New Tormek

[Rich Torino]

I've always hand sharpned my chisels, plane irons and a couple of fishing/filet knives using a combination of diamond stones, ceramic stones and the scary sharp method. Now I always felt that I put a pretty good edge on my tools but hated the task... too time consuming, messy and boaring. Well a few weeks ago I tripped over $400 buck I didn't know what to do with so I bought a Tormek. It was at the door when I got home from work on Wednesday night. After the initial set up and reading the instructions I tried sharpening a couple of cheapo HF chisels I have. Needless to say I have never been able to get an edge that sharp not to meniton that quick... Dosen't take long to get the hang of it either.I've sharpened my all my chisels to a razor edge in virtually no time at all. I also worked on the two filet knive with the same results (now all I need is the magic bait so I can try the knive out)..
I know that you can alwasy get a good discussion going on what "system" is best and are they worth the money but right now my view is the Tormek was worth the bucks.. Probably anyone of the "system" are worth the money if you hate the task of hand sharpening as much as I do...

[Dennis Peacock]

Rich,

I agree with you 100%. When I got my Tormek? I sharpened all 14 chisels, 4 plane irons, 21 kitchen knives, and 2 pairs for the LOML's sewing scissors in 4 hours. Now it just takes a minute to touch up any edge back to a nice sharp cutting edge. Using hand tools has been a much more pleasant experience since the Tormek found a new home in my shop. :D

[Jim Young]

I agree. For the chisels I think it is the best thing for my time. I just now need to get the lathe tools sharp quickly.

[Rich Torino]

the only jig I purchased was the long knife jig. I'm sure over time that will increase. I did do a couple of small pocket knives I had free hand but they didn't come out as sharp as the other blades I tried with the jig. That is going to take a little more practice but it's nothing important right now..

[Tom Hintz]

I was a little wary of the Tormek but not, after using it for three or four years I don't know what I would do without it now.
I've never been a hand tool guy but after sharpening my bench chisels and plane irons on the Tormek, I use them all the time and get the results I never could before.
It's pricy, takes a little getting used to (very little if you follow the instructions) but has long-lasting effects on the shop - and my attitude.

[Allen Bookout]

I really like my Tormek and when I looked in the breakin and maintenance kit there was a bandaid holder with some bandaids. I thought that was pretty funny as I figured that the suggestion was that your tools would be so sharp that you would need the bandaids. I set the container up on the slelf not thinking any more about it. Well, sure enough, in the last two days I have had two minor cuts but plenty of blood, one form a chisel and one from folding up my trailer. The first thing I thought of was that there were bandaids in the kit and grabed one each time.

So, just one more reason to buy a Tormek ----- free bandaids. No more running into the house to patch myself up.

Allen

[Bob Noles]

Got mine a few months ago and absolutely love it. Turned a dreaded task into a pleasure. Don't know what I did before it. Now that the $ pain has passed, I actually enjoy sharpening everything I can get my hands on.

[Chris Barton]

Have you seen the newest entry to this market...

http://woodcraft.com/images/family/web5883big.jpg

[Bob Noles]

Chris,

Saw it and saw mucho arguments over any advantage in either price or real advancment. Think I would stay with the tried and proven Tormek.

[Chris Barton]

Bob,

The ad I saw for the new Jet said that every Tormek accessory would fit the Jet. No price advantage (basic unit = 400).

[Allen Bookout]

Yep---new kid on the block.

There is a long thread, thirteen pages so far, on another forum. If you want to search around a little it should not be too hard to find. I was just watching it out of curiosity since I already have the Tormek.

The major points that I got from it is as follows. The guys seemed to want a comparable product for some price competition. However it appears that when you compare apples to apples the Jet cost just as much or more than the Tormek and some jigs are not available. No one has one yet so no one knows the quality. Are the Chinese going to be able to make a machine to compare to the one made in Sweden? Who knows.

Some guys just seem to be hacked off at Tormek, I suppose because of the price or maybe they just do not like someone or maybe they just like to argue or who knows why. They have a right to their assesment also and I have no argument with that.

Everyone looks at things a little differently, but for my money I would still buy the Tormek again considering it is a proven product, great customer support as far a I know(at least from sharptoolsusa) and does not cost any more than the Jet. In fact, considering these points I would pay more for the Tormek at this time if I had to. That is not to say that I would not pay less if that was possible.

Allen