Sorby Pro-Edge

[Jacob]

An oil stone Jacob ??? join the 21st century its Japanese ceramic or diamond these days

Not for me.
I did have some expensive diamond stones but after a lot of trial and error I realised that they conferred no advantage at all over oil stones in spite of costing 10 times as much and probably lasting a fraction of the time. Sold them.
I was put off water stones reading all the struggles people have with flattening, the mess, the short life, the price and so on.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Ahhh ............ so you've never actually used water stones, then, despite your being so critical?

 

[Jacob]

Ahhh ............ so you've never actually used water stones, then, despite your being so critical?

No I got put off by everything I read, which was enough to form a critical opinion on I thought.
PS I just googled "flattening water stones" and it put me off even more. What a palaver!

 

[Duncan A]

Triton, I don't carve but the Pro-Edge does have a fitting for polishing mops which may be handy for carving tools.
Duncan

 

[fezman]

I bought a pro-edge recently. It works very well for the turning tools I have. I've used it on an old chisel and wasn't satisfied with the results straight off the belt, so still hone on 3m scary sharp. I also needed to regrind a plane iron last weekend. It was a breeze on the pro-edge, took just a few minutes and then honed it on the 3m SS.

For the filings problem, I placed two magnets on the base of the Proedge, then placed an old cabinet scraper on top of that. All the filings now stick to the scraper, and I simply lift it off, clean it, put it back on - no real issue there.

Ian

 

[JobandKnock]

I've had a ProEdge for 5 or 6 years now. When I take chunks out of chisels (something I do regularly - one of the joys of working on old buildings) I'll grind out chips on a double ended grinder before continuing on the ProEdge, but most of the time I'm just touching up my chisels and maybe correcting the angles where I've honed too vigorously at work. I can sharpen a full roll of 10 to 12 chisels in 15 to 20 minutes to about 600 or 800 grit before lapping on a diamond hone (a "relatively cheap" ITS one). I don't bother much with a strop as I can't use one at work. The ProEdge means I am more likely to resharpenstuff, and not procrastinate.

I don't turn or use carving chisels but I do use firmer and scribing gouges, but I sharpen them by hand. I buy non-Sorby belts for half the price of the OEM ones. I stopped buying Norton or Carborundum stones years ago as they can be broken too easily in site work in my experience. They also have a limited grit range. Diamond hones with steel plates, on the other hand, will take being dropped, and whilst heavy they do go up to about 1200 grit

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No I got put off by everything I read, which was enough to form a critical opinion on I thought.
PS I just googled "flattening water stones" and it put me off even more. What a palaver!

Just so long as we know you criticise something you have absolutely no knowledge or experience of.

 

[Jacob]

Just so long as we know you criticise something you have absolutely no knowledge or experience of.

I've never watched "Love Island" on the same basis. Or eaten pot noodles. Or read anything by Jeffrey Archer.... and so on.
Hope that helps!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

but you don't try to tell others not to, based on your lack of knowledge or experience of them, either.
Hth.

 

[Daniel2]

Just so long as we know you criticise something you have absolutely no knowledge or experience of.

I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form educated opinions from peer reviews, and they are valid.

 

[JobandKnock]

Sometimes

 

[no idea]

There are a number of improvements on the Axminster machine over the Sorby, but, as a system, everything is more expensive.

For bench chisels and plane irons, one of the big advantages for the Axminster setup comes through the use of their honing guide. Once set, you can grind the primary bevel on the machine and then use the honing jig on a honing setup of your choice to achieve whatever secondary or micro bevel you want.

I've just taken up turning and I've found that the Sorby is less finicky to set up gouges with their gouge jig. The Axminster machine requires the Tormek gouge jig and is more of a fiddle to set up if I have changed the machine to grind something else previously.

Axminster do sell a fixed speed version of their machine for £300 so the best thing to do is decide whether the Sorby or Axminster jigs and accesories suit you better and buy into that system.

