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wolverine versus tormek grinding system

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Hello,

I have the Tormek grinding system for gouges and all ither woodturning tools but I have the impression that I cannot make a good fingernail form with that system.
I wonder whether that is up to me or whether it is the system which does not allow to do it.

I also heard from a professional woodturner that the wolverine system is better to get good shapes. Or at least to get fingernail grinds.

Is there somebody who has experience with both the systems?

Squirrel
 
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I have both (well, a copy of the Wolverine, but it uses the same principles), and I'm very happy with the fingernail profiles I get with the Tormek. I prefer the edge the Tormek gives me. Many turners will disagree that it's better, and that's fine...I don't have to use their tools. :p

You mention that you are under the impression that the Tormek cannot produce a good fingernail grind. Have you tried the various profiles Tormek shows in their sharpening handbook? The charts on pages 75 and 79 show a lot of variations, plus there are surely others.
 

hockenbery

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You can use the Oneway Wolverine on your Tormek.

Don Geiger makes lots of thing for gtinders
he has an attachment/addon for the Tormek that lets you use the Ellsworth jig or the Oneway varigrind
geigerssolutions.com

Since you have the Tormek you might consider contacting Don Geiger.
The Tormek will work fine for you for a while. If you really get into turning a lot which means sharpening a lot you might want to invest in an 8 inch bench grinder and the woulverine.

I know 6 pretty fair woodturners who own tormeks, None of them use the tormek for their turning tools. I own a Tormek an it is the best sharpening system around. I use it for Planner blades, jointer knives, my Skews on occasion. in my opinion it is too slow for turning tools.

happy turning,
Al
 

Bill Grumbine

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I've posted this on a couple of other discussion boards recently - maybe I should just cut and paste to save myself some time... :p

I have been using a Wolverine on a grinder for 15 years now, and a grinder freehand since I started turning 17 years ago. A few years ago I bought a used Tormek at a great price thinking to use it for my flat work tools. It just sat there. I did sharpen my pocket knife with it, but it was a very expensive way to get that job done.

When Tormek came out with their bench grinder attachment, I decided to give it a try. I am now converted to Tormek for my turning tools. :D I use the bench grinder to shape the tools, and then maintain them on my Tormek. There are several benefits to this. First, I grind away a lot less steel. Even though I consider myself pretty good with a grinder, the Tormek still takes less steel away when I use it. This might be inconsequential to some, and maybe in the scheme of things it might not be a tipping point all by itself.

As far as speed is concerned, I think it is a non issue for the vast majority of turners. With just a little bit of practice, I can sharpen an edge just as fast with the Tormek as I can with the Wolverine. Wait, practice? You have to figure out how to use this thing? People have to figure out how to use the Wolverine too. I know. I had to do it, and I have taught well over a thousand turners in person how to use this tool. Clamping a Tormek jig onto a gouge is no slower than clamping a Wolverine jig onto a gouge. And once the profile is established, the sharpening is accomplished in a matter of seconds. But wait, there's more!

Two huge benefits to anyone using this system for turning tools are health and safety related. In the first place, the amount of silica and metal in the air is reduced to practically zero by switching to the wet grinding method Tormek uses. I wear an air helmet when I turn, but still, I get that stuff in my lungs just about every time I grind a tool. Reducing my grinding to initial sharpening lessens that greatly. The second is the issue of sparks. I have never had a problem with sparks, but it is always a concern when wood chips and dust are concerned. Wet grinding equals no sparks, period. And then, there is the benefit that my tools have a sharper edge. I noticed an improvement in the surfaces I was getting as soon as I started using the Tormek. I start sanding bowls, and will continue to start sanding with 80 grit. But now it goes even faster.

One very large benefit to me that not everyone will require is the portability of the Tormek. I have demoed and taught in more places than I can remember, and often, the sharpening setup leaves somewhat to be desired. I have been greeted with aluminum coated wheels from a previous user in a common shop, improperly set up Wolverines, poorly built home made knock offs, wheels too fine and loaded with metal, no wheel dresser, etc. The list goes on. Now I can grab my Tormek and go very quickly and easily, and I know exactly what I have to use. It has been with me on two demos already.

