Tormek Water Cooled Sharpening

SCBaldr

SCBaldr

Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Messages
126
Does anyone on here have a Tormek machine? Sounds like a really awesome piece of shop kit for about the same base price of a Wicked Edge Pro system. I sharpen stuff for people on the side of my other business, so I'm always looking to cut the time I spend sharpening down as low as I can go.
 
I have had one for about a year and have found that it always produces a hollow grind due to the wheel.
I only have the jig for flat chisels, it works well, the other jigs are a bit pricey, wheel flatness will become an issue without the diamond attachment.

I do use mine for some freehand regrinding on knives that have been abused, it works well for this.
not a bad machine overall.
 
Grizzly makes what seems to be very similar. I bought one with several attachments that all had never been used for $150.
The Grizzly retails for about $200 by them selves, and I only use it to hollow grind chisels, but the wood turning attachment will be fine for most wood turners.
I also have a WE Gen 3, Viel 1"x42", and a KMG 2"x42". The Viel is what I use most for sharpening.
 
SCBaldr said:
Does anyone on here have a Tormek machine? Sounds like a really awesome piece of shop kit for about the same base price of a Wicked Edge Pro system. I sharpen stuff for people on the side of my other business, so I'm always looking to cut the time I spend sharpening down as low as I can go.
Click to expand...

I've had one for years... very reliable machine. Simple 2-step process puts a great edge on knives.

If speed is your ultimate goal... then a belt sander or paper wheels would be a better option. The Tormek in comparison takes maybe twice as long as a belt sander to sharpen a knife. (But keep in mind it's relative, not necessarily slow... a knife you can sharpen on a belt sander usually only takes 2-3 minutes... so around 5 on the Tormek).

Another nice thing about it is how easy it is to do repairs... since there's no worry about heat build up. I've found I can make repairs quicker in many cases than a belt sander... since I can leave the knife on the stone as long as I want, and don't have to worry about cooling it or waiting for it to cool off.

Another nice feature is minimal cleanup... since pretty much all the debris goes into the water.

I've never found "hollow ground" to be an issue on a knife... it's so slight it's not a factor. Maybe it is on tools with a wider bevel like chisels mentioned.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks, I'll have to take a look at the triton. My concern with belt sanders is heating and destroying the temper. $90 for two jigs is not such a huge concern if I'm going to spend the $665 for the machine. Just wanted to know if anyone had any major gripes about it.
 
cbwx34 said:
I've had one for years... very reliable machine. Simple 2-step process puts a great edge on knives.

If speed is your ultimate goal... then a belt sander or paper wheels would be a better option. The Tormek in comparison takes maybe twice as long as a belt sander to sharpen a knife. (But keep in mind it's relative, not necessarily slow... a knife you can sharpen on a belt sander usually only takes 2-3 minutes... so around 5 on the Tormek).

Another nice thing about it is how easy it is to do repairs... since there's no worry about heat build up. I've found I can make repairs quicker in many cases than a belt sander... since I can leave the knife on the stone as long as I want, and don't have to worry about cooling it or waiting for it to cool off.

Another nice feature is minimal cleanup... since pretty much all the debris goes into the water.

I've never found "hollow ground" to be an issue on a knife... it's so slight it's not a factor. Maybe it is on tools with a wider bevel like chisels mentioned.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


agreed...
 
If you need to avoid a hollow either freehand it (slight forward/backward shifts cause a convex instead of a hollow) or use the side of the wheel. The Grizzly unit gets good reviews and is compatible with Tormek attachments. I have the Grizzly G1036 and use it on scythe blades, mostly, but also use it for other tools. It's a good machine for the money.
 
I use a Jet sharpener, wich is also similar to the tormek system.
Bought one 2nd hand, and l really like it very much!
Me too thought it would savea lot of time, and it does, if you do not need to reprofile an edge. Used it to sharpen some kitchen knives a friend brought, and they were really blunt. I decided to give them an 18 dps angle, and it took nearly as much time as my WEPS........ If you are willing/able to follow the 'old' angle, its a breeze to resharpen
 
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