Tom wrote:

Why not put your hard earned money into a Tormek sharpener instead?

Have one - and most of the jigs, along with a 6" grinder with Norton
wheels
and the Wolverine jig, DMT diamond plates, arkansas stones, india
stones,
japanese water stones, an assortment of slip stones, 1" belt sander
and
a Scary Sharp (tm) set up. Each does a few things the others don't.
The
JoolTool fills in a gap - small carving tools, sweeps and some
turning tools.

Was going to add onto my mini/midi lathe bench for the Tormek but the
JoolTool will be my edge restorer instead. Smaller foot print, no
water,
no jigs or jig set up, all the stuff for it will fit in a small box
or drawer.
If it's fast and easy to restore and edge I figure I'll do it more
often
rather than continuing to use the tool well after the sharp edge is
gone.

The Tormek is great for fixing a dinged bench chisel or plane iron
without fear of burning the edge.

The japanese water stones are great for flattening the back of a
plane
iron or bench chisel, as are the diamond plates and Scary Sharp.

Scary Sharp works well for "fettling" (I think that's the spelling)
metal
hand planes and for getting a REALLY sharp edge on a bench chisel.
Not
so good on curved edge tools like carving and turning tools.


William Noble wrote:

my point here is not to insult your jool tool (or anyone else's jool tool,
or the company, or anyone or any thing) - it may well be wonderful and at
least as good as sliced bread (whcih by the way anyone can create with an
inexpensive tool called a "knife") - my point was to suggest to those
amongst us that might have to think hard about $300 that there might be ways
of getting the same capability at a lot less cost by using some personal
time to manufacture something like they are trying to sell you. And no, I
won't be buying or making one - I don't think I like that system from
watching the video - but then again, that's just me. YMMV. My real point
is that we can make a lot more of the stuff we use, and we probably should.


You pay either in time and effort or in dollars. Inventing things
and
coming up with a DIY version of something you can buy is fun, but
often time consuming. I spent probably 10 or more hours making
a loose tenon jig that lets you cut mortises with a plunge router.
It did the job but took more time and wasn't as easy to set up
and use as the TREND Mortise & Tenon Jig. At $25 an hour it
was a toss up between making the DIY jig and the TREND. When
it came time to do a boatload of loose tenon joints the TREND
came out ahead in terms of time saved. I'd rather spend time
making a piece of furniture, or turning a box, plate, bowl or
"hollow form" than making or setting up a jig or machine. But
that's my preference.

Arch wrote:

I don't know if the JoolTool will be the ultimate answer
to sharpening turning tools, but the concept is certainly innovative
and the inventor is said to be a woodturner. I wonder if she was the
attractive demonstrator.

"Utlimate" - no way. Convenient for restoring an edge on most
turning tools? We'll see.

Innovative? Well this type of machine has been available to
jewelers for quite a while. Adapting it for sharpening wood
working tools isn't that big a leap - if you were a jeweler first.

The pretty lady who does the demonstrations was a jewelry
maker and is a turner. She and her husband came up with
the JoolTool.

Will report back on this thing after I've used it for a couple
of months and given it a workout.

charlie b