One thing I did was to add the black wheel. I don't think it grinds any faster on exotic steel, such as my Thompson tools, but it sure seems to last a lot longer between dressings. Maybe it lasts longer because it grinds faster. I don't know. That is an issue for engineers to ponder. It was not hard to change my tools over, while retaining my own particular grinds. Some of the settings in the book worked for some of my tools, and for some, I had to tweak it just a bit. But once that is done, it is done. I never thought this would be a tool for me, but I have really been impressed with how it works.

I used the Tormek exclusively for my own tools while I was in Hartford demonstrating for Robust. I did walk down to their booth when Doug Thompson handed me a brand new skew and did initial shaping on their dry grinder, but then finished it up on my Tormek.
 
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I also have both systems. I bought the Tormek jig that fits the dry grinder for shaping but do the finish sharpening and honing on the Tormek. I have had several on other forums tell me oh it takes to much time, the grinder finish is just as good but for me the Tormek puts a superior grind and finish on the tool which IMHO lasts longer. I am not a production turner so for me a few extra seconds on the Tormek is a non issue.
 
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Good question

I have both systems and strongly prefer the Tormek. The Tormek jigs will put a fingernail grind on your gouge without any problem. The Tormek gouge jig has more adjustability than does the similar Wolverine jig. That is, the Wolverine jig allows you to adjust the jig's leg angle and the length of the V-arm. Tormek allows these two adjustments AND it allows you to slide the gouge up the wheel as you sharpen. (Normally, you lock the jig in place so it doesn't move up the wheel as you sharpen. But, you can adjust the jig so it will slide up if you want it to. With one of my gouges, I use this feature.) So, if anything, the Tormek jig should allow you a greater variety of gouge shapes to choose from.

HTH
 
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Geiger's Vertical Solution for Tormek AND 8" Grinder

Thanks Al!
My system includes the capability of using conventional jigs (Ellsworth, Vari-Grind etc.) on the Tormek and if you need to do any rough grinding or shaping, you can move it to a bench grinder in about 10 or 15 seconds and get precisely the same grind. The only difference is the hollow grind is slightly different due to the size difference of the wheels. My system compensates for changes is wheel diameter so the effect is very minor. The system comes with three gauges; One is used for to intitially set up the accuracy of the bevel angel (there is only one adjustement) and the other two for repeatability.

Don

You can use the Oneway Wolverine on your Tormek.

Don Geiger makes lots of thing for gtinders
he has an attachment/addon for the Tormek that lets you use the Ellsworth jig or the Oneway varigrind
geigerssolutions.com

Since you have the Tormek you might consider contacting Don Geiger.
The Tormek will work fine for you for a while. If you really get into turning a lot which means sharpening a lot you might want to invest in an 8 inch bench grinder and the woulverine.

I know 6 pretty fair woodturners who own tormeks, None of them use the tormek for their turning tools. I own a Tormek an it is the best sharpening system around. I use it for Planner blades, jointer knives, my Skews on occasion. in my opinion it is too slow for turning tools.

happy turning,
Al
 
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I also have both systems. I bought the Tormek jig that fits the dry grinder for shaping but do the finish sharpening and honing on the Tormek. I have had several on other forums tell me oh it takes to much time, the grinder finish is just as good but for me the Tormek puts a superior grind and finish on the tool which IMHO lasts longer. I am not a production turner so for me a few extra seconds on the Tormek is a non issue.

I did talk to Jeff in Hartford, his demo was very impressive to say the least. It might be time to give the Tormek another try.
 

odie

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My experience is similar to Bill Grumbine's.........

Use the Wolverine for general shaping of gouges, and creating an initial edge......and back it up with honing on the Tormek. (I have an older style wet wheel that is basically the same as the Tormek......same principle.....slow speed 10" wheel running in a water bath. Been using this since the late 1980's.)

