Tormek and jigs

[MusicMan]

Given what you say about needing to true up the stone, I'm thinking I would need to get the diamond dressing stone then if I went with the tormek.

Personally I'd say you absolutely need the diamond dresser, and it needs to be used every three or four sharpenings. I was surprised to read "Sunnybob's" verdict, but if that's his experience then fair enough.

The Tormek has a clever little dressing device that operates on a screw thread, so the diamond stone tracks across the entire stone, you have to operate it at a consistent speed to get a perfectly flat surface but that comes easily enough with practise.

It was interesting to read "Music Man's" account of good results with planer knives and contrast that against "No Ideas" experiences. I suspect that the shorter the knives the better the chances of being satisfied, but in any event it requires a rigorously meticulous and methodical approach to maximise your chances of success with planer knives.

Good luck!

I use the dresser when (and only when) the stone surface is not flat, e.g. it's got dimpled with sharpening narrow chisels. Since I do a lot of my chisel and plane sharpening by hand, the Tormek is only used for those when they need it, ie secondary bevel too far gone, chip in the edge. And for plane blades I ensure that I swept across the whole surface of the wheel. For planer blades (mine are 300 mm), the design of the jig means that you have to sweep them throughout the sharpening process, so the wheel does not get out of true. The grader also keeps it flat. So in my own experience I do not need to use the diamond dresser nearly so often. This would be different if one were doing (say) turning tools in a jig that did not let you swap across the whole wheel. I think the 'fingernail' jig is of this type and then you would indeed use the dresser much more often.

 

[MusicMan]

... but in any event it requires a rigorously meticulous and methodical approach to maximise your chances of success with planer knives.

Good luck!

No dispute there!

 

[deema]

I’ve had a T7 for a lot of years, the stone has only once been dressed with the Tomek tool. I find by ignoring the suggested process and moving my item across the stone I avoid getting out of flat. I do regrade the stone regularly which seems to remove any glaze and alleviate any need for dressing. The stone has hardly any wear and will last at this rate more than my lifetime.

For general sharpening it’s very very quick. A cut off block of wood is used to set the arm at the correct heigh for the two main angles I use. A simple setting jig to mount the hand planer blade or chisel etc consistently ensures that it’s ready for sharpening in a few seconds (protrusion of the blade, I have two stops for the two angles)

I like the leather stropping wheel, and although I now mainly hand sharpen I use the stropping wheel inbetween. I bought the Jet arm so I have it set all the time on the strop: which along with all Jet jigs fit the Tormek. The Jet arm was a fraction of the cost of the Tormek.

I wouldn’t use the Tormek for reming nicks in blades, it’s far too slow, but for sharpening, it’s very good.

 

[--Tom--]

In my experience dressing the stone is to ensure it is parallel to the workrest. As the planer jig clamps everything, of the workrest and stone surface aren't parallel you won't be contacting the whole surface of the stone, making the process more prone to error and slower.

If you're frequently needing to regrind the bench grinder adaptor makes this much quicker and easier.

I also find a flat bench strop less faff than wheel.

 

[MattRoberts]

Thanks deema - I must admit in the videos I've seen of its use the tool had been gently moved back and forth across the whole width of the stone, so I was surprised to see comments regarding it going out of flat so easily.

 

[sjalloq]

All those people finding excuses not to dress the wheel regularly must have more time than sense.

It's disposable and will take you a loooong time to wear it down unless you're grinding every day. A little and often comes to mind if you are having to grind new primary bevels.

I've used the planer blade attachment and initially wasn't very happy with it. I was trying to get the same grind on each blade and found that HSS blades really dulled the stone after the first blade, so subsequent ones took ages. Then I realised that in order to get a rough surface to remove a lot of material, you HAVE to dress the wheel and dress it roughly. Create a scored surface on the wheel and it takes material off much faster. Get one of those cheap digital height gauges and use that to level your planer blades. I've saved loads of time since.

A quick pass on the leather wheel usual gets me an edge that will cut to the bone with only direct pressure towards it. Don't ask....I'm more careful waxing the bed now.

I've also just tried using a honing strop this weekend. I have a piece of hardwood with some suede on and am using the polishing compounds sold by Nic Westermann. A few passes on each blade while still in place brought them back to life. I'll be doing that after every session now so about once a month at my rate of use.

I think at the end of the day you have to chose the tool that works best for your use case. My experience with the Tormak doesn't echo those who have complained about it being slow - aside from my first week of getting used to it.

