Tormek Question

[Bill Grumbine]

Greetings all

Yes, I now own a Tormek. I actually bought it a few weeks ago from a student of mine who wanted to sell it. She bought it for turning tools, and decided it was too slow. I bought it for my edge tools I use in flatwork. I tried shaping my skew chisel with it, and it is not for my turning tools, that is for sure.

Anyway, I have a bunch of attachments that came with it, and I was wondering if anyone had built some sort of storage box to hold all these things. Right now they are sitting in a pile on a shelf, but I would like to get them a little more organized. I would like to get the whole SHOP a little more organized, but I gess if I get this done it will contribute to the whole.

Thanks.

Bill

[Michael Gibbons]

Bill, the closest thing that comes to mind is Norm Abram's sharpening station with a couple drawers in it to keep all the jigs and accessories. Go to the NYW website and look up project 0011. Also if you login to the Sharptools website and navigate to the YAHOO groups support area you can find a couple of cabinet examples. One person seperated all the jigs into divided drawers and placed the jigs in the original boxes and then into the spaces.Really clean layout.

Mike

[Doug Ketellapper]

I have mine all in a box on a shelf. I've thought of making some kind of cabinet for the attachments, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Funny thing, I prefer it for my turning tools. Yes, it is a bit slow if you need to re-grind a bevel angle, but I rarely do that. I also like it for my jointer/planer blades. For my chisels and handplanes I stick to my Norton water stones and sandpaper.

[Bill Grumbine]

Thanks guys. Michael, my timing is terrible for stuff like this. I put stuff off forever, and then as soon as I start in on a project, the thing I fear most, changed specs, raises its ugly head. I have been meaning to build a rolling stand for my bench grinder which can move from lathe to lathe. It is designed to hold all sorts of tools and accessories for the lathes. I sized it to fit the bench grinder and the vacuum pump. Then I bought the Tormek! :mad: Now I have to decide if I want to build something completely different for the vacuum pump or for the Tormek. I am undecided, but I have a half finished cabinet sitting in the shop that is built for two tools instead of three.

Doug, I would go insane if I had to use this thing on a regular basis for my turning tools. Maybe that will change once I have given it some time, but I like my bench grinder for its speed. I rarely grind off very much metal, but I like to do it fast. My joiner/planer uses disposable Tersa knives, and the rest of the stuff I have not yet decided on how to sharpen - stick with the hand stones or use the Tormek. I suspect it will be a combination of the two.

Thanks for the responses.

Bill

[Andy Hoyt]

Bill - Vac pumps are noisy. Why not move it far away and get a longer piece of tubing? Then put the Tormek on the rolling cart instead of the vac. Tubing is cheap stuff.

[Steven Wilson]

This is the stand I built for my Tormek. It has a pull out shelf that you can put stones on or a granite surface plate for scary sharp. It also has a draw to store jigs and some shelves that I store sandpaper and sharpening stones on. As for sharpening I learned to sharpen turning tools on the Tormek and still prefer that method. I've since learned to use a Wolverine system and of course prefer that method for shaping an edge. But for sharpening I still prefer the Tormek and find it's just as fast as the Wolverine for sharpening, just need to make a couple of jigs so that you can quickly reestablish the geometry of your sharpening system.

Now for flat blades the Tormek does a decent job but it is not appropriate for all plane/chisel irons. For example, you would only flat grind a mortise chisel. For flattening backs I have tried the method Tormek suggests and didn't like it so I flatten backs with a stone. To get a plane blade or chisel fairly sharp the Tormek does a decent, accurate job. However I find that it isn't sufficient for some plane irons and chisels. Whenever I need a very, very sharp iron I use Shapton stones (i.e. paring chisels, plane iron for use on end grain, etc). My current method for plane irons and chisels is to use the Tormek, where appropriate, to establish or reestablish an edge and then use Shapton stones freehand to sharpen/hone the blade. I just find the edge to be superior using the ceramic Shapton stones and it doesn't take much time if you don't allow your blades to get too dull. I find that the very shallow hollow ground of the Tormek (10" wheel) makes it fairly easy to establish and maintain the geometry when freehand honing.