When your gouges begin to dull, you can keep a sharp edge on your gouges by refacing the edge several times on the Tormek. You can do this 2-3 times before it will be necessary to return the tool to your bench grinder/wolverine. It only takes a second to renew the edge on the wet stone. Be sure to use a slipstone, or diamond cone to take the burr off the top edge each and every time......only seconds of time to do this.

As you can see, I've allow "furrows" to be cut in the 10" wet wheel over time, and I'm now about half through the second wheel. Will probably replace it again in a few years. The furrows actually improve the performance of the wheel, in my opinion.

ooc
 

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Thank you! This information is all very usefull! I know now how I can do it better than I did.
Thanks a lot - Squirrel
 
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Tormek for me

As with Bill's reply I am a recent convert to the tormek sytem, 2 years now.

When they bought out the BGM100 jig to use on your spark grinder that fixed all my issues with the Tormek

The tormek is slow to regrind or reshape so being able to put the jig onto the spark grinder then straight onto the tormek for that extra sharp grind fixes all problems.

Make sure to use their recipe labels so next time you go to resharpen you have the details on hand.

As bill indicated it does not take any more time to set up and healthier for you also.

Bill I am also looking at the black wheel as we have been getting many good responses to this.
 

john lucas

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I have a Sheppac wet grinder that is similar to the Tormek. I might have to check out the Geiger adaptor. It didn't occur to me to try out a system that could be swapped between the two.
The downside of the wet grinder system for me would be the water. I don't have water in my shop so I would have to keep some handy for refilling. It would evaporate quickly in my shop and in the winter I would have to drain it on really cold days when I'm not in the shop. I don't run the heater when I'm not there and temps do occasionally get below freezing.
I wonder how hard it would be to rig up the Gieger wheel truing jig to my Sheppac. I think I could simply add a sliding platform to the bar and put a rig up some kind of secondary shelf to keep the platform at a constant angle. I'll try to remember to check that out this weekend. I don't have a truing jig for the Sheppac yet.
 
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Vertically adjustable platform rest

Hi John:

I also offer a system that supports the 3" X 5" Wolverine platform rest that adjusts vertically as well as horizontally. It slides into the Wolverine receiver. I suppose this could be used in conjunction with my wheel truing system (which you already own).

Don


I have a Sheppac wet grinder that is similar to the Tormek. I might have to check out the Geiger adaptor. It didn't occur to me to try out a system that could be swapped between the two.
The downside of the wet grinder system for me would be the water. I don't have water in my shop so I would have to keep some handy for refilling. It would evaporate quickly in my shop and in the winter I would have to drain it on really cold days when I'm not in the shop. I don't run the heater when I'm not there and temps do occasionally get below freezing.
I wonder how hard it would be to rig up the Gieger wheel truing jig to my Sheppac. I think I could simply add a sliding platform to the bar and put a rig up some kind of secondary shelf to keep the platform at a constant angle. I'll try to remember to check that out this weekend. I don't have a truing jig for the Sheppac yet.
 

odie

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The downside of the wet grinder system for me would be the water. I don't have water in my shop so I would have to keep some handy for refilling. It would evaporate quickly in my shop and in the winter I would have to drain it on really cold days when I'm not in the shop. I don't run the heater when I'm not there and temps do occasionally get below freezing.

Howdy John......

I don't have H20 in my shop either. What I do is keep several gallon milk jugs in the shop for topping off. The down side of that is they need to be filled a couple or three times a year! :D

My shop has a small space heater running 24/7 during the winter......it only needs to be kept above freezing to keep water, glue, etc, from adverse effects of freezing temperatures.......if the insulation is doing it's job, this is an economical solution, because it doesn't take much heat output to keep things around 40oF, or so.......that is, until it gets REALLY REALLY cold. (I remember one winter here when extreme temperatures were close to -40oF below zero! :eek: )

