Tool Gloat, Jet slow speed wet sharpener

[Doug Rogers]

The big brown truck dropped off my $167 Jet wet sharpener. It did arrive with the metal base with 2 drawers and the cover. It looks great. Everything was well packed and protected. It also has a support arm for the jig extension. That may take care of a lot of the problems mentioned in the reviews. If it works half as well as the Tormek, then I still got my money's worth.

Once I get a chance to sharpen everything in the shop I will give a review.

Doug Rogers

[Alan Trout]

Congradulations, mine is supposed to be here on the 29th. I have plenty of things to sharpen. I can't wait.

Let us all know how it does.


Good Luck

Alan

[Rick Levine]

Doug,

I was ready to buy the Jet when I saw the sale price but after reading the reviews I decided not to. I also would be very interested in finding out how well it works. Then I can decide whether or not to kick myself.

[Gary Herrmann]

Doug, was the base and cover included in the $167 or was that an extra purchase on your part?

[Larry Conely]

I had decided quite a while ago not to buy the Jet. The Amazon deal was too tempting, however. I ordered no accessories, figuring I would buy Tormek jigs. A lot of the Jet criticism was on the poor quality of their fixtures. I'm curious to see how the extension arm functions.

Larry

[Chris Zenda]

I received mine a week or so ago and I didn't have any quality problems, Everything worked -works perfectly.

[Doug Rogers]

Gary,

The base and cover were included in the package. This is part of Jet's Woodworking Sales Event. The sale ends on 12/31/07. I picked up a Jet flyer at Woodcraft.

Also included in the basic package is an angle measuring device, an existing angle measuring device, a straight edge jig, a stone grader, a tube of honing compound and the DVD. I also bought the Jet diamond truing tool and the Jet profiled honing wheel.

I did order the Tormek jigs for the turning tools, based on the pro reviews. They have not arrived yet. Amazon still had the best prices for these. I also took advantage of a free 1 month trial membership in Amazon Prime and got free shippping. After everything arrives I will cancel that.

I will let everyone know how it works once the rest of the toys get here!

Doug Rogers

[Grant Vanbokklen]

The base and cover were included in the package. This is part of Jet's Woodworking Sales Event. The sale ends on 12/31/07. I picked up a Jet flyer at Woodcraft.

Also included in the basic package is an angle measuring device, an existing angle measuring device, a straight edge jig, a stone grader, a tube of honing compound and the DVD. I also bought the Jet diamond truing tool and the Jet profiled honing wheel.

I just recieved mine from amazon today. But there was no base and cover in the box. Was the base and cover inside the same box as the sharpener you got? What was the title of your amazon description. Mine was "Jet 708015PK JSSG-10 Slow Speed Wet Sharpener". If I recall correctly someone said the K stands for "Kit" which includes the base and cover.

also the fall flyer says it is included in this model number: http://content.jettools.com/promotions/2007_04_jet_woodworking.pdf

[Chris Zenda]

I received the base and cover when I ordered mine.:confused:

[Kelly Leblond]

No base and cover...sad!

[Chuck Burns]

I got no base and cover with mine - BUT you can bet I've complained about it as the part # on more order form and receipt says K on it. I'm waiting to see what there resolution is. So far mine is working just fine.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I did not get the base or cover. I was expecting them because the part number Amazon listed was for the complete kit. I will have to call Amazon.

[Jay Kilpatrick]

Gents,
My base and cover came seperately (and simultaneously). If you don't get it in a day or two, then I'd start Kvetching!

[Doug Rogers]

Grant,

The base was on top of the sharpener and the cover was on top of the styrofoam packaging. All in the same box. The description on my invoice is the same as yours. I hope your parts show up shortly.

Doug Rogers

[John Holder]

I would box it back up and see if you can get your money back. I bought mine about a year ago and have had to repair it three times. Jet has been good about sending new boards but it is a pain when you go to turn it on and nothing happens. There is a triac on the board that has burned 3X. they entire assm from WMH is $16 but it is a hassle. You can but the triacs for about 1.50 so keep some around.

[Chuck Burns]

I just got off the phone with Amazon and they credited me with 38.00 to cover the cost of the base and cover; which I just ordered. If anybody doesn't get them I would make like a squeeky wheel. At any rate it either brings the cost down to 129 if I don't order the base and cover or 167 if I do.

FWIW the machine came in great condition, everything is square and it seems to work well. No complaints. What a deal.

[Brian Weick]

now you have that nice chuck for your lathe to go with the Jet sharpener- you know you won , don't you? :confused:
Congratulations !
Brian

[Gary Herrmann]

Can anyone point me to where the Tormek and Jet jigs have been compared?

