Ax ultimate edge/Sorby deluxe/Tormek T4/T8 ?

[TRITON]

I've a few quid extra kicking about and am thinking of buying a decent sharpener.
Already got a sharpenset with long planer knife jig, but while fully capable for chisels and planer blades, its not really set up for that, and I'd like something dedicated for those.
I've also a fair range of carving and lathe chisels


Although in the title I've put the T4 and the T8, the T4 doesnt have the chisel/planer blade jig included, which would be another 50 quid.(+)
The T8 has a couple more bits but I dont know if those plus the wider wheel and continuous motor are beneficial to me in my home workshop.

The Ax also has no jigs,and those are more expensive. Seems to be a bit of a trait to sell you a sharpener without the ability to sharpen from the off and further purchases are required.
But I think with the Ax ultimate edge its a bit of a bad deal

The Sorby Deluxe has more jigs, which might be the better deal overall, and I think it's a bit cheaper

So anyone got a Sorby, and how are you getting on with it ?. I'm kind of leaning towards that one over a Tormek but open to suggestion from real world reviews

The cons i see with the Sorby, is the belt runs towards the edge, and I'd be a bit worried with possibly overheating the edge and drawing out the temper(Lie Nielsen chisels) or possibly catching it from pressing to hard and disaster follows.

 

[Blister]

If you do go down the water bath system be careful in winter , My system froze up and cracked the stone
Always empty the trough after use.

 

[TRITON]

I've not got a prob there, workshop is in the spare room so centrally heated.

The only thing I really know about the wet wheel system, is never to leave the bath full with the stone immersed in it as it deforms the stone. This was one of the pet peeves of the technicians while at college. Students kept doing that and the techs informed the staff so we all got a memo

 

[Doug B]

I’ve both the Pro Edge & a very old Tormek from the days they were green, the Pro Edge gets used for turning tools & the Tormek for chisel & plane blades.

I like the Tormek & use the cambering jig as not only does it allow you to camber blades but it can be set to get over the inaccuracies of the machine & allow you to grind perfectly square edges.
I only use the Tormek for grinding as I prefer scary sharp papers for honing bench tools but as you say the water prevents any overheating. I did try the Pro Edge for grinding chisels when I first got it but didn’t get the results I wanted so went back to the Tormek for any edges that weren’t HSS.

I’d add that the leather honing wheel on the Tormek I find excellent if I’m doing any carving, I was doing just that yesterday & being able to quickly touch up the edge in seconds is a real bonus, I’ve read some folks have problems with rounding over the edge when using the leather wheel but I’ve never found it to be a problem.

 

[fezman]

I've got the sorby pro edge only (nothing else to compare it against). I would not buy it if you are wanting to sharpen chisels. It is great for turning tools, knives, axes etc, but find the chisel jig difficult to use to get a square edge. It sharpens great, but rarely square IME. I have used it in the first stages of regrinding a chisel, then back to diamond plates.
I keep thinking about getting a tormek, but TBH it's not that difficult to hand sharpen chisels once reground.

 

[Blister]

I have both the green 2000 with lots of jigs and a pro edge with lots of different belts. Use both .

 

[RonnieI]

I've a few quid extra kicking about and am thinking of buying a decent sharpener.
Already got a sharpenset with long planer knife jig, but while fully capable for chisels and planer blades, its not really set up for that, and I'd like something dedicated for those.
I've also a fair range of carving and lathe chisels


Although in the title I've put the T4 and the T8, the T4 doesnt have the chisel/planer blade jig included, which would be another 50 quid.(+)
The T8 has a couple more bits but I dont know if those plus the wider wheel and continuous motor are beneficial to me in my home workshop.

The Ax also has no jigs,and those are more expensive. Seems to be a bit of a trait to sell you a sharpener without the ability to sharpen from the off and further purchases are required.
But I think with the Ax ultimate edge its a bit of a bad deal

The Sorby Deluxe has more jigs, which might be the better deal overall, and I think it's a bit cheaper

So anyone got a Sorby, and how are you getting on with it ?. I'm kind of leaning towards that one over a Tormek but open to suggestion from real world reviews

The cons i see with the Sorby, is the belt runs towards the edge, and I'd be a bit worried with possibly overheating the edge and drawing out the temper(Lie Nielsen chisels) or possibly catching it from pressing to hard and disaster follows.

Love my Pro Edge for sharpening, mainly turning tools but use it for chisels, drills and plane irons as well. I usually hand finish chisels and plane irons by hand though. It's also useful for grinding all sorts of bits and bobs.

 

[pe2dave]

T4 + 4 jigs. Expensive addition was diamond wheel. I can't fault it. Jigs for most (all?) woodwork tools.

 

[Lons]

I had a T7 for years and there's no doubt you can get a great edge but I found it slow and messy so used it less and less. Far too slow and inconvenient for HSS turning chisels and if you use a standard wheel for carving gouges you have to true it up frequently so likely to get premature wear. My brother had a diamond wheel which is a different animal. The leather wheel is very useful but you can also fit a small one to the Pro-edge or make up a disk with leather and profiled MDF disk if you have a lathe and use it on that for your carving tools so there's always a way.

I bought a s/h Pro-edge which is brilliant for turning tools and I use it all the time, have never caught a belt with an edge or overheated one though you have to use common sense. It give very fast repeatable angles and a good enough edge for turning. I do occasionally re profile my bench chisels but always finish them on diamond stones and I have a d/e bench grinder if required for heave shaping. I sold the T7 last year for the reasons above.

