Tormek vs. Trademan?

[Steve Mathews]

I've often been tempted to purchase a Tormek setup and now a Trademan grinder. One of the major differences between the two is that the Tormek uses a water bath and the Tradesman does not. If both grinders turn at slow speeds what is the advantage of the water bath? I currently use a 1750 rpm grinder with 8" CBN wheels and rarely if ever experience damaging heat buildup.

[Tom M King]

Biggest difference is the type of mess they make. Finally wore out a CBN wheel after 11years, and ordered another one. Then had second thoughts and canceled the order.

Going back to a wet grinder because I can’t dry grind in the old houses I work on. I always have a sharpening sink set up with. A 92” long deck with drain board and two faucets.

Just wish Tormek had a reverse. I forget why I wrote off the Tradesman the last time. I don’t care a thing about a honing wheel.

[Ola Carmonius]

If you have a 1750 rpm grinder with CBN wheel you will find the Tormek extremely slow in comparison. The Tradesman can run at much higher speed than the Tormek. I guess the Tormek water bath is more to keep the stone wet and clean and collect the iron filings rather than for cooling purposes.

[richard poitras]

How much are the Tradesman as there site has no prices on it? Just for comparison....

[Steve Mathews]

How much are the Tradesman as there site has no prices on it? Just for comparison....

The one with 2 CBN wheels is $1325.

[Steve Mathews]

If you have a 1750 rpm grinder with CBN wheel you will find the Tormek extremely slow in comparison. The Tradesman can run at much higher speed than the Tormek. I guess the Tormek water bath is more to keep the stone wet and clean and collect the iron filings rather than for cooling purposes.

The Tradesman can run at a much slower speed than a 1750 rpm grinder with no loss in torque. Is there any advantage to that? It can also run at the same speed as the Tormek. I wouldn't be surprised that they also have a setup for a wet bath if filing collection is an issue. There is already capability to use many of the Tormek attachments.

[Ola Carmonius]

I gave away my Tormek a few years ago, found it way too slow for my need which is to form the primary bevel on chisels and plane irons. It was ok for smaller cross sections like narrow chisel or thin plane irons, but thicker bevel up irons or really wide chisels just took forever. See no reason to run that slow with a CBN wheel, except for maybe if touching up something very fine. If price is no issue I would choose the Tradesman every day of the week.

[Tom M King]

Does anyone have first hand experience with the speed of the Tormek diamond wheels relative to the standard wheel, and are they designed to work wet? If faster, you can buy the motor without the standard wheel now, and choose grits of the diamond wheels. Ideally, I would like one that runs two diamond wheels wet, with a reverse. I wouldn't be surprised if Tradesman could make one, but have been too busy to ask.

[Steve Mathews]

Does anyone have first hand experience with the speed of the Tormek diamond wheels relative to the standard wheel, and are they designed to work wet? If faster, you can buy the motor without the standard wheel now, and choose grits of the diamond wheels. Ideally, I would like one that runs two diamond wheels wet, with a reverse. I wouldn't be surprised if Tradesman could make one, but have been too busy to ask.
I did ask Cuttermasters (Tradesman) that question and the response I got was "Not so much ... Anything over 100 RPM and your starting to get wet" But I was able to find that they do offer a shelf-mounter water trough with their knife sharpening setup. Link to the side below.
https://tradesmangrinder.com/product/tradesman-edge-apex-digital-knife-sharpening-system/

[Tom M King]

I need to contain the mess working in the old museum houses. I can contain what a Tormek produces easily, and already set up for it. The CBN grinder has to be used outside, so the extra setup and travel negate the time difference. A CBN grinder makes more mess than most seem to realize, plus required air cleaning to breathe some kind of way.

[David M Peters]

Tom the Tormek diamond wheels do run wet. There's some sort of anti-rusting agent you add to the bath. I'm unsure if they cut faster than the standard Tormek wheel - I used the diamond wheel in at a turning course and only re-honed my tools.

I used to own a Tormek and later sold it because of how slow it cut. I had even sprung for the black Silicon Dioxide wheel and still wasn't won over. But this pre-dated the diamond wheels.

[Tom M King]

Yes, I owned a Tormek and sold it soon after I first used the CBN wheel. My situation is unique though, so there is not much, if any, time difference overall for me.

I expect it was the 600 (or whatever the finest diamond wheel is)that was used for turning tools, and wouldn't expect it to cut very fast. I'd like to have the coarsest on one side, and the finest on the other, for different uses. I feel like the coarse diamond wheel should be much faster than the standard one. Also, the reverse would be for turning tools, as would the fine wheel.

[Tom M King]

Maybe there is. I just saw this looking for rpm increase of Tormek.

https://www.profishop.us/cuttermasters-tradesman-edge-tormek-bracket-te-tb?number=CU-8&utm_campaign=camp_gshopping&utm_source=source_gs&utm_medium=medium_gs&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8qmhBhClARIsANAtbocwb4WkPJ8M1VLwFj3e uRyW7-gR0PHgWOrvT3GkhXIPwMyjbr_9xWcaApDmEALw_wcB#msg=%3C b%3EThe%20minimum%20charge%20for%20this%20voucher% 20is%20$10.00%3C/b%3E%20(Code:%20%3Ci%3EOFFERC0DE10US04%3C/i%3E).#msgtype=warning

[Keegan Shields]

I use a slow speed grinder and CBN wheels to hollow grind chisels and plane blades then finish up on water stones. Its very fast and the Tormek jigs are really helpful on the grinder. Its very hard to burn A2 steel with this setup - as long as you don't try to hog off material with really fine CBN grit (DAMHIK)

But my Tormek with a Japanese water stone is really nice for knives. Puts a beautiful finish and a very sharp edge on them.

I've also used the diamond wheels (which I sold) and the black oxide wheel (made for turning tools). Its my opinion that Tormek released these faster cutting wheels in order to compete with the grinder/CBN wheel market and to address the complaints about Tormeks being to slow. But slow can also be a benefit when learning.