Before I moved to my current shop, my shop was in a 30x80 industrial building. That large of a space would have been very costly to maintain heated year around. Are you familiar with "heat tape"? It's a thermostatically controlled electrical wire heating element that is wrapped around water pipes to prevent freezing. I simply wrapped the wet wheel trough with heat tape. It was plugged in year around and did not operate at temperatures above 40oF (?), or so........no problem, and would be an easy way to take care of your concerns about your Shepppac grinder freezing up. That is, considering you only have an occasional concern about freezing temperatures.

ooc
 
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I agree with Bill. I just haven't tried the black stone. My much less sharpening experience drove me towards investing in a Tormek, simply because of the ease of using it. Now, with that said, I have learned a little and evolved to sharpening bowl (and roughing) gouges and scrapers on the dry grinder, and everything else on the Tormek; mostly spindle gouges and skews. However, every time I look over near the dry grinder there is fine dust everywhere! It really does throw stuff ALL over the place (especially in a small shop). People also commented about how "messy" a wet grinder is, but I find that its actually very clean to use.

Clearly, both systems work, and one can take more or less time either way. Certainly less metal loss with the Tormek.

One other note about dry grinder - I have had a terrible time balancing wheels lately. I think its mainly due to the cheap plastic bushings. This was discussed in another thread - I also met and spoke to Mr. Geiger at the symposium. The Tormek on the other hand, no balance or truing issues at all.

John - I once read that the water stones could crack if they freeze. I typically keep my shop minimally heated in the winter so I don't have to worry.

I just fill up a gallon jug of water and keep it handy in the shop. It seems to last a long time.
 
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2 questions for tormek users

Do you leave your wheels in the water all the time? Do you also hone to a fine finish or leave it right off the stone?
 

odie

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Do you leave your wheels in the water all the time? Do you also hone to a fine finish or leave it right off the stone?

Hello Mark......

Technically, I'd consider myself a Tormek user, although my machine isn't a Tormek......but, same principle.

Depending on your definition of the word "hone", I'd consider the Tormek wet grind wheel to be a part of the honing process. For myself, the wet wheel is not the source of the grind, but complimentary to it. It's an enhancement to the original grind produced on the 8" dry wheel.

Now, to answer your questions in the way I interpret your meaning:

Yes, the wet wheel stays in the water all the time. I'm a little curious why you asked that question. Do you see any advantage to remove the water when the stone is not in actual use?

After the wet wheel, yes, I do additional honing.......but, not every time. Here is a way to look at it that might make things more clear to you:

For gouges:

1. General shaping and initial edge on 1825 rpm 8" grinder......80gt Norton SG wheel for edge. ( 46gt, 60gt for shaping.)

2. Wet slow speed 10" 200gt wheel for further refining the edge.

3. Not always, but most of the time I will use a 600gt, 1200gt diamond impregnated flat for final honing of the edge. If I'm not producing a final cut before sanding, this step may be eliminated. (I seldom use the 1200gt diamond flat, but there are times when ultimate sharpness is required for a particular need. :D)

4. Slipstone, or cone/round shaped diamond impregnated tool for removing the burr topside.

For Scrapers:

1. Scrapers are sharpened on the 1825 rpm 8" grinder with 80gt Norton SG wheel. Burr is left intact, and edge is not refined any further. I am constantly resharpening scrapers....but, since it only takes about ten seconds to do, I don't even have to break my concentration on what's going on at the lathe.

ooc
 
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I have the grizzly knock off of the tormek and it said not to leave the stone sitting in the water that it would soften the stone.And it really sucks up the water when it's dry. As far as honing I'm talking about the leather wheel. When I 1st got it I used it for my bowl gouge and made it polished like a flat chisel and found I was burnishing the wood as I cut.Maybe I was just real bad at using it and should give the wet another chance.
 

odie

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I have the grizzly knock off of the tormek and it said not to leave the stone sitting in the water that it would soften the stone.And it really sucks up the water when it's dry. As far as honing I'm talking about the leather wheel. When I 1st got it I used it for my bowl gouge and made it polished like a flat chisel and found I was burnishing the wood as I cut.Maybe I was just real bad at using it and should give the wet another chance.