[Larry Heflin]

Gary,
Been a while since I read the rules, but I'm thinking we're we are not allowed to post links. So I PM'd you a link to a site that reviews some of the Jet jigs and actually has video of him using several of them. He does a side by side comparison of the Jet vs. Tormek but I don't remember him reviewing Tormek jigs specifically.

Jeff Farris, who is associated with Tormek, is a member here. From his profile you can go to his home page. He does very good demos of Tormek jigs. By comparing the two sites you may get the info you're after.


Can anyone point me to where the Tormek and Jet jigs have been compared?

[Gary Herrmann]

Thanks Larry.

After a quick glance through a few of the reviews, they seem pretty positive.

[Larry Heflin]

Don't forget about the $25 Jet bonus days 2007 rebate for power tool purchases between Nov. 23 and Dec. 31 2007. If you fit in there, then you have your price down to $104.OO !!!


I just got off the phone with Amazon and they credited me with 38.00 to cover the cost of the base and cover; which I just ordered. If anybody doesn't get them I would make like a squeeky wheel. At any rate it either brings the cost down to 129 if I don't order the base and cover or 167 if I do.

FWIW the machine came in great condition, everything is square and it seems to work well. No complaints. What a deal.

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I emailed amazon last night and today got an email telling me to contact Jet. That they were very sorry but they do not stock replacement parts. Not sure if I should go with getting a bit of a refund or pursue it with Jet.

Is the cover and base worth the extra?

[Larry Conely]

My sharpener, base and cover showed up today. All seems in order except the support arm. It is 3/8 inch out of square on the 15 inch run. I will be contacting Jet in the next couple days.

[Larry Heflin]

This is apparently a recurrent problem and was one of the few criticisms I saw. Someone who had the same problem said he just stuck it in a vise and pulled on it a littlle and it fixed the problem. That might be a quick fix that saves you the hassle of replacing the part. Also, check to see if the stone is already trued to the out of alignment arm. The stones are supposedly being shipped out already trued now. My Jet is on the way, so I'll be looking at this when it arrives.


My sharpener, base and cover showed up today. All seems in order except the support arm. It is 3/8 inch out of square on the 15 inch run. I will be contacting Jet in the next couple days.

[Dave Lehnert]

Over on wood net they are talking about the Jet purchased from Amazon Is having a lot of problems with the circuit board burning out. A LOT of them. Anyone on here having a problem?

[Dave Malen]

The brown truck showed up and dropped off a big box. It had the grinder, the optional base, and cover. Nice dvd with ernie conover. Haven't used it yet-so can't comment on alignment issues.

Dave

[Grant Vanbokklen]

Over on wood net they are talking about the Jet purchased from Amazon Is having a lot of problems with the circuit board burning out. A LOT of them. Anyone on here having a problem?


Think it was only two or so, one from before the sale. Maybe jet felt it would be cheaper to sell them off cheap and have the customer fix it by sending out the replacement. Still got the 5yr warranty, that should be enough time to see if the board is bad or not.

I've only run mine for about a half an hour and no problems. Except that I've got to contact amazon about the base and cover, $38 credit would be nice though.

[Doug Rogers]

now you have that nice chuck for your lathe to go with the Jet sharpener- you know you won , don't you? :confused:
Congratulations !
Brian

Brian,

I didn't know that I won until I saw your post. I was taking advantage of the mild temperatures. I was triming the dining room windows which I installed. I am getting our old house ready to sell. The new one is built and we are about 70% moved.

Thanks for the update!

Doug Rogers

[Alan Trout]

Mine just got here:D. It came with the drawer and cover. And all else is perfect. Perfect alignment on both the horizontal and vertical and it runs great.

However I did mess with it a bit to see if needed things could be adjusted. You have to remeber I was a machinist for 10 years and worked as a rep for a machine tool co. for 5 years and setup and alignment were all part of my job. I am always messing with something.

If you have good alignment of your vertical post but the horizontal post are out a little bit you can loosen the 4 screws and make some adjustment. I did this to see if it could be done. there is plenty of movement. I think more than enough to make adjustments for most circumstances.

So fare I am pretty impressed with the finish on mine it is pretty dang nice. I think it was a great buy I Can't wait to use it. I first have to type a couple of reports this evening and then I will watch the DVD and get to using it. It looks like it will be a late night :D.

I will let ya'll know how it goes.

Good Luck

Alan

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I just got off the phone with Amazon and they credited me with 38.00 to cover the cost of the base and cover
FWIW the machine came in great condition, everything is square and it seems to work well. No complaints. What a deal.

So armed with another persons order number that got a base and cover, and mentioning of the above credit. I got amazon to credit me $20 and refund me $20. They said they were able to credit 20% of the order only.