This is purely my own experience and what fits my situation as I see it so there's no intention of recommending anything to you, it's your choice after doing sufficient research and head scratching before you spend your hard earned. We're all different and I'm surprised the old geezer who uses ancient oil stones that aren't flat hasn't dived in yet. You'll recognise him as the guy with biceps like Popeye, a side affect of vigorous hand sharpening

 

[Rhossydd]

I really like my Sorby. Fast and easy to use and the jigs work well. The lack of an adjustable platform seems a proper omission from the Axi.
I have tried wet wheel sharpening in the past and found it painfully slow and the wheel wore too easily.

If my Sorby got trashed/stolen I'd just buy it again.

 

[Ollie78]

Tormek is just painfully slow.
The Axminster has variable speed advantage over the sorby.
Knife makers and metalworkers mostly use belt systems or linishing machines.
The sorby and axminster are basically linishers tilted upwards with jigs.

 

[Spectric]

It's also useful for grinding all sorts of bits and bobs.

A grinder used to sharpen tools should be a dedicated machine for that purpose and not used for general purpose.

and am thinking of buying a decent sharpener

So if money not an issue what would people buy to sharpen chissels, etc and why. Maybe buying something without a full house of jigs to sharpen everything is not a bad thing because not everyone needs them all so just buying what you need might actually work out cheaper.

 

[no idea]

Sorby - great for turning tools, not great on bench chisels because it references the top edge of the chisel rather than the bottom (it getting 25/30 degrees accurately matters to you). Plane irons are fine.

Axminster - better than the Sorby because of the variable speed, reversible, has a better chisel/plane iron jig (extra and expensive though, although another attachment allows the jig to be taken from the machine to your preferred caressing system (water, diamond, oil stone, sandpaper....). Same as Sorby for turning tools.

Tormek - great for everything but not as quick.

There is a jig available for everything for each machine above. Tormek jigs work on the Axminster but not on Sorby.

I've got all three so this is a real comparison based on my actual experience. They all cost a lot, the Sorby works out cheaper and is robust, the Tormek is the most expensive, very robust and feels the best throughout as an entire system and the Axminster is somewhere in the middle.

The main thing between the belt and wet systems is that I use the belt systems when I want to remove a lot of metal and the Tormek when I want to refine/touch up/sharpen. With the Sorby/Axminster, you won't get a plane iron to its sharpest unless you change belts after a serious regrind. You can do turning tools pretty much with just a 120 grit belt but bench chisels and plane irons could do with something finer before going to a bench set up. The Tormek allows you to go from blunt to ready to use straight from the machine without having to change things.

In summary, understand the compromises and be happy with them because no particular machine is a perfect all-rounder.

 

[RonnieI]

A grinder used to sharpen tools should be a dedicated machine for that purpose and not used for general purpose.

Why? Takes me about 10 seconds to change a belt to do what I want to do.

 

[johnnyb]

The ultimate edge Is rubbish for precision edges(planes big chisels) I mean things that have to be straight and fairly smooth. For them I use a tormek clone (jet). Bit annoying considering the name. I have to say I like the jet as it just delivers near perfect edges that take seconds to become razor sharp. But wet systems are......well wet and a bit messy. What's not often talked about is the dust from dry grinding is quite nasty and quite abundant.
I love grinding expensive tools on the jet as it just works. I have it full speed and coarse as well.a use a coarse diamond dresser.

 

[Mick p]

Why? Takes me about 10 seconds to change a belt to do what I want to do.

I wouldn’t be without my pro edge it took me longer to remove and replace the side panel than change the belt.so I modified it wi a length of piano hinge and a very small O ring to hold the securing bolts

 

[Doug B]

Nice idea @Mick p
Got to admit I took the side panel off my Pro Edge about 13 years ago & its never been on the machine since

 

[woodbloke52]

I've had both the Pro-Edge and an original green Tormek and now use a T7 with a coarse diamond wheel. The Pro-Edge and it's Axminster clone are quick for re-grinding whereas the T7 is somewhat slower. However, belt or linnishers remove steel so rapidly there's a massive risk of burning or bluing the steel when you start to get really close to the edge; I did it a few times so the bloody thing rapidly got kicked into touch! This never happens with the water cooled Tormek, and slow though it is, I can easily grind a bevel to within 0.25mm of the edge; it will also grind a curved bevel which the linnisher type machines can't achieve. Using the Tormek jigs it's also ridiculously quick and easy to re-sharpen a turning gouge, re-shaping it takes a lot longer. Water cooled every time; it just makes sense - Rob

 

[RonnieI]

I wouldn’t be without my pro edge it took me longer to remove and replace the side panel than change the belt.so I modified it wi a length of piano hinge and a very small O ring to hold the securing bolts View attachment 186616

Haha, I just took the side panel off and left it off. Your solution is a bit more elegant,

 

[RonnieI]

I've had both the Pro-Edge and an original green Tormek and now use a T7 with a coarse diamond wheel. The Pro-Edge and it's Axminster clone are quick for re-grinding whereas the T7 is somewhat slower. However, belt or linnishers remove steel so rapidly there's a massive risk of burning or bluing the steel when you start to get really close to the edge; I did it a few times so the bloody thing rapidly got kicked into touch! This never happens with the water cooled Tormek, and slow though it is, I can easily grind a bevel to within 0.25mm of the edge; it will also grind a curved bevel which the linnisher type machines can't achieve. Using the Tormek jigs it's also ridiculously quick and easy to re-sharpen a turning gouge, re-shaping it takes a lot longer. Water cooled every time; it just makes sense - Rob

I have a little pot of water that I dip the tool into every couple of seconds to cool it down if I'm doing a bit of reshaping. Having said that, I usually do the final finishing by hand on a diamond stone.