I have just ordered the Tormey T4 Whetstone ‘original’ grinder that has a SP200 whetstone grinding wheel enabling its stone grader accessory to either leave the grit at 200 or be altered to 1000 grit.
As a hobby woodworker I certainly didn’t start off with any intention of forking out this much cash but having conscientiously read virtually all reviews of competitor’s lower priced equipment available in Australia I formed the impression that most were sub standard, in some way or another. Given I am a relative novice to the sharpening area the one thing I didn’t want from the outset was to have overriding setup problems with an inferior machine, so I bit the Tormek bullet, so to speak. I could have used less expensive methods that I’m sure many of you are completely happy with, but as an 83 year old I decided that you only come this way once so I need to grab the chance now or die wondering about the Tormak’s supposed superiority.
Anyways, now I need to get some whetstones to achieve my further quest to go further than just the default 1000 grit. To that end I have ordered a 400 grit Atomi diamond stone that seems to be one of the the recommended ‘go to’ flattening stones online. I think, maybe, I would like to sharpen my chisels & plane blades to 3000 & 5000 grits, subject to your collective views.
The problem is that there are literally a pantheon of alternatives in the wild and I need your kind help to come to a reasonable decision as to how I might best achieve this quest, but in any event I will to listen to your, perhaps dissenting views, which I will necessarily accept with gratitude.
As an aside, I am surprised that most advertisements overwhelmingly only refer to knives rather than woodworking blades with respect to sharpening. That leads me to wonder if there is a recognised difference in the stone types required for each.
Thank You for your help.