Thread: Experiences with the Tormek systems

Recent comment I received from Stuart at Tools from Japan. He lives in an area of Japanese woodworking shops, and advises they all use Japanese waterstones. So does he.

I have a Tormek and I love it. Great system. Excellent, consistent results.
Set it up with the Tormek jigs on a dry grinder as well and you have a complete sharpening system.
I will replace the grinding wheel on mine when it wears out, which is my way of saying "I see no reason to change my system". Very happy with it and the results I get.

I've had my green 2000 Tormek for about 20 years. I frankly don't use it for much more than re-establishing bevels on old plane blades and chisels. I've never bought a vintage plane or chisel that did not require fixing the bevel. From that stage I usually go to freehanding on stones (watersones, Arkansas, diamond). The new SE-77 square edge jig with the cambering capability has given this machine some great new utility. I'm a turner too but early in that use I decided that the Wolverine system on a dry grinder was much better for me. I also do most of my knife sharpening on Arks so I'm probably not the most typical Tormek owner. Having said that I think it is still a fine machine. If budget allows, it will do a lot of good work for you.

By the way, there is a forum for Tormek users. Here's the link:
Tormek Community - Index

I had a tormek clone, then a tormek. I gave the tormek to a friend, couldn't stand how slow it was, the need for water, etc. I've found a good quality dry grinder to be far more useful and far faster.

If I had a shop where I couldn't make any metal dust, then I'd consider a tormek, I guess (though a decent coarse stone like a new crystolon is just as fast for practical use like sharpening the bevels of chisels and plane irons).

Thanks for the input everyone. I really appreciate it and it'll help a ton in making up my mind.

Cheers

I had a slow grinder ala Tormek and it went to the tip, David's experience was mine also. A half speed bench grinder with a CBN wheel is my go to set up these days and way cheaper to boot. Derek C. has a page on it...http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...ningSetUp.html

Everyone goes through the sharpening journey and I think it is better to start cheap and find out what suits you. Having said that I have been looking at Shapton glass stones in the last few days and I think I might score some for a Chrissy present if I drop enough hints.

I have used the Tormek T7 for a few years now with the Woodturners Kit jigs and quite a few other jigs including the knife jigs. I prefer the quality of the jigs, repeatability of grinds on woodturning gouges and the wet sharpening (I would not say grinding) solution. Speed of sharpening is not an issue for me, as I have the BG100 mount on the conventional grinder for bulk removal, shaping etc. I very much appreciate how it could be an issue in a production environment.

The Tormek system is more suited to edge tools with complex profiles, however carvers survived for centuries with profiled bench stones. Just another option, and one that I find suits my turning style. I still use conventional stones to touch up conventional chisels on the odd occasion that I do some flat work.

Too slow and too expensive. If you have mastered the art of freehand there isn't much advantage.

Tormek system is a sharpening system not a shaping system.
Once your tools are shaped the sharpening part is real easy.
Yes there is the purist that insist on freehand sharpening but most people do not have the capabilities to master freehand sharpening.
The claims that the tormek system is slow has nothing to do with sharpening but shaping or reshaping a tool.
The edge you get of the tormek is a cleaner edge than you get of any spark grinder.
When you get a sharper edge you do not have to push the tool as hard to do the job so the sharp edge lasts longer. When it gets to the point where you feel it is dulling of it is only seconds to put into the jig turn on and a couple of wipes later you are ready to go again. If you let it get to the stage where it is completely dulled of then it will take a bit longer to sharpen but no more than you would freehand.

The dark siders will use a tormek to sharpen their hand tools then move onto finer options to get a sharper edge on their hand tools. They are the motor so need a good edge to use their tools

The ideal world is at the end of the day you resharpen all your daily tools so they are ready for the next day, or you do first thing in the morning not a hard thing to get into a habit of and touch up if you need to.

Originally Posted by Jim Carroll

Yes there is the purist that insist on freehand sharpening but most people do not have the capabilities to master freehand sharpening.

I doubt hobby woodworkers as a general rule sharpen often enough to develop the muscle memory to hand sharpen and thus use jigs. A professional could sharpen a chisel while I am thinking about it.

I am just a weekend warrior, but I have no difficulty sharpening freehand. It is not difficult, especially on a hollow grind.

The advantage of the Tormek is, as Jim mentioned, the edge of the ground bevel is quite clean and straight, even off the 220 grit surface. That is all I ever used. I would safely grind to the edge of the blade, and then it would take seconds to hone on waterstones.

The speed of the Tormek is not in the grinding, but in the edge it presents for honing. This is where it overtakes a high speed grinder with a coarse wheel.

But, with a CBN and a half-speed grinder, you can have both speed and finish.

Regards from Perth

Derek

My edge tools have been the sharpest they have ever been since I started using my Tormek T7. You never get away with the need to sharpen. Knives, plane iron, chisels and axes all require sharpening, and so I have been at it for quite a long time, not as a professional, but as someone who needs to use their tools. I have sharpened things free hand which include both shaping and honing. Sometimes I get it sharp, and sometimes not. There isn't the same consistency. I have varies jigs, the eclipse type honing guide, the veritas honing guide as well as some home made ones. So I have done manual sharpening with jigs as well. The Tormek system isn't fool proof, but with the many jigs available, there is always a way to get things really sharp, and the learning curve isn't as steep as others. Speed wise, I think its definitely faster than doing it manually, but perhaps a tad slow in re-shaping. I'm happy with what I've got and it does all that I want. I particularly like the drill bit sharpening jig and the new straight edge jig. They have made what used to be an art form more of a science and geometry. Before I had a Tormek or my other wet grinder, I tend to gravitate towards tools that either doesn't need sharpening or power tools. Now I enjoy sharpening and using sharp tools. It has changed my ways of doing things. This has become apparent to me on my recent trip to NZ, while on previous trips I would take on my carpentry tasks like most others do, power tools were my first choice, and If I don't have the ideal power tools, (and I don't have access to very many tools) the quality of my workmanship is compromised. In this trip, I didn't mind taking on jobs with a minimum stash of hand tools that I took with me and I was able to be a lot more versatile and resourceful in my approach because of my increased abilities in hand tools. And that started with my abilities to sharpen consistently.
One downside with Tormek is that it does take bench space though. To be able to sharpen at the drop of a hat, I find that you basically have to have a dedicated spot on your bench for the system, or somewhere you can take out and use right away. I was on a trip to NZ recently to do some work on my in law's house. I had to take a few extra plane irons with me as I didn't have access to a Tormek.
I guess what I am saying is that if I could sharpen my tools freehand as well as I could with Tormek, I probably would be able to do more with less with my next trips to NZ. But I think I am already quite happy with what I can do right now.

Derek, I would suggest with that your self classification as a weekend woodworker is a comment others would not agree with, your work is stunning and you work with hand tools as your primary tool of choice. My comment was at the person who does serious woodwork far less than you appear to and uses machines primarily with hand tools secondary and would sharpen a chisel once a month. For them a jig is nearly essential if using stones for the entire process.

Your method of hollow grind on a slow bench grinder/CBN wheel and a small bevel definitely removes the problems and is so simple to do even I can do it without a jig and it is quick. For what it is worth I would recommend it to anyone.

Thanks so much for that overview, Justonething.

I think I'm in a similar position to yourself, I'd like to use hand tools more, I need them sharp and my hand honing (even with the Veritas guides) is ok, but not brilliant.

I'm leaning towards purchasing a Tormek system following the comments the members have made. Hopefully there'll be one at the wood show to have a look at. The online videos don't really tell the story of how easy they are to use.

Cheers

Wok