Replies

1. 
   RW | Nov 10, 2002 04:33am | #1

   Mine gets a little dry too. With use, that's seemed to improve somewhat (the polishing compound sticking) but I usually trickle just a little parrafin oil on it and put the pad of my finger down while it's running to work the slurry of oil + polish in to the wheel. Hope that helps. Does soften things up.

2. 
   silver77 | Nov 10, 2002 09:38am | #2

   Curiosity killed the cat, Dog.

   What's a Tormek grinder?

   What are you sharpening?

   This is something I don't do so I'd like to know how to do what you doing...

   Saturday night...XXX Molson...cheers,

   silver 

1. 
   UncleDunc | Nov 10, 2002 10:02am | #3

   >> What's a Tormek grinder?

   http://www.japanwoodworker.com/Tormek01.JPG

   Not recommending or disrecommending this vendor. This is just the first large picture I came to.

1. 
   silver77 | Nov 10, 2002 06:24pm | #4

   Thanks for the picture...do you own one? What are they worth?

   I dislike sharpening and am looking for possible upgrades to my usual parameters...low tech, inexpensive, extremely effective and versatile...

   cheers to Sunday morning,

   silver

1. 
   RW | Nov 10, 2002 06:39pm | #5

   I own one. They're too expensive, but works well. Versatile, very, but every new tool almost needs a new jig. The basic setup lets you do straight irons - chisels and planes. Different jigs for everything else, but it can do scissors, gouges & lathe tools, jointer & planer knives, axes, etc. What it does well is put a nice, slightly hollow ground bevel on. It does that at about 800 grit, and for finicky users, a couple of passes after the fact on 1500 paper or water stone improves things. It's not a fast mover when it comes to taking out any large amounts of metal. If you have an old nasty chisel that needs the back flattened and the bevel ground, you'll be standing there awhile, but once you've got that, resharpening after you've done the prep work takes about 1-2 minutes including setting up the little jig and stropping it on the wheel. I like the thing, I hate what I paid for it, but in comparison to a variety of diamond stones and wet stones, in the end the cost is probably the same. It does do my jointer knives quite well. And all the kitchen knives cut real nice too, which makes the wiff happy.

1. 
   silver77 | Nov 10, 2002 06:49pm | #6

   Interesting.Thanks.

    I'm  retooling for sharpening and would love to hear about favorite sharpening

   and honing choices...inexpensive would be my choice. 

   silver

2. 
   mrosspa | Nov 10, 2002 08:23pm | #7

   I both sharpen and hone using water stones and a Tormek grinder. It all seemed magical, almost mystical as I read different articles and was unsure what I was doing. I purchased the Tormek grinder after I'd been hand sharpening and knew clearly what I wanted and needed. Both hand sharpening and machine sharpening have their labor saving benefits.

   Sharpening small tools are quick and easy on stones.  I also have a polishing stone that I rarely use. I hate hate sharpening large chisels and gouges on a stone. That's where the Tormek excels (not to mention honing/polishing).

   Initial sharpening of large tools, or regrinding nicks can be tedious and time consuming. (I use the words grinding & sharpening interchangably) As much as I enjoy the tactile quality of preparing tools for use, I'd rather be using them in creating. The Tormek grinder makes this job much quicker, and I don't dread the process.

   My next step is honing. That can be done with a highly polished stone or leather with a polising compound. The person that taught me to sharper introduced me to the leather strop, and now I don't use the fine stone. The leather and polishing compound yield a better cutting edge. A leather wheel is quicker than a piece of leather, and there are a number of them on the market including the Tormek. I use the Tormek for honing my tools.

   I recommend using stones and hand sharpening and polishing with a leather strop. After you've gained experience, then consider buying an expensive grinder like the Tormek. Ideally, find some that uses a Tormek or similar grinder, and see how it works. Always buy quality, but only buy what you need. If you have questions about how to sharpen and polish, find someone that can walk you through the steps successfully.

2. 
   AlanTurner | Nov 11, 2002 11:31pm | #8

   I too have one, new to me, but delightfully fast, in comparison to my older methods, and quite accurate.  I go back and forth between using the leather wheel/strop, and going right to a 4000, then 8000, then diamond honing paste.  My fear is that the stropping rounds the micro edge a bit, whereas the waterstones do not.  Just ordered a bit the the micro abrasive paper,as this may be even faster.  Have a piece of granite which I will use for the base.

   I would be interested in the views of others on this subject.

   Edited 11/11/2002 3:43:03 PM ET by s4s

1. 
   mrosspa | Nov 12, 2002 05:48am | #9

   I started off using an 8000 grit stone to finish off my plane irons and was satisfied. The first article I read said to ignore leather and I did.

   When I started to use carving tools I tried leather and polishing compound and found it better and faster than the 8000 grit stone. Interestingly, I can't detect a difference when I hone a plane iron on 8000 grit or leather, but I detect a difference with a carving tool. So, now I hone everything with leather because I've a leather wheel that will hone quickly compared to the 8000 grit stone and preparing the stone for use. It's all a matter of trying different methods and finding what work for you.