leverb01507
Established Member
I have always been someone who sharpens by hand, it's not that I'm a hell bent hand sharpening fanatic, I've just never felt the need to change my process. I tend to freehand with oil stones for honing, but I have a few waterstones of coarse grits for reshaping. Anyway, my coarse Japanese stones were starting to get thin from use and flattening and so I looked for some replacements. I noticed that axminster had the Tormek T3 on sale and thought I might as well give it a go.
I figured that at worst it would replace my 400 grit stone for reshaping, which I was never that keen on as it used to be fairly soft and hollow easily. However I have been amazed at the Tormek! Despite it being 220grit I am getting an edge that I can't beat with even my finest India stone which has a surface like glass. The honing wheel does an amazing job of "keening" up the edge and I am genuinely shocked at the results I'm achieving straight from the Tormek system.
I primarily do traditional bench joinery so my sharpening has been mainly straight edged tools, such as plane irons, so I can't comment on it's suitability for turning tools I'm afraid, but for the application I am using it for I would recommend it 100%.
One thing I will note that feels strange is that there is surprisingly little "bite" when grinding. I don't know if this is due to it being so well lubricated with water, or because the tool rest holds the tool so firmly you feel relatively little response? This is in no way a complaint, it's just on first use I didn't think it was cutting much, it wasn't until I removed the tool that I saw how quickly it had reestablished a primary bevel, very pleasing.
I did wonder when I purchased this whether I would later regret not getting the T7? However I am struggling to see where the T7 would offer me more. for my purpose at least. You don't get the truing tool or grading stone with the T3, but my wheel was nice and square to my tool rest out of the box so I didn't need the truing tool to get started, and it can always be bought as an accessory if I need it at a later date. The dressing stone seems a good idea, and as I haven't used it I can't say what difference it would make but, once more, it certainly hasn't meant that the unit is unusable out of the box. The abs body is less rugged that the T7 but the unit is still solid as a rock, so this is more a concern of durability than rigidity. Mine is unlikely to get many knocks where it sits, but if you were moving it around a lot this may be a minor concern.
All in all I am very pleased with my Tormek purchase. I don't often post on the forum, but when I was looking for info on the T3 there was surprisingly little to be found, so hopefully this may be of some help to someone out there.
Thanks,
Ben.
I figured that at worst it would replace my 400 grit stone for reshaping, which I was never that keen on as it used to be fairly soft and hollow easily. However I have been amazed at the Tormek! Despite it being 220grit I am getting an edge that I can't beat with even my finest India stone which has a surface like glass. The honing wheel does an amazing job of "keening" up the edge and I am genuinely shocked at the results I'm achieving straight from the Tormek system.
I primarily do traditional bench joinery so my sharpening has been mainly straight edged tools, such as plane irons, so I can't comment on it's suitability for turning tools I'm afraid, but for the application I am using it for I would recommend it 100%.
One thing I will note that feels strange is that there is surprisingly little "bite" when grinding. I don't know if this is due to it being so well lubricated with water, or because the tool rest holds the tool so firmly you feel relatively little response? This is in no way a complaint, it's just on first use I didn't think it was cutting much, it wasn't until I removed the tool that I saw how quickly it had reestablished a primary bevel, very pleasing.
I did wonder when I purchased this whether I would later regret not getting the T7? However I am struggling to see where the T7 would offer me more. for my purpose at least. You don't get the truing tool or grading stone with the T3, but my wheel was nice and square to my tool rest out of the box so I didn't need the truing tool to get started, and it can always be bought as an accessory if I need it at a later date. The dressing stone seems a good idea, and as I haven't used it I can't say what difference it would make but, once more, it certainly hasn't meant that the unit is unusable out of the box. The abs body is less rugged that the T7 but the unit is still solid as a rock, so this is more a concern of durability than rigidity. Mine is unlikely to get many knocks where it sits, but if you were moving it around a lot this may be a minor concern.
All in all I am very pleased with my Tormek purchase. I don't often post on the forum, but when I was looking for info on the T3 there was surprisingly little to be found, so hopefully this may be of some help to someone out there.
Thanks,
Ben.
