Thread: My thoughts on grinders.Long Post.

Originally Posted by NeilS

Or, if you are so inclined, you could make your own. Derek Cohen has adapted standard belt sanders to sharpen his flatwork blades. A variation on his design might work to take the various woodturning jigs.

Bench Sander Blade Grinder Mk I
Bench Sander Blade Grinder Mk II

Another source of info on using belt sanders for grinding turning tools, here.

A used like new 10 inch Tormek was in my local hardware store last week, not yet priced.

I was 3rd on the list to be called.

I was called today and had a look. $300 for the bare machine and with the new in box bowl gouge, skew, planer blade, jigs, leather honing wheel, diamond wheel surfacer, books, etc. $493.00 + 7% tax.

A very nice system. The bowl gouge jig is really slick.

A really good deal. I thought long and hard but just couldn't justify the expense.

I have the vari-grind jig and the fixed Oneway bowl gouge jig, for hard woods that works fine. I do some spalted punky wood at times and a smoother surface on the gouge would help.

I have a horizontal wet grind system that I can put a pivot point on for the vari-grind jig and get that extra bit of smooth.

Still having mixed feelings.

After rereading 's first post a couple of times and agonizing overnight about not asking if I could buy just the bowl gouge jig, I went back to the hardware store. To my surprise the Tormek was still there.

The other two interested buyers had been in, one offered $475, the other had passed.

They would only sell the whole lot together. I plugged it in, listened to it run, and bought it.

I had remorse for not buying it, now I'm pleased. It is still a lot of money, but I had crazy money available from a house rehab I did late last year.

I will post more when I get the Tormek finish on my Thompson bowl gouge and turn some spalted, rotten, punky wood.

When I brought it home it was blowing and snowing. The shop is on the north side of an unheated basement. Maybe above freezing, maybe not.

Put the Tormek on the kitchen counter - no SWIMBO, cat doesn't care, fired it up and added water, about 2 gallons methinks.

I put the Thompson bowl gouge in the very nice bowl gouge jig and adjusted it so the swept back grind was very close to what I had. It took quite a while to take out the marks from the 120 grit dry grinder, 10 minutes??

Back to firing wood stove and boiler as it was expected to be -12C. that night with 20 mph wind.

Next evening put the small leather honing wheel on, charged it with honing paste, and honed the inside of the gouge. When wiping the paste off with a paper towel sliced my thumb open. Hmmmm REALLY sharp. Cleaned up the blood, wrapped up the thumb, stoked the fires and went to bed. Only -11C that night.

Next evening, as I had noticed some slight machining marks in the V of the gouge I wrapped some 120 grit sandpaper around folded over corrugated cardboard and honed them out, then finished with 220 grit in the same manner.

Today it warmed up to about 8C so I put a piece of spalted, partially rotted, white birch on the lathe that I had roughed with the Thompson sharpened on the 120 grit dry wheel, using the Vari-grind jig. The hard part was smooth, but the soft parts had deep tear out. I used the exact same technique, handle well down, slicing the wood with the wing.

The Tormek sharpened gouge had almost no tear out, only at the softest, punky, part did it minimally tear.

So my supposition that the smoother sharper gouge would work better than the dry grind is correct. I think the best thing about the Tormek is the system of jigs and fixtures.

If one does a lot of cabinet work and needs to sharpen plane irons and wood chisels, this is a marvelous machine.

I have yet to sharpen my big fat finish scraper and see how much improved finish I get with the smoother edge and honing. The Tormek book says not to hone the burr off scrapers as the burr does the cutting.

I have been leaving the burr on until the last shaving cut before sanding. I sharpen lightly and hone with 400 grit sand paper on a flat board, and take VERY light cut.

I did free hand sharpen a paring knife and all the blades on my pocket knife. The Tormek did almost as well as freehand on an oil stone.

I found the warranty card in one of the books last night, the machine was bought in 1996. It looks brand new, and the only jig that was used was the square edge tool rest. All the rest were in the original boxes.

The dealer said that the guys shop was pristine, you could eat off the floor.

I added up the current price of the machine and all the bits and books.

I paid 42% of the going price. Even so, it is still a lot of money.

My conclusion is that one should buy a decent 1725 / 1400 rpm 8 inch dry grinder. After a few years of turning practice, and the disire to turn soft, spalted, burl, crazy grained timber; then buy a Tormek, or diamond wheel, etc.

I sure like the Tormek bowl gouge jig.

To the one person who has read this far, I hope I have added some knowledge.

My conclusion is that one should buy a decent 1725 / 1400 rpm 8 inch dry grinder. After a few years of turning practice, and the disire to turn soft, spalted, burl, crazy grained timber; then buy a Tormek, or diamond wheel, etc.

I sure like the Tormek bowl gouge jig.

To the one person who has read this far, I hope I have added some knowledge.

Ditto. Shoulda warned you about running your thumb down the flute.

Sounds like a nice alternative to being out there in the freezing conditions Paul.

Thanks for your post.

Just one comment: you can cut your finger on an edge that's nonetheless not a good edge for turning. Think of the 'edge' on a handsaw.

fantastic post! I would love to get to one of 's workshops but being in Sydney this is not so easy. How come so many of the best things are in Melbourne?????
Mick

PS: I have a Sheppach 2500 grinder but with the Tormek woodturning kit and am contemplating the Tormek grinder

Originally Posted by

Ditto. Shoulda warned you about running your thumb down the flute.

Didn't you get the bandaids that come with it usually?