It's my birthday and I want a .............

[Bob Glenn]

Tormek sharpener! The guy at the Woodcraft Shop demo'd it on one of my lathe gouges, and I was impressed.

For my planes and straight sharpening, I use glass and sand paper with good results, but I find the curved gouges to be challenging to sharpen.

Anyone care to talk me out of this purchase?

[Wilbur Pan]

Not me. Like you, I am able to sharpen flat blades just fine, although I like waterstones. I bought a Tormek specifically for curved blades/gouges.

Go for it!

[Sean Hamblett]

That is funny, my Birthday was last week, and I bought myself one of the sandpaper sharpening systems (Scary Sharp) from Rockler. I do want a Dozuki, and Royoba... and some more planes...

[Greg Crawford]

Bob,

I won't try to talk you out of buying the Tormek, but I will try to talk you into moving in next door :-)

[Thomas Kila]

I have a Tormek and use it primarily to sharpen my turning tools. The ability to resharpen gouges at precise angles is what made me give up using my Wolverine system (which was not bad at all). However, with the Wolverine system it took me only 10-15 seconds to resharpen a gouge. With the Tormek, because you need to properly secure the gouge in the jig, it now takes me about 45-60 seconds to do the same. Having said that, I have no regrets in purchasing the Tormek.

[nic obie]

Harbor Freight has one that looks just like a Tormek on sale right now for $99

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

[Eddie Darby]

Happy Birthday !!!

There is a Tormek NewsGroup at Yahoo that you might find helpful.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tormekusers/

Did you get to see the Turning Tool Setter (tts-100)?

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=20040

You might also want to take a look at the Jet machine which is getting good reviews.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/jettormekcomparo.html

It is on sale right now at Woodcraft.

http://www.woodcraft.com/tab/008.aspx

This is an after-market company that has some nice Tormek products.

http://www.tallowtree.com/

[Bob Glenn]

I saw the turning tool setter, in fact the salesman demo it and it matched the grind on my gouge perfectly. That's what sold me on the system. I haven't figured out yet how it works, but it does.

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I'm off to Woodcraft! :p

[Steve Clardy]

Don't have tormek, but I have the MKII motorized.

I've seen Dennis Peacock's tormek in action. Its great. ;)

[James Carmichael]

Isn't an 8" grinder with the Wolverine jig considered the way to go for turning tools? That combo would run about 1/2 the cost of the Tormek.