Hmmmmmm, interesting! My wet wheel has literally been immersed for years, and I've never noticed softening of the wheel. I wonder if your Grizzly "knock off" has a wheel of the same composition as mine.....?????......and, if mine is of the same composition as the Tormek.....?????.

OK.....the leather wheel! (Is stropping and honing the same thing?)

I don't have much experience with the leather wheel, but have stropped on a piece of leather attached to wooden board......by hand. I never had much success with it. I would think you could get a very fine edge by stropping on leather.......but, wouldn't there be some point of diminishing returns with the degree of sharpness......considering this is a lathe tool, and the expected duty is something entirely different than, say.....a planer blade?

When I am seeking the sharpest edge I can make, I turn to the 1200gt diamond flat.......but, I expect to dull it after only a few seconds of use.......has to do with the feet-per-minute use it will have to endure.

ooc
 
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Mark as you say you dont leave the wheel soaking when not in use , this is the same for all wet stone grinders.

I generally top up the water when I know I am going to use the tormek, sometimes this can take up to 1 litre . But when finished at the end of the day I drop the water tray down so the wheel is not sitting in the water.

Chris we use the Oneway wheel balancing flanges and they work a treat to get the wheel balanced before puting on the grinder, then it is just a matter of truing up and the grinder runs sweet.
Even if you have used the wheels you can still use the balancer to get balanced then put back on the grinder.

The balancer system eliminates the need for bushes and flanges which can distort easily so making it hard to run the grinder smoothly. There is a pair in the box so you do both wheels.
 

odie

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Mark as you say you dont leave the wheel soaking when not in use , this is the same for all wet stone grinders.

Well, no.....This isn't universally correct, Jim.

There are wheel compositions that are unaffected by water over time, and mine is testament to that.

I have some ceramic slipstones that have shown to soften with water. They are cheaper versions of the Taylor slipstones, which are not effected by water.

I suspect the wheels that soften with water are cheaper, but are composed of materials that must be left dry when not in use.

ooc
 

Bill Grumbine

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I have the grizzly knock off of the tormek and it said not to leave the stone sitting in the water that it would soften the stone.And it really sucks up the water when it's dry. As far as honing I'm talking about the leather wheel. When I 1st got it I used it for my bowl gouge and made it polished like a flat chisel and found I was burnishing the wood as I cut.Maybe I was just real bad at using it and should give the wet another chance.

Mark, when you come up for class, we can go over all the intricacies of using a Tormek, or even the Grizzly counterpart. I use the leather wheel for my skew, but usually not for the gouges. And as far as leaving the stone in water, every time I go up to the shop, I need to add water to the trough, so I don't think it is an issue. Evaporation is our friend in this instance. :cool2:
 

Bill Grumbine

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The downside of the wet grinder system for me would be the water. I don't have water in my shop so I would have to keep some handy for refilling. It would evaporate quickly in my shop and in the winter I would have to drain it on really cold days when I'm not in the shop. I don't run the heater when I'm not there and temps do occasionally get below freezing.

John, the only water in my shop is the imported stuff - imported from the kitchen sink! :p It does evaporate fairly quickly, even in the winter time, but a couple of gallon jugs will keep me going for weeks on end. And in the winter time, the temps are almost always below freezing. Of course, that is the definition of winter around here. :D
 

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John, I have both a Tormek and a dry grinder, but I use the Tormek for all things except reworking a tool to a different shape. I agree with those who say that the difference in time to resharpen an edge is about the same unless you go to the point of just having a completely rounded over blunt instrument that can't even cut butter. Bill Grumbine makes a good point about the difference in time to set up a jig for the Tormek is no different than any other jig that attaches to the tool. Squirrel, I don't know why you are not getting a good fingernail shape, but no jig gives thes the tool it's shape -- the jig only gives the proper bevel angle. It is your responsibility to come up with the shape that you want. For example, I use the same jig and settings on my skews to grind one skew with a straight edge and then a curved edge on another skew. Tormek has videos available online that demonstrate sharpening turning tools.

Like others have said, I also do not like the cloud of dust created by the dry grinders.

