane blades, standard chisels, and lathe tools. Japanese 
>chisels are a little harder to fit in the standard fixtures, but I found a 
>way with one of the add-ons, which also make it possible to do jointer and 
>planer knives, and make easy work of compound grinds like a fingernail 
>grind on a turning gouge. Other jigs help with axes, long knives, and scissors.
>
>The whole package costs about $800; the basic unit about half that. That's 
>a lot, and I don't regret it. We use edge tools all day long in the shop, 
>and I figure it'll pay out in a couple of years, maybe less.
>
>Difficulties so far: the jigs are a little thick to do narrow knives. The 
>90-rpm speed keeps edges cool and doesn't sling water, but it's mighty 
>slow on my Sorby high-speed steel lathe tools.
>
>Anybody else using one of these?
>
>Bob Davis


Yes, I have one.  Expensive, but worth it.  I find that I use the polishing 
wheel as often as the grinding wheel.  I still use stones for the final 
sharpening.  Put it on the Tormek to get the hollow grind, and then sharpen 
on fine stones.  Then polish with the polishing wheel.  When the edge 
starts to get a little dull I run it over the stones again (rather than the 
Tormek grinding wheel) and then polish on the polishing wheel.

The Tormek wheel works fine if you don't want to take off too much 
material.  But if you have a chisel or plane blade with a nick (it happens) 
that you have to grind out, you'll be there for quite a while with the 
Tormek.  When I need to do this job, I use a conventional grinder first and 
then move to the Tormek.

I also have a problem using the Tormek for japanese chisels, which are the 
chisels that I normally use.  The standard chisel jig works fine for 
chisels with long tangs (right word?) whose faces are more or less 
parallel, like a Stanley type chisel.  But for the short, thick, and 
tapering tangs on the Japanese chisels it works poorly.  You say you've 
found a way with the add-ons.  Would you give more specifics on that?

I also do my kitchen knives on this machine (there are jigs, but I just do 
them freehand).  The machine doesn't sling water but if you put a long 
knife, like a chef's knife, on the grinding wheel the water runs out along 
the blade and drips on the machine and table and makes a bit of a mess.  I 
have a table in my shop that's a dedicated sharpening station.  The Tormek 
is there as well as the stones.  I've covered the table with a ribbed 
rubber sheet that I got at Orchard Supply (hardware store).  It keeps the 
water from running off onto the floor.  Also, my stones are japanese water 
stones.  I take them out of the water tub and put them down on the 
rubber.  The ribbing keeps them in place and the water and stone residue 
runs off onto the rubber sheet but not onto the floor.  When done 
sharpening I mop up the water with a sponge.

Phil Ford

PS  I wonder if Tormek has any plans to run for governor of California.





Phillip Ford
Piano Service & Restoration
1777 Yosemite Ave - 130
San Francisco, CA  94124