I live in Finland and so swedish sandstone (some of the best natural sandstone come from sweden) grinders are quite common here. I've always wanted a tormek style grinder but I found the actual Tormeks to be too expensive and also on the smallish side for my taste, but I found this old grinder for 50 euros, here it is after I dragged it home
Multiple pulley reductions give a nice slow speed without being bulky
My first job was to fit castors to the machine so I can move it about easily.
I wanted a tormek style grinder and that means a rest I can attach jigs to, I used 19mm pipe and a 3/4" threaded rod I had left over, so a bit bigger than the tormek rest which is built from 12mm rod.
After painting and reassembly:
Then I trued the stone using a diamond T style tool meant for bench grinders, I also added another lock-screw to the rest, just one lock-screw wasn't solid enough. it's just a temporary screw there for now, will make something better looking later.
Then I made some jigs, a real simple one for chisels
And an axe-jigg, copied from Tormek
I still plan on making some jigs for knives and scissors. I have ground a few things without the jigs so far and it leaves a suitable ground finish that I can then hone on oil stones or diamond plates, don't need a lot of work to achieve razor sharpness. I am quite satisfied with this homemade "tormek".
Multiple pulley reductions give a nice slow speed without being bulky
My first job was to fit castors to the machine so I can move it about easily.
I wanted a tormek style grinder and that means a rest I can attach jigs to, I used 19mm pipe and a 3/4" threaded rod I had left over, so a bit bigger than the tormek rest which is built from 12mm rod.
After painting and reassembly:
Then I trued the stone using a diamond T style tool meant for bench grinders, I also added another lock-screw to the rest, just one lock-screw wasn't solid enough. it's just a temporary screw there for now, will make something better looking later.
Then I made some jigs, a real simple one for chisels
And an axe-jigg, copied from Tormek
I still plan on making some jigs for knives and scissors. I have ground a few things without the jigs so far and it leaves a suitable ground finish that I can then hone on oil stones or diamond plates, don't need a lot of work to achieve razor sharpness. I am quite satisfied with this homemade "tormek".