As to cost -- the Tormek is a top of the line machine with a price tag that goes along with it. My dry grinder is also a top of the line machine -- a Delta that sold for just under $200. I added the expensive SG wheels that raised the cost considerably higher. Then I got some jigs and fixtures from Oneway. By the time that I was finished, the cost of the dry grinding system was a lot more than the Tormek -- but then I would not consider sharpening my lawnmower blades on the Tormek.

Water is a non-issue. I bought a gallon of distilled water (just because of the high mineral content of our drinking water), but still over the top -- about 76 cents from Wal-Mart. One gallon lasts for a few months. I really should throw out the water at the end of the day, but I sometimes forget. I initially bought the Tormek about ten years ago when the cost was much lower and turning was not even on my radar. I was a flat woodworker back then.
 
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12mm and yes that is not 1/2".

We had a guy make some different jigs for a couple of different applications and he insisted they were 1/2". He had to take them back and remake as they wobbled on the shaft. Not what you want when trying to get exact angles.

You will find the scheppach and triton jigs will fit on the Tormek {they had to copy something right}
 
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I have both the Wolverine and the Tormek. I agree with Al Hockenbery--for turning tools the latter is s-l-o-o-o-w. The Tormek books says that one can reshape a turning gouge in maybe 15-20 minutes. I spent well over an hour putting a fingernail shape on the end of a 1/2" hss tool.

That said, the Tormek does put a superior edge on the tools. For my "last cut" I will usually use a 3/8" gouge which I have just sharpened on my Wolverine set-up.
 

john lucas

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Natty I would not even think about reshaping on my Sheppac. It would take a month and might groove the wheel. I actually have a very old Craftsman grinder with a very course gray wheel. I do any reshaping on that and then go back to my grinder with white wheels which are 100 grit for sharpening.
I may rig up a jig to my Sheppac and give it a try although I use that for plane irons and really don't want to groove it and have to flatten it each time I switch back to plane blade sharpening.
 
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Natty I would not even think about reshaping on my Sheppac. It would take a month and might groove the wheel. I actually have a very old Craftsman grinder with a very course gray wheel. I do any reshaping on that and then go back to my grinder with white wheels which are 100 grit for sharpening.
I may rig up a jig to my Sheppac and give it a try although I use that for plane irons and really don't want to groove it and have to flatten it each time I switch back to plane blade sharpening.



John, relatively new to woodturning, I am unable to freehand shape/sharpen a gouge on the Rocklwell grinder or the Woodcraft grinder I use. Moreover, I am unable to find woodturners who will let me practlice freehand sharpening with their tools.

Imagine that!

Whenever I use the Tormek, I find myself thinking "How can I speed this damn
thing up" which is, of course, contrary to the gestalt of the system.
 
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I read these threads about once a year. Four years ago I bought a tormek and a BUNCH of jigs. I did a "test". Sharpened on nothing but the tormek for a month. Then switched to my dry grinder for a week. Switched back to the Tormek for a month. Switched back to the dry grinder for a week and then the tormek for a week.

The evaluation had three considerations.

1. which sharpening system provided the sharper cutting edge.
2. which system was faster
3. which system enhanced my woodturning experience

Tormek helped me make sharper tools
The dry grinder was worlds faster
There was no difference between the two systems enhancement of my woodturning experience

The unknown issue was the mess of the tormek.

The hands down winner for me was the dry grinder.

This thread got to me again. How is it possible that I get no value out of the tormek. So I sharpened a skew on the tormek. All the reasons that I abandoned the tormek nearly three years ago were brought back to me. Messy messy messy, sloooooooooooooow, no improvement in my woodturning experience.

The tormek returns to it's hiding place till the next Tormek sharpening thread.
 

Bill Boehme

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Maybe we are using a different Tormek if yours is so messy. There is essentially zero mess with my Tormek. No water drips on the table -- my fingers may get a bit wet when I remove the jig, but I wipe them with a paper towel and the same goes for the tool edge.

