strength clare: Tormek sharpener question.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Tormek sharpener question. - Family Woodworking

Well, as usual, I have to put in my two-cents worth.

Several people who had used both, told me that they preferred the Jet slow-speed sharpener to the Tormek. All of them also said that they preferred the Tormek gouge jig to the Jet (it fits the Jet perfectly).

I purchased the Jet. There is a very sad and a very wonderful story behind that. However, I will skip it here (you didn't know that I could do that did you).

Final result (the way I do things now, a couple years later):

1---I always sharpen my flat chisels and plane irons with a WorkSharp 3000. It is so easy, so fast, so sharp that anything else feels cumbersome and inefficient. Depending on how dull I let the tool become, I can resharpen to a mirror, shave your arm sharpness in 10 to 30 seconds. If the edge had a small nick in it, the time would get up into the 2 to 4 minute bracket. If it had a big nick, I would probably go to the dry grinder or work from the top on the WorkSharp 3000.

Please understand---I have absolutely no sharpening genes in my body. I never had a "Wow" sharp tool in my life until I had the 3000.

2---I always change blade shape with my dry 1725 RPM grinder using white stones. It is fast and easy to get the general shape (actually fairly darn accurate shape). I have a water cup built into my grinder table. I use it after every pass and so I have no problems losing temper.

3---Most of the time I do very slight regrinds and finish sharpening of gouges on the Jet. However, I just use it as a Slow Speed Wet Stone. I use a simple home made Wolverine type setup to sharpen gouges on the Jet. The home made unit was made from scrap. It probably took 30 minutes to build. It probably took another 45 minutes to find the "right" piece of scrap and lay it out so I could use it with all of my gouges, cut-offs, etc. Any 10 inch slow speed, wet unit would work fine.

I do prefer the 10 inch wheels. 8 inch give me a little more concave surface than I like. This is definitely not a big problem. If my wheel was 8 inch, I would use it happily.

Would I buy another Jet or Tormek? Absolutely not.

I do sharpen everything around the house: shop tools, Myrna's precious and expensive knives, hatchets, axes, weed pluckers, hoes, shovels and scissors. However, I only do the very mildest of work on scissors because I can purchase a new pair for very little money and I am not really set up for scissors.

Enjoy,

JimB

I will go take a couple pics. The pics are not in the order I acquired. However, starting on the left as #1: 1 is my Wolverine style sharpener for gouges. 2 is my Wolverine style tool "pocket" on my dry grinder. 3 is back to the Jet; showing another angle. 4 is back to the dry grinder tool pocket. 5 is another angle on the way I use the Jet. 6 This is the pocket on the Jet. 7 is another angle on the dry setup.