Hi All, Thinking about adding the Tormek to Santa’s bag. I know it’s expensive, I know it’s not necessary, I know I get sharp without it. Beyond that, please let fly with pros and cons… especially if you have one.
FYI: I currently use a Grizzly slow-speed / water-cooled with a 10″ wheel
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I have had a T8 for a few years. Pricey but a good tool. I use water stones for everyday honing but use the T8 for re grinding/ sharpening. The jigs do a good job of dialing in a consistent edge across the tool. It does have a bit of a learning curve. It works great on plane knives and chisels. I also use it for my planer knives and can even hone the knives for my DW735. I also bought the tool rest for my standard grinder. That way I can use the same jigs on the grinder when something need a complete reshaping before sharpening
The amount of time sharpening is an important factor. If the Tormek is faster than the Grizzly, it may be worth the cost. You may be able to accomplish more in less time, and that might pay for the extra cost. Another factor is which is more convenient and fun to use. If you enjoy sharpening with the Tormek, then that alone might be worth the extra cost. But I bet time is more important since you would probably enjoy woodworking more than sharpening.
I had a Tormek and various jigs for sharpening this and that. I used it for about ten years but gradually acquired other means to sharpen things as the Tormek is very slow. Its now sold on ebay - for more or less what I paid for it all ten years before. (So one good point is that it holds its value).
The Tormek advantages are that you won't burn things, so losing their temper; and the many jigs will help sharpen all sorts. But the price! and the time it takes ..... not good.
These days I use a Sorby Proedge belt sander thing to remove metal fast and a Veritas jig to do the refinements. The belt sander has belts of numerous kinds and grades. The refinement media includes some diamond stones acquired years ago but mostly 3M papers on glass.
Large items like planer blades can easily be sharpened with a self-made jig to hold the blades at the right angle whilst large diamond stones or 3M papers stuck to float glass are rubbed across them. There are various sharpening jigs in the articles to be found on this website.
I'd say Tormek is too sophisticated for its own good, which is what basically makes it slow and expensive.
Lataxe
Painfully slow. Expensive, both the machine and the jigs. About the only thing I use it for these days is re-grinding plane irons and chisels.
It is a solid machine but I would not buy it again.
If you like the tool jigs you might consider a good 8" grinder with borazon wheels and the Tormek tool bars.
If you're serious about spending a lot of money this might be a better bet:
https://tradesmangrinder.com/tradesman-woodturner/
I had one, and sold it. It was fine, but horribly slow. You still need honing stones for a proper edge on chisels and plane irons. The Tormek is just not fine enough by itself.
After a short time I only used it for turning gouges, because the jigs for that let you do a variety of grinds. But my God, was it slow. I ended up adding CBN wheels and wolverine jigs to my bench grinder with the money I got for the Tormek. I'm much happier.
When folks say it's slow, I'm curious how slow is slow? I ask this because all I have at this point is diamond stones. If I want to regrind a bevel by hand (say from 35 degress to 30 deg), even on an 80 grit sandpaper four feet long attached to wood underneath, that takes a long time.
Regrinding that 5 degrees would be faster on a Tormek than by hand. I use a half speed grinder ((with Tormek fence/jigs) to shape my edges then use the Tormek to sharpen.
I've had an older Tormek SuperGrind for a few years (got a good deal on eBay). It does a great job for what it's designed to do (which is not grinding a new edge). I've tried regrinding chisels that had gotten nicked--yes, that takes forever. It would be better to start out with a grinder. But for repeatability and speed just sharpening a good edge, I haven't found anything better. It's especially good with lathe chisels because of the jigs. I was never very good at free-handing those. I have since given away my water and diamond stones.
I don't think it eliminates needing a good strop, though, even though it has a honing wheel.
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