Having used both, I prefer the Axminster set up for plane irons and chisels because of their honing guide. I haven't got enough experience with turning tools yet to decide which I prefer for those.

 

[Jacob]

but you don't try to tell others not to, based on your lack of knowledge or experience of them, either.
Hth.

I wouldn't recommend them! Our dog would be OK with the pot noodles though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form educated opinions from peer reviews, and they are valid.

I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form opinions from peer reviews ...

Ftfy.

Actually, no. It should have said - I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form opinions from reviews ...

 

[Jacob]

I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form opinions from peer reviews ...

Ftfy.

Actually, no. It should have said - I'm sorry Phil, but sometimes we form opinions from reviews ...

So would you recommend pot noodles and Jeffrey Archer books Phil? Am I missing something?

 

[JobandKnock]

I recommend both, Jacob. Pot noodles can be an effective stop gap filler in masonry if absolutely nothing else is available (but they do take a while to set - for nutrition, however, I recommend consuming the packaging instead of the contents) whilst the stacked Archer novels we have beneath our dining room table have been great for levelling it up (just don't read them, and only get them if they are offered free). BTW they also make passable papier mache

 

[Wood&StuffLtd]

Anyone got one ?. I was looking at my Axminster catalog the other day(Toilet edition) at sharpening and thinking of flogging off my sharpenset whetstone with the planer knife jig and getting the axminster ultimate edge instead.
Its the 2018/19 edition. So I take a look at their current catalog and its gone up £100. In 2019 it was £379, now it is £479.
This is just a joke as its really just a copy of the pro-edge concept, which in basic form is a tad under £300.Or £365 for the deluxe with a range of jigs, which worked out a very good deal.
Were the axminster still £379 I'd consider it, but £479 Axminster, you can go **** yourselves. the basic axminster is £397 or Sorby deluxe £365.

So I reckon the Sorby deluxe would do me just as good, and given the added range of jigs, considerably better.

I bought the Sorby Pro-edge at Yandles and have most of the acessories. I use it regularly and a quick touch on the belt brings back razor sharpness.

 

[Sideways]

I like my pro edge.
It has a small but decent induction motor.
It is a couple of years since I looked at one but I believe that the more expensive axminster model with variable speed uses a brush motor and a corresponding speed control. This is a similar solution to the one used on their mini lathes and you hear of (and I've encountered a couple myself) of failures in the cheap electronic controllers used on this type of lathe.
So the variable speed that is one of the best features of the Axminster is achieved using technology that I wouldn't buy under any circumstances ...
Shame.

 

[LoftyDave]

I have one. Have the jigs but don't use them. It's a good tool and I use it a lot. In my opinion it needs modifying so that the plate position in relation to the belt can be adjusted to square and horizontal without having to use DIY shims. Get this wrong and you will not get square edged chisels and plane blades. Apart from that it's good and is much quicker than stones, diamond plates etc. I do final back hone to get the burr off on a diamond plate. Belts last ages.

Late to the party but I have the Sorby Pro Edge which seems to require the DIY shims as getting plane irons square is not easy. Turning tools were brilliant in contrast.

Please could you explain or show how the DIY shims can be made and fitted.

 

[Nelly111s]

I have 8 lathes for students all with the same tool board and another for the instructors’ lathe. That’s besides my lathe and tools. I use a Sorby and can guarantee that all the tools are sharpened exactly the same. It works fantastically. I’ve also used it with the square attachment which has an initial adjustment on it to make it exactly 90° to the belt. This was for grinding old chisels and plane blades before sharpening them. I’ve tried the 1200 and 3000 grit trizact belts which work well (but I prefer the scary sharp system for honing) for chisels and marking knives.
Can’t comment on the Axminster, but in my experience of them over the last 5 years they’ve put similar crazy price hikes on various items (eg small JET lathes before they stopped doing them). I wouldn’t want to get in to a situation where I was reliant on them for consumables or spares because I’d be afraid of being fleeced in the future.