Steve, thanks for the grinder pic. *LINK*

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Don Thompson - South of Miami

>The regular Tormek wheel, even after being dressed to its finer state with the wheel dresser, is at best equivalent to a 1000 grit stone. After using it, you jump to the leather honing wheel. If you would be satisfied with sharpening your blades with a 1000 grit waterstone, and then stropping, then you will love the Tormek. Otherwise, you will have to proceed to 2000, 4000, 8000 grit stones for a really fine edge.

That said, the bunches of specialized jigs make it pretty handy for some kinds of sharpening.

What kind of tools do you want to sharpen on one? Do you do any turning? Are you fussy about keeping your kitchen knives sharp?

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Steve Knight

>6x48 and a 12" disc is best. if you want to use a disc 12" is about the minimum. you don't need as wide of a belt but the longer the better so your belts don't wear as fast and you dont' ahve a much heat.

with my setup I can grind 120 plane irons in a couple of hours. and use 6 to 8 belts (G)

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Ray DuBose, Memphis TN

>What do you use to flatten the backs of your irons? That seems to be what gives me the most fits. I'm currently using shaptons and it just seems to take forever to get them flat.

Tormek Review  *LINK*

Garrett in Victoria BC

>


Tormek Review

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Steve Knight

>I do the bulk of the work on my makita then I do it on hte shaptons. some people can and some can't flatten on the makita. a belt sander is not accurate enough for that job.

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Don Thompson - South of Miami

>What grits of which lines of Shaptons are you using to flatten and polish the backs of your irons?

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Steve Knight

>I use the 1000 5000 and 12000. I have the hippo stones. I want to use the 8000 though but they did not have it in the hippo.they are the regular stones not the pro. a bit courser stone then the 1000 would save me 30 seconds or so. the makita does 90% of the work. but I also have the one and only shapton stone for the makita (G) it is 1000 grit too.

Put me in the "can't" category

Ted Owen, Pittsburgh

>Just don't feel I have sufficient control with it, so I use the Makita only for planer blades, now.

Best, Ted

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Don

Re: "What kind of tools do you want to sharpen on one? "

Plane blades, chisels, H & R (well, the hollows at any rate). No interest (yet) in turning, and the thought of sharpening scissors is not even close to being in my list!

The reviews of the Tormek don't fill me with excitement. The bulk of the sharpening I (we) need to do in woodworking is from 1000 upward, and this is best done on waterstones.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Steve, thanks for the grinder pic.

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>Derek,

For what its worth, I find myself using a variety of methods. I have:

o 6 inch grinder

o 8 inch grinder with a belt and disk combo on one side.

o A sheet of glass, and lots of sandpaper.

o A Tormek, but I bought the baby one.

o Waterstones.

I haven't used the 6 inch grinder (except with the wire wheel for rust removal ) for ages. I only use the wire wheel where nothing else is going to do the job (in this lifetime anyway) and not on antique tools.

The 8 inch grinder is sometimes used. It has a 60 grit white wheel. I last used this after I dropped my HNT Gordon smoother's HSS blade on a concrete floor and shattered (I used the advisedly) the edge. I used this to rough it back. I'm not good enough with this tool to use it for anything else.

I sometimes still resort to SS so the plate of glass with a coarse grit sheet for quickly taking out a nick if it is only small.

I use the Tormek if the problem is more substantial and it does work quite well for what it was intended, getting an edge you can sharpen. I then use the waterstones to get to 8000, then I strop the blade using the Tormek compound on a a rag draped across the bench. Low tech but really finishes the job.

I also use the Tormek to sharpen kitchen knives. Unfortunately that is all too often as the LOML has no idea how to look after knives. Having been married 20 years this year, I've learned when to give up. This is one of those times :-)