Some people say that the dry grinder is faster -- maybe so, but I have not used a stopwatch to make timed tests. I am not in any sort of "race" to get finished so, in my case, any time difference does not matter. However, my estimate of the difference in time would not amount to more than a few seconds either way.

I did not buy my Tormek to sharpen turning tools, I bought it years before getting into turning, but that is what I now use most of the time because I did not like the mess created during dry grinding from all of the aluminum oxide grit particles all over the shop. My first dry grinder had 6 inch wheels. When I got into turning, I got a set of the low end Norton soft white wheels. Not liking the grit problem, I went for a top end slow speed dry grinder with SG wheels, etc. It was definitely a move up and not nearly as much grit all over the shop, but still there was more than I liked. Having a small crowed shop, there was no room to isolate the grinder to minimize the mess.

I can use either system and don't feel like one has to "sign up" for one or the other as some sort of life commitment. Sometimes, I even use both when turning a single project if I happen to be going back and forth between two different bowl gouges and don't want to change the settings on either of the jigs. For finish work, however, I always sharpen on the Tormek as it gives a much sharper edge.

PS: The one tool that is SLOW on the Tormek is the skew, but since I want my skew to be sharper than razor sharp, that is what I use for sharpening it.
 
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Bill Grumbine

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PS: The one tool that is SLOW on the Tormek is the skew, but since I want my skew to be sharper than razor sharp, that is what I use for sharpening it.

Bill, I have a video on You Tube on how to get a skew razor sharp with a diamond stone and a piece of plywood charged with buffing compound, all done by hand after the initial edge has been ground. I can shave hair with it.

Since I started using my Tormek for the same thing, I can go from the dry grinder for initial shaping, to the wet wheel for fine sharpening, to the leather wheel for honing, and shave hair. It might be faster, and probably is, but no so much as I am going to save a day every month, or even every year. ;) I don't get much mess either. In both cases water is involved, but a few drips of water are as nothing in my shop.
 
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The Sorby oval skews have such a long bevel that putting one of them on the Tormek is my definition of torture.
 
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The Sorby oval skews have such a long bevel that putting one of them on the Tormek is my definition of torture.


The lenght of the bevel is your own choice, you do not have to follow the manufacturers grind.
The tormek will allow you to reshape to any angle or bevel lenght you require.
As said before the BGM100 jig allows you to reshape quickly on a spark grinder then go to the Tormek for that final sharpening.
 
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I also own both, spark grinder and the Tormek. I use the Tormek on all of my gouges, bowl and spindle. Roughing gouges and scrapers are on the sparky. The question I have would be on the height of the tormek. Mine sit on a work bench and I sometimes feel that is way to high off the ground, only because I have seen Jeff demoing on a lower platform. Anyone have a comment on this?
One thing about wheels, mine stays in the water all of the time. The orignal tormek wheel got small and the local shop did not have a tormek but did have a jet wheel. Jet has worn down a lot faster than the orignal did. I have a white wheel on order but thinking a call if not shipped yet maybe a black wheel.
Over all I like the Tormek over the sparky, sharper and cleaner. Never had a problem with mess. Have the same milk jug filled with water.
The tray moves?!?:eek:
 
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I generally have mine sitting about the same height as my spindle height on the lathe, which is great when using the bar at the front for all woodturning gouges.

You will notice that jeff indicates he stands on a platform when he is working from the back of the machine which I do as well, just gives me a bit more leverage and control over the tool, especially scrapers that want to bounce a bit.
 
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I spoke with Cathy, Jeffs wife today and was told the top of the machine should be at navel height.
Makes sence, watching the videos Jeff has done, he has the Tormek on a lower platform.
 
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I too have both systems, a Tormek and a wolverine on a dry grinder. After using this setup for the last several years I have noted the following:

On my offical sharpening days when all my tools get new edges, its the Tormek, a good cigar and some tunes. When I am in the middle of turning its the dry grinder with the wolverine on one side and a tormek bgm-100 on the other. When its time to do the final cut, I will put the tool on the tormek and using both the water wheel and the leather strop get the edge to shaving sharp. This really reduces the amount of sanding.
 
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