tormek or veritas MKII or ???

Re: tormek or veritas MKII or ???

Vijay

>A third choice would be the Lap Sharp. IMHO it is the best choice but is also quite pricey.

Something to consider: flat blades and gouges....

Dave Thompson

>Hi John, I can't speak to the MKII, but I'm sure someone here will. Regarding the Tormek, the common answer you'll here is, it's a great tool, does an exceelent job and not cheap when you consider all of the jigs, but worth it. I agree with this common assessment.

Something to consider though if you plan to use it for both flat (plane) blades and lathe gouges is that you'll wear through a wheel much quicker. Regardless, the Tormek works fine for both. Sharpening gouges leaves the wheel un-flat and is fine if you just do gouges, but not good for plane blades. It's easy enough to reflatten it, but it wears away an amount of the wheel each time you do. The wheel costs around $100+.

If you don't flip between gouges and flat blades often, then this may not be an issue.

Since I already had a 1800rpm dry grinder, I just bought a wolverine jig for doing my lathe gouges. A second lathe Tormek or perhaps a Scheppach TiGer (cheaper compatible Tormek clone) would work, with just one set of jigs.

enjoy,

Dave

Agree

Neal White (San Jose)

>That thing is built like a tank, and does a great job.

Re: Something to consider: flat blades and gouges.

mikew

>Hi Dave,

Depends on one's sharpening regime as to the degree/speed of wear.

My wife is a turner, and up until this year I had a cabinet shop. While I used the Tormek for grinding initial bevels, I use stones for day to day use. A Tormek is a little overkill for everyday use on straight edged plane blades and chisels.

Once in a while I would change geometry or fix a really bunged chisel, but otherwise, once ground I hardly use the Tormek.

My wife and oldest turn quite a bit, however. Even with my truing the stone for my purpose, as well as their truing it for skews and straight scrapers, in 5 years of both discipline's use I still have over 2/3 of the original stone.

But like I said, I sharpen by hand day to day on stones. I assume it would wear much faster if one used it every time they went to sharpen straight-edged tools.

Take care, Mike

article

Tom Sontag - St. Louis

>Lyn M. has a well written article on this site entitled "Sharpening Turning Tools: Some Fundamental Principles" that I found useful.

The one thing that steered me towards the Tormek over the LV was the hollow grind. I like to touch up hone freehand and it goes much better with a hollow ground chisel or plane iron. All these sharpening systems work; it probably depends on what habits you now have that you like.

Solution=more tools!

Jim Reed @ Tallahassee

>I have the Tormek and love it. Also have SS paper on hand for flatening backs and a Wolverine for gouges. It is hard to find one tool that does it all without compromises. Good luck with your sharpening quest.

Re: tormek or veritas MKII or ???

Eric in Los Gato, CA

>John,

FWW reviewed powered sharpening systems last year. They hit all of the big names and then some. Including Lap Sharp. IIRC they picked the Veritas MKII as their favorite. I would recommend that you read their article before you make a decision. That being said I would give more credence to the comments you get here.

Good luck,

Eric

Only one Gato, now?

Neal White (San Jose)

>Do you go to the South Bay WW meetings in the church by any chance?

and wouldn't that properly be El Gato?

Bill Houghton, cold and rainy in Sebastopol, CA

>

Re: tormek or veritas MKII or ???

john in KS

>Thanks to all of you for the advice. I think I am going to attempt and build my own MKII. There is a guy on another forum that has built a fairly simple setup like the MKII. It got me to thinking that maybe I can do the same, so am going to give it a shot first.

John