We mostly agree that our turning tool's edges ought to be sharp and
without serrations, the bevels smooth and even. We do not all agree on
how sharp, how smooth and in what form the edge and bevel should be.
Furthermore, the ways and means we woodturners use to sharpen tool edges
and smooth their bevels are not agreed on at all, to put it mildly.

In my simple view, (ignoring grinding) sharpening is a sort of continuum
of whetting honing stropping buffing/polishing. Where we
woodturners stop off in the sequence varies, but whether necessary or
not, isn't a well honed and polished tool edge that's not friable a good
thing? A soft, fine grained, lubricated abrasive moving smoothly and
slowly away from an edge fixed in the desired geometry should be good
for doing this and the Tormek seems ideal. Except that it's not
affordable for every turner, and that's a formidable exception
regardless of what you count important.

I don't read the Tormek users group and I don't own a tormek, but I
wonder if more affordable devices have been purpose made in some of your
shops. I've run a dry 120 grit stone slowly backward. I've run an old
motorized true wet grindstone. I've run wooden wheels and discs charged
with emery cake, I've run rubberised wheels and I've rubbed tool edges
on surface plates smeared with diamond dust. None made an edge that cut
my finger like a gouge sharpened on a friend's Tormek.

What makes the Tormek so special and so well thought of by so many of
us? Have any of you made something that's 'just as good' for private
use? I don't mean knockoffs or plagiaries. Is there no substitute for
a Tormek?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

The Woodcut Trugrind is an affordable option. The toolholder may look
simalar to the tormek but has the capability to hold tools small to large.
The unique design has a US patent, It can be seen working on the link
below. We also offer personal support if needed, Ken Port designer
http://www.shop.woodcut-tools.com/section.php?xSec=28

--
www.woodcut-tools.com

"Arch" wrote in message
...
We mostly agree that our turning tool's edges ought to be sharp and
without serrations, the bevels smooth and even. We do not all agree on
how sharp, how smooth and in what form the edge and bevel should be.
Furthermore, the ways and means we woodturners use to sharpen tool edges
and smooth their bevels are not agreed on at all, to put it mildly.

In my simple view, (ignoring grinding) sharpening is a sort of continuum
of whetting honing stropping buffing/polishing. Where we
woodturners stop off in the sequence varies, but whether necessary or
not, isn't a well honed and polished tool edge that's not friable a good
thing? A soft, fine grained, lubricated abrasive moving smoothly and
slowly away from an edge fixed in the desired geometry should be good
for doing this and the Tormek seems ideal. Except that it's not
affordable for every turner, and that's a formidable exception
regardless of what you count important.

I don't read the Tormek users group and I don't own a tormek, but I
wonder if more affordable devices have been purpose made in some of your
shops. I've run a dry 120 grit stone slowly backward. I've run an old
motorized true wet grindstone. I've run wooden wheels and discs charged
with emery cake, I've run rubberised wheels and I've rubbed tool edges
on surface plates smeared with diamond dust. None made an edge that cut
my finger like a gouge sharpened on a friend's Tormek.

What makes the Tormek so special and so well thought of by so many of
us? Have any of you made something that's 'just as good' for private
use? I don't mean knockoffs or plagiaries. Is there no substitute for
a Tormek?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

That's the acid test for any sharpening system.........how well a sharpened
tool cuts your finger........or other appendage...............:-) Barry

PS No, I haven't tried to make any shop version of the Tormek. I seem to
do okay with a slow-speed grinder and Wolverine attachment. (My tools cut
my fingers just fine!)


"Arch" wrote in message
...
We mostly agree that our turning tool's edges ought to be sharp and
without serrations, the bevels smooth and even. We do not all agree on
how sharp, how smooth and in what form the edge and bevel should be.
Furthermore, the ways and means we woodturners use to sharpen tool edges
and smooth their bevels are not agreed on at all, to put it mildly.