The base and cover would be nice but it is not going to make me sharper tools. So I'll just put a couple of bricks under it and throw a paper bag over it when I'm done:p

Also going to try for the $25 rebate too

I love amazon:D

http://www.amazon.com/JET-708016-Drawer-JSSG-10-Sharpener/dp/B000MQICFC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1196398707&sr=8-1

[Doug Rogers]

Grant,

I would try contacting Jet. Based on their sales flyer, the base is included with the sharpening system. The sale dates are 9/1 - 12/31/07. It is worth a try. Good luck!

Doug Rogers

[Alan Trout]

Well I got to use it quite a bit last night and all I can say is that it works great. I sharpened all of our kitchen knives and most of my chisel's which some have been very abused and needed alot of work.

I found the video more than adequate to get started. My 3 year old even wanted to watch it again and did.

The machine seems to have more than enough power. I leaned on some of those chisels pretty hard and the machine ran great. I did not find that the bar flexed to much as some have complained in the past. You really suposed to be putting pressure on the blade and not the bar so I suspect many were putting to much pressure on the bar and jigs/tool holders.

The stone grader seems to work as expected and the wheel does not seem to break down to fast or load up to fast. There is not much debris in the water trough and I used it for at least 3 hours. But I think it will probably be a good idea to change the water frequently and as the video pointed out a magnet in the bottom of the trough would be helpful.

There have been some complaints I have seen on the jigs. I did not buy alot of them but purchased the ones that I needed. I have the long and short knife jig, of course it came with the straight jig and I also purchased the tool rest. I have not needed to use the diamond dresser yet so I cannot comment on that one.

The knife jigs work very well. You could probably get by with just the short jig as long as you longer knives have pretty stiff back. I think you would need the long jig for fillet knives because of the flexible back. Long as you pay attention to how you clamp the knife in the jig they are very true. Of course there is a little technique as with anything but was able to get my Henckels knives sharper than they have been in years I really made the wife very happy:).

The straight edge jig works well but just watch how you tighten the chisel or blade because if you over tighten one side of course you can cock the blade. It worked very well. The quality seems pretty close to the tormek in my opinion. I really did not have much trouble either with the plastic bushings. as long as you don't hit them hard on the edge of the bar they stay in well and slide very smooth on the bar.

The strop worked very well. I oiled the leather well and then loaded it with the included paste. On the chinels that needed a lot of work I would give the stone a course grade and get the blade about 95% where I wanted it and then would put the fine grade on the stone and finish it. I then would hone the back of the blade on my oil stone and then strop the blade. It was easy to get a chisel with a close to mirror finish and shave the hair on my arm. By the way my arm is bald this morning from all the sharpening I did:).

I will keep everyone up to date if I have any problems but so far so good. Right now I can say this was a great buy. I would never or it would have been very hard for me to spring for the cash of the Tormek and I think for the around $200+ dollars for all jigs that I purchased and the machine before rebate it was one heck of a deal. I will buy another bar because changing it around all the time kind of sucks.

Good Luck

Alan

[Michael Hammers]

:D My grinder is out for delivery today! WooHoo!

Is it necessary to oil the strop wheel and if so what is best to use? Cutting oil or an actual leather (mink) oil?

[Chris Zenda]

:D My grinder is out for delivery today! WooHoo!

Is it necessary to oil the strop wheel and if so what is best to use? Cutting oil or an actual leather (mink) oil?


Jet recommends mineral oil.

[Alan Trout]

They said lite oil or mineral oil. I used Gun Oil and it seemed to work just fine.

Good Luck

Alan

[Larry Heflin]

Got mine today. No base or cover. I don't think I'm going to sweat it though since I still consider this a great bargain. Everything seems straight and in order so far. Sharpened an old chisel and a dull kitchen knife just to check it out.

I did not realize the dressing stone was so soft and I put a nice groove in it on the fine side. Also briefly caught the sleeve of my sweatshirt between the wheel and the bar momentarily when I first turned it on. Other than those problems, which were my fault, I'm very pleased.

Larry

[Dave Malen]

Problems
The bar on my grinder was not in alignment with the stone. I checked the stone for trueness and it was perfect. The bar was touching the stone on the left side but about a thirtysecond or 3/64ths above the stone on the right. So I took the bar off and put it in a vice and bent the hell out of it. Now it is perfectly aligned to the stone. Not an elegant solution but it worked.

Second issue,
Getting a chisel aligned correctly in the straight edge jig is a hassel. That's because the index points are not manufactured with precision. So I had to use a small square to line the chisel up 90 degrees in the jig. Looks like they are off about a thirty second of an inch. Guess I'll have to take a file to the jig to correct that.

Other than those two issues the grinder did a great job sharpening once I had the bar set up correctly. Sharpened two chisels to new bevels 28 degrees each. It was kind of fun once I got the machine tweaked.