 

[MikeJhn]

All goes back to my previous comment it seems.

I imagine the stone only needs dressing if you habitually grind something that is not full width?

Mike

 

[sundaytrucker]

I picked up a Tormek T4 sometime last year, however I have experience with using one from my time at furniture school. I didn't much like using it at furniture school and that hasn't really changed since owning my own. I bought it mainly as a idiot proof way of regrinding the primary bevel on my Veritas BU plane irons, they're massive (around 6mm thick). The new SE-77 jig makes adding a camber to your iron much simpler and it was a large part of why I went the former route.

The Tormek cuts very slow and I don't look back fondly of the time I put a large camber on my Veritas LA Jack iron but once the initial hollow grind is in place and you don't allow the secondary bevel to get too large you can quickly regrind and be back to the honing stones in no time.

I have no qualms about using the diamond dressing stone and race it across the wheel to create as course a surface as possible.

That being said, I regularly think about selling the Tormek.

 

[no idea]

Thanks no idea, that's some great feedback.

I see Mike jumped on you like a randy sailor at bar closing time - let me know if it doesn't work out with him and we could come to a deal

Cheers

I've tried to send you a PM a couple of times - let me know if it has come through.

Thanks

 

[MattRoberts]

Thanks no idea, that's some great feedback.

I see Mike jumped on you like a randy sailor at bar closing time - let me know if it doesn't work out with him and we could come to a deal

Cheers

I've tried to send you a PM a couple of times - let me know if it has come through.

Thanks

Nope, no PM from you?

 

[no idea]

Thanks no idea, that's some great feedback.

I see Mike jumped on you like a randy sailor at bar closing time - let me know if it doesn't work out with him and we could come to a deal

Cheers

I've tried to send you a PM a couple of times - let me know if it has come through.

Thanks

Nope, no PM from you?

I've tried again but the messages are stuck in my outbox :? Can you try sending me a message? If that doesn't work then I'll contact a mod for advice.

 

[MattRoberts]

I've tried again but the messages are stuck in my outbox :? Can you try sending me a message? If that doesn't work then I'll contact a mod for advice.

Wow, just got three from you in one go!

 

[CHJ]

I've tried again but the messages are stuck in my outbox :? Can you try sending me a message? If that doesn't work then I'll contact a mod for advice.

Messages stay in your Outbox until the recipient downloads them, If the intended recipient does not access their PM In-box and View them they will not move to your sent box.

 

[MattRoberts]

I've tried again but the messages are stuck in my outbox :? Can you try sending me a message? If that doesn't work then I'll contact a mod for advice.

Messages stay in your Outbox until the recipient downloads them, If the intended recipient does not access their PM In-box and View them they will not move to your sent box.

I've accessed my PM inbox several times over the last few days, and had none from no idea until three arrived last night...

 

[MattRoberts]

Hi all, after consideration I went ahead with the purchase of the T4. Thanks for all your thoughts & feedback.

I've just spent some time fettling and practising on a chisel, and I'm very very pleased with the results. I've managed to get the chisel sharper than I ever did before when using a variety of methods and jigs.

It's expensive, sure, but when I consider how much I've spent on jigs, abrasives, strops and the like over the years, not to mention the time and effort to achieve only sub par results, I'm happy as Larry with the tormek.

I've got the planer jig on the way (thanks Sawdust), so will report back on that.

Right, I'm off to sharpen the rest of my chisels /plane irons to Wotton an inch of their lives.

Cheers

 

[sundaytrucker]

Hey Matt, glad you are happy with the Tormek. I haven't noticed it in the thread but was wondering what steel your tools are made from( O1, PMV11, A2)?

 

[MattRoberts]

All of the above. I haven't gotten round to sharpening my plane irons yet, but I'm keen to see how it handles the various steels

 

[SVB]

I have the jet version but tormek jigs as they are wat better imho. In additional I have a second mount in front of my dry wheel grinder. That way I can set a new or damaged tool in the jig and shape / dress out damage and move straight over to do the final sharpen at the wet wheel without changing jigs etc so mitigates rye ‘takes ages to ....’ issue but for 90% of the time straight to the wet wheel is fine.

 

[Dangermouse 2nd]

The only bit of power kit i use is a Sharpedge by viceroy. Amazing bit of kit, I doubt a tormek is built as well, but I imagine it does the job pretty well by the reviews. the sharpedge puts on a nice bevel to give a final hand hone too.