In my simple view, (ignoring grinding) sharpening is a sort of continuum
of whetting honing stropping buffing/polishing. Where we
woodturners stop off in the sequence varies, but whether necessary or
not, isn't a well honed and polished tool edge that's not friable a good
thing? A soft, fine grained, lubricated abrasive moving smoothly and
slowly away from an edge fixed in the desired geometry should be good
for doing this and the Tormek seems ideal. Except that it's not
affordable for every turner, and that's a formidable exception
regardless of what you count important.

I don't read the Tormek users group and I don't own a tormek, but I
wonder if more affordable devices have been purpose made in some of your
shops. I've run a dry 120 grit stone slowly backward. I've run an old
motorized true wet grindstone. I've run wooden wheels and discs charged
with emery cake, I've run rubberised wheels and I've rubbed tool edges
on surface plates smeared with diamond dust. None made an edge that cut
my finger like a gouge sharpened on a friend's Tormek.

What makes the Tormek so special and so well thought of by so many of
us? Have any of you made something that's 'just as good' for private
use? I don't mean knockoffs or plagiaries. Is there no substitute for
a Tormek?


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

In article ,
(Arch) wrote:

We mostly agree that our turning tool's edges ought to be sharp and
without serrations, the bevels smooth and even. We do not all agree on

(Just don't look at the "smooth, non-serrated" edge with a microscope
;-))

A large number of woodturners at a New Hampshire symposium a few years
back were having a grand old cheap time with belt sanders mounted so the
belts ran up and AlZn belts. I keep dropping my tuit before I take all
the corners off, but have used the same trick on my unmodified belt
sander by laying it flat and standing on the end it runs away from.
Works nicely - quick and cool. Clean out _all_ sawdust before trying
this trick on a belt sander that ever sees wood...

Naturally, you gould get a "real" belt grinder, or you could screw
around for several years (when most of your time to work on such things
is taken up trying to get the new shop building done) on a homemade
version. I've taken the latter course, obviously.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

(Arch) wrote:

None made an edge that cut
my finger like a gouge sharpened on a friend's Tormek.


Gee Arch if all you want to do is cut your fingers well, I can point you to
a source for stainless scalpels a whole lot cheaper than a Tormek. In fact,
I think you'd run out of fingers before you'd run out of budget. )

I have one of the Tormek systems, and it sits unused in a dusty corner
of my shop. For the amount of turning and sharpening that I do, it
doesn't work for me. The wheel is too soft, and I spent more time
dressing the wheel than sharpening. A wheel would last me a month or
two at most. CBN (carbon boron nitride) wheels are my preference. They
are made to order, in any grit you want. I have an 80 grit for
scrapers, and a 320 grit for my gouges and skews. After a year and a
half, I have worn away about half of the 3/16 inch bond of CBN on the
wheel (8 by 1 inch wheel). At $300 per wheel, it is a bargain, not to
mention that my gouges last much longer. I don't think that the 320
grit sharpened gouge cuts me any better than a 125 grit sharpened
gouge, but it does do a much cleaner job of cutting the wood.
robo hippy



















Ecnerwal wrote:
In article ,
(Arch) wrote:

We mostly agree that our turning tool's edges ought to be sharp and
without serrations, the bevels smooth and even. We do not all agree
on

(Just don't look at the "smooth, non-serrated" edge with a microscope

;-))

A large number of woodturners at a New Hampshire symposium a few
years
back were having a grand old cheap time with belt sanders mounted so
the
belts ran up and AlZn belts. I keep dropping my tuit before I take
all
the corners off, but have used the same trick on my unmodified belt
sander by laying it flat and standing on the end it runs away from.
Works nicely - quick and cool. Clean out _all_ sawdust before trying
this trick on a belt sander that ever sees wood...