Dave

[Chuck Burns]

I didn't see it mentioned in the video and am wondering what is the best strategy to use as to when you grade the stone. Should you do all of your chisels, plane blades and knives on the course grading and then grade the stone and bring everything to fine on the stone. It would seem that that would be more conserving of the wheel than doing course and fine for each edge. I'd also imagine that once you got a good bevel established you might not need to use the course unless you had some edge damage. Any info as to the best way to use this machine would be appreciated. I think I also need to get the Tormek manual.

[Grant Vanbokklen]

Jet recommends mineral oil.

Just for everyones info: Baby Oil is 100% mineral oil except for the fragrance.

My strop smells good :p

[John Browne]

Doug,

I was ready to buy the Jet when I saw the sale price but after reading the reviews I decided not to. I also would be very interested in finding out how well it works. Then I can decide whether or not to kick myself.

Get your steel toes out. It works great. I got one used with some jigs and love it. Finally got to experience a truly sharp plane for the first time.

[Dave Malen]

In a previous post I said the straight edge jig was out of alignment. Actually it's not. This Am I put a machinist square on it and it was perfect at 90 degrees. The chisel I was sharpening had slightly tapered sides. My bad:D.

One caution, be aware that the black plastic o rings on the straight edge guide can come out as your moving the guide back and forth.

Happy Sharpening,
Dave

[Doug Rogers]

I have a cheap set of chisels which were purchased at the Orange Borg. I used the Jet to sharpen all of them. It worked great. The chisels actually have and hold a very sharp edge.

I purchased the Tormek jigs for the turning tools. The tormek jigs are a lot better. I am waiting for the Tormek instruction box (video and detailed instruction manual on how to sharpen turning tools) to be delivered, before I tackle the turning tools. I will report back after I get to try them out.

Doug Rogers

[Michael Hammers]

I am not one to complain about good deals. However this is the first time I have ordered anything besides a book or cd from Amazon online. I had quite alot of trepidation in ordering this unit especially after reading others comments. My gut said "be patient and save for a Tormek". I really should heed my fathers advice. You get what you pay for.
The unit arrived with what only can be described as packaging done by an drunken autistic blind monkey. The sharpener was within a larger box and had a single piece of brown packing paper trying to protect it, effectively letting the unit bounce about like a BB in a boxcar. The tape had almost completely come undone and 3/4 of the top was open.
Once I unpacked the unit I quickly noticed that I too had not received the as advertised packaged deal. No worries I thought. I am confident Amazon would take care of that minor issue.
Time to check the fit and finish. I removed the foam piece holding the motor. I noticed the switch on the back was assembled wrong. It was cocked and crooked. I continued to assemble the machine. The bar was out of alignment by more than a 1/4". The leather wheel had 1/16" of leather on one side of the wheel and 1/4" on the opposite. The straight jig has two plastic pieces that help guide the jig. The pieces fell out and would not stick or snap in. Useless.
I then plugged in the machine. I was welcomed with.....nothing. Not even a hum. I fiddled with the unit and finally was able to get some response. The rheostat spun crazily with no stop. The motor hummed a little more then tried to turn. The leather wheel so out of shape looked like an egg rolling around. The unit however would not work.
I cannot fathom how frustrated I would have been if I paid the regular retail for this machine. 300$ plus for this?
So there is my rant. Take it for what it is worth. I hope when I call Amazon this morning the return goes smoothly. I will be calling India soon.

As Niel Young sings it.....
"Piece Of Crap"

Tried to save the trees
Bought a platsic bag
The bottom fell out
It was a piece of crap

Saw it on the tube
Bought it on the phone
Now you're home alone
It's a piece of crap

I tried to plug in it
I tried to turn it on
When I got it home
It was a piece of crap

Got it from a friend
On him you can depend
I found out in the end
It was a piece of crap

I'm trying to save the trees
I saw it on TV
They cut the forest down
To build a piece of crap

I went back to the store
They gave me four more
The guy told me at the door
It's a piece of crap

[Rick Cansler]

Mine did not come with cover or base. I called Amazon and they are giving $40 refund. I said that others had received refund and that this was supposed to be a kit.
Regarding sharpener- my support arm for jigs was not parallel to wheel - quite a bit off. Also, the leather strap wheel had quite a wobble. I am not sure if this would be a problem- is it? I called JET and they are sending new arm and strap wheel.

[Brad Knabel]

Rick - regarding your strop. Double check the drive wheel as well. My strop had pretty bad wobble. I took it off the machine and found that the wheel itself was flat. I looked a little further and found that the wobble was coming from the drive wheel rather than the strop. I found that taking the drive wheel apart and reassembling everything fixed the problem for me. It looks like there's a little slop in the hole on the drive wheel and if it's not assembled just right it can cause some wobble.

I don't know if this is the same problem you are having, but it might be worth taking a look.

Good luck!

[Rick Cansler]

Thanks Brad, I''ll try that.