[Frank Fusco]

Bill, thanks for validating my observation of the Tormek system. We had a demo at our woodturning club and it was the pits on turning tools. But everyone "OOH'd and AAWED" at it, probably impressed witht the price. Might work OK on carving tools and knives. But I use the $30.00 Razor Sharp system. Sharpens like nothing else I have ever seen. My expensive, slow, wet wheel hasn't been turned on in two years. I only keep it because it looks impressive in the workshop. :rolleyes:

[Bill Grumbine]

Bill - Vac pumps are noisy. Why not move it far away and get a longer piece of tubing? Then put the Tormek on the rolling cart instead of the vac. Tubing is cheap stuff.

I thought about this option Andy, but I want to be able to use the vacuum pump in a number of different places as well - three lathes, plus some vacuum chucking ideas for the router table and the Legacy. What I need is a whole bunch of time and money and nothing else to do so I can reconfigure the shop to the way I want it. :p I am thinking along the lines of the sharpening stuff all being together though. I'll probably end up building yet another stand...

Bill

[Jim Davenport]

Bill:
I guess I'm just an old and slow guy.:rolleyes:
Of course this is just a hobby for me. But I love my Tormek. I find that with my limited experience, I can get the best edges with it. I sharpen my scrapers a bunch of times to keep the "burr" on the edge. I feel more comfortable with the Tormek, then using a dry grinder.
Some day I'm going to make a stand, but currently I just have it on the bench next to the Rikon.
I dedicated a drawer in one of my tool chests for Tormek stuff.

[Bill Grumbine]

Thanks Jim. I don't know that the sharpening would be much slower, but the shaping sure is!

Bill

[Charlie Plesums]

Bill, I have had the Tormek for a few years, and can get chisels, kitchen knives, etc. razor sharp in short order. I got the Tormek jig for turning gouges, etc. I hate the fact that the jig costs as much as a bowl gouge, but it only takes about 15 seconds to resharpen the Grumbine fingernail grind on my bowl gouges. I have a jury-rigged jig for skews on the Tormek, but it isn't as fast

I finally got a "slow" bench grinder for scrapers...never could get the knack on the Tormek, and the grinder only cost a little more than the next Tormek jig. If I were starting over, I would certainly want to try the Wolverine jig system, but if you now have both ways to sharpen gouges, I would sure love to hear your comparison.

[Jeff Farris]

.... I tried shaping my skew chisel with it, and it is not for my turning tools, that is for sure....Bill

Bill, I would like to address this comment with some suggestions.

While working on your skew, were you working in the horizontal mount or the vertical mount? If you were horizontal, that is a big part of the problem while shaping a skew. While shaping a skew, work in the vertical mount and aggressively grade the stone with the stone grader every 5-10 minutes or so. You will be amazed at the difference in speed of cut by moving from the horizontal to vertical mounts --- if the stone is clean and free cutting. If the stone is glazed, it won't cut anything from either direction.

The unfortunate paradox of the TORMEK for turning tools is that once the tool is properly shaped, resharpening is faster, easier, and more accurate than anything out there. BUT, getting the tool properly shaped is the first thing most people face and it takes some time to do. Particularly if you don't carefully read and follow our recommendations on how to get the initial shaping done. Some people give up on the system before they get over the hump of the learning curve and get to the point where the tool is dialed into the system and ready for edge maintenance only.

Trust me, if you get your skews and bowl gouges dialed in to your TORMEK and follow our recommendations for repeat grinding, you'll never go back to the dry grinder for sharpening. It will be for major shaping jobs only.

If the machine you bought second hand has an Owner's Handbook that is older than version 9.0 I recommend you go to http://www.tormek.com and download the chapters that relate to woodturning. They have been updated several times in the last couple of years.

[Bill Grumbine]

Jeff, thanks for the response, and I will be glad to try your suggestions. I can say I would not have bought the machine if I did not think it was worth the money, but I am a little mystified as to how the one angle can be more aggressive than the other with the stone. But, I am willing to give it a try and report back. Of course, if it works, I will have to grind my tools at night with the lights out so the person who sold it to me won't catch me at it!

Bill

[Jeff Farris]

..., but I am a little mystified as to how the one angle can be more aggressive than the other with the stone. ....Bill

With my limited grasp of physics, I can't explain why it works that way, but I can tell you from experience that it does.