Naturally, you gould get a "real" belt grinder, or you could screw
around for several years (when most of your time to work on such
things
is taken up trying to get the new shop building done) on a homemade
version. I've taken the latter course, obviously.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

Among other things, Ecnerwal wrote:

A large number of woodturners at a New Hampshire symposium a few years
back were having a grand old cheap time with belt sanders mounted so the
belts ran up and AlZn belts.

That was Jon Siegel's influence. Take a look at his site,
http://www.bigtreetools.com/ , for a picture of the unit he makes. The
advantage is that it offers fixed positions for the tool handle, so that
hardly any metal is removed in each sharpening. Jon says it takes him 10
seconds to sharpen, say, a roughing gouge and get back to work, with so
little loss of metal that he gets something like 1000 sharpenings per
inch of tool. I've seen him do it. The time is certainly close enough to
right, and I believe the number of sharpenings as well. I'd be using a
similar device now, but shortly after that visit to his shop, I stopped
turning for a while and am only getting back to it now. ASAP.

Owen Davies

"Woodcut tools 2000 Ltd sales" writes:

The Woodcut Trugrind is an affordable option. The toolholder may look
simalar to the tormek but has the capability to hold tools small to large.
The unique design has a US patent, It can be seen working on the link
below. We also offer personal support if needed, Ken Port designer
http://www.shop.woodcut-tools.com/section.php?xSec=28

How is it different from the Wolverine (w/Vari-Grinder, etc)?

--
Sending unsolicited commercial e-mail to this account incurs a fee of
$500 per message, and acknowledges the legality of this contract.

Hi Folks,

I bought Jon's system years ago and added a fixture (which Jon now can
provide) to use the Packard gouge holder to sharpen bowl gouges. I sharpen
2 bowl gouges and a parting tool with a custom shape in around two minutes
Resharpening just a bowl gouge for finish cutting takes 20 seconds or so,
which includes inserting the gouge into the Packard holder with a stop jig
to ensure the identical extension from the jig each time I sharpen.

I really started to be able to focus on turning the shapes I wanted once I
had Jon's system and it has made me much more productive.

George


"Owen Davies" wrote in message
...
Among other things, Ecnerwal wrote:

A large number of woodturners at a New Hampshire symposium a few years
back were having a grand old cheap time with belt sanders mounted so the
belts ran up and AlZn belts.

That was Jon Siegel's influence. Take a look at his site,
http://www.bigtreetools.com/ , for a picture of the unit he makes. The
advantage is that it offers fixed positions for the tool handle, so that
hardly any metal is removed in each sharpening. Jon says it takes him 10
seconds to sharpen, say, a roughing gouge and get back to work, with so
little loss of metal that he gets something like 1000 sharpenings per inch
of tool. I've seen him do it. The time is certainly close enough to right,
and I believe the number of sharpenings as well. I'd be using a similar
device now, but shortly after that visit to his shop, I stopped turning
for a while and am only getting back to it now. ASAP.

Owen Davies

Greetings and Salutations....

On 25 Mar 2005 19:06:31 -0800, "robo hippy"
wrote:


I have one of the Tormek systems, and it sits unused in a dusty corner
of my shop. For the amount of turning and sharpening that I do, it
doesn't work for me. The wheel is too soft, and I spent more time
dressing the wheel than sharpening. A wheel would last me a month or
two at most. CBN (carbon boron nitride) wheels are my preference. They
are made to order, in any grit you want. I have an 80 grit for
scrapers, and a 320 grit for my gouges and skews. After a year and a
half, I have worn away about half of the 3/16 inch bond of CBN on the
wheel (8 by 1 inch wheel). At $300 per wheel, it is a bargain, not to
mention that my gouges last much longer. I don't think that the 320
grit sharpened gouge cuts me any better than a 125 grit sharpened
gouge, but it does do a much cleaner job of cutting the wood.
robo hippy


Sigh...I know how frustrating it can be
to have an annoying and useless waste of cash around.
Tell you what...I will give you $150 plus shipping
to take it off your hands
Regards and best wishes for the Easter Holiday.
Dave Mundt