Worksharp vs. Tormek/Jet Slowspeed Wet

[David Beeler]

Has anyone used both the new Worksharp and the Tormek or Jet Wet sharpeners on plane blades. If so, which power sharpener do you prefer and why? I am about the pull the trigger on the Jet as it appears to maybe do just as well with more versatility. Any thoughts to the contrary or support appreciated.

David

[Zahid Naqvi]

David, I have never used the work sharp, but I have used Dennis Peacock's Tormek, which is a slow speed wet grinder. Tools that come out of it still require honing.

[Wilbur Pan]

I use waterstones for plane blades, but I do use a Tormek for turning gouges. I bought a Tormek over the Jet primarily because of some reports from users of both that the Jet's machining was more sloppy than the Tormek's, leading to misalignment of the toolbar with the stone, which made it harder to achieve the desired angles for your tool and also leads to more inconsistent sharpening.

The Worksharp wasn't available when I was making this purchase decision, but if I was making the same purchase decision today, I'd still get the Tormek over the Worksharp, mainly because the waterstone system prevents abrasive and metal dust from spewing all over my shop.

[Jeff Farris]

David, I have never used the work sharp, but I have used Dennis Peacock's Tormek, which is a slow speed wet grinder. Tools that come out of it still require honing.


If the tools still required honing, something was done wrong. Between the two graded finishes from the grindstone and the leather honing wheel, tools should come off the Tormek razor sharp and polished to a mirror finish.

[Jesse Cloud]

I have used both. For plane irons, I would probably give the edge to worksharp unless you want to sharpen an iron wider than 2 inches (ws max width due to fence size). 90% of my hand plane work is with blades narrower than that so its not a big deal for me.

The Tormek, being water cooled, absolutely won't burn your tools. WS being air cooled can burn them, but you would have to try pretty hard. WS does send off sparks.

The Tormek has a wide array of specialized jigs for knives, gouges, etc. WS doesn't, but you don't need one for plane irons anyhow.

Great thing about the worksharp is the almost total lack of setup and cleanup. I frequently would put off sharpening with the Tormek for this reason.

I haven't been using WS very long, but my impression is that it might fall short of a production machine that gets a lot of use. There is a problem with the top knob overtightening if you run it too long on the same grit. No biggy for a hobbiest, but could be a problem for a production shop. You can run the Tormek all day long.

I get razor sharp irons with either machine.

BTW, I guess the bottom line is that I just sold my tormek on craigslist.

[Derek Cohen]

Has anyone used both the new Worksharp and the Tormek or Jet Wet sharpeners on plane blades. If so, which power sharpener do you prefer and why?

David

Bear with me a while as the answer is not that simple.

First off, these machines are "grinders", not "sharpeners". This means that they prepare the blade (for chisel or plane) by grinding a primary bevel.

In both cases one could conceivably use the end result as a finished product. More the case with the Worksharp on chisels - it is limited to a 2" width, which limits its use on plane blades to this width. The Tormek does offer a honing wheel which, conceivably, could take the edge up to 8000 grit or beyond (with the appropriate rouge). The "however" here is that this is not the typical treatment, and it is not so easy to do well enough.

In my book grinding a primary bevel is the easy part. Honing a bevel is almost as easy. The hard part is re-honing a bevel. Here are a few issues ...

Firstly, when grinding and honing a bevel on a bevel down plane blade or a non-laminated chisel, my preference is a hollow grind with a flat back (no Ruler Trick). A hollow grind makes it easy to freehand a blade, and then to maintain an edge by stropping the blade inbetween honing on waterstones (in my case). I keep two leather strops at hand (hanging from the side of my bench), one with green rouge and the other plain. These are hard, hard leather (no give) and glued to hardwood (to minimise dubbing).

It is easier - quicker - to hone a small area than a large area (duh!). In other words, the narrower the bevel area, the quicker/easier it is to hone. Therefore the ideal hollow grind would be one that creates a hollow right up to the edge of the blade. Try and do this on a high speed grinder and you are pretty much guaranteed a "blued" edge. THe thin metal at the edge will heat up too quickly. So the alternative is to leave about 2-3mm thickness. On the Tormek (which I have), however, it is possible to grind right to the edge of the blade without danger. The Tormek is much slower than a high speed grinder (which I also have), and some lack the patience for this. There is a lot to be said for the high speed grinder (and I can honestly say that I have not blued a blade in some years), however I can create a microbevel after the Tormek in literally a few swipes across a waterstone. We are talking seconds for honing - and re-honing - here!

Bottom line for hollow grinds - they facilitate easy re-honing of blades. The easiest of all systems.

So what of the Worksafe. Now it must be said that I have not used a Worksafe. However I do use another grinder that is essentially the same thing. This is a belt sander with a dedicated jig to grind (even hone) plane and/or chisel blades. If I wanted, I can take these to 10000 grit on this set up. But I do not use it this way - too time consuming. I do use it to prepare blades for a flat grind. A flat grind is necessary to prepare the primary bevel for bevel up planes, and all faces of laminated chisels (e.g. Japanese blades). Since it is harder to freehand on most flat ground bevel faces (there are exceptions - these include thick Western and Japanese blades), the solution is to use a honing guide (such as the Veritas) to create a microbevel/secondary bevel.

When one works with a honing guide to create a secondary bevel, the grit level of the primary bevel does not matter - as long as the back of the blade is honed to the same level as the final bevel. The limitation of a honing guide is that it makes quick stopping between honings a difficult task. Since it is more difficult already, the user of a honing guide may use the Ruler Trick on the back of the blade as this may now speed up honing. However it will not speed up re-honing.

The question I have for users of Worksafe machines is not "how sharp can you get your blades?", but "how easy is it to re-hone your blades when they start to lose their edge?" Incidentally, I would still ask the first question since the limitation of the Worksharp in gaining a sharp edge lies with the sandpaper that is available.

Here are my conclusions: If you want to grind/hone blades wider than 2", then you have to look further afield than the Worksafe. If you are a competent freehand sharpener, get the Tormek/Jet. If you prefer to use honing guides, the choice is made a little easier because of the speed of the Worksafe to create a flat grind (as long as you recognise the restrictions). Otherwise get a belt sander (in fact I consider that this is the best method for flat grinding primary bevels). Still, don't rule out a high speed dry grinder if speed is important.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Maurice Metzger]

I haven't made up my mind about the Worksharp but I am having issues with it. Some (or all) of them may be operator induced...

With both sides of both glass wheels I get a small hollow area towards the left edge of wider blades. This doesn't seem related to the skew adjustment as the edge comes out at a right angle.

I also wind up cleaning the abrasive a lot, otherwise I get deep scratches from swarf (love that word).

Not sure how it is for others, but there's definitely fine dust filling the air, I wear a dust mask when using it.

The Worksharp has the same problem as honing guides that reference off the side of the blade - if the width of the blade tapers towards the handle (as with Three Cherries chisels) the edge won't be at right angles.

The idea of using 400 grit abrasive on the bottom of the blade holder to work the back of the blade mainly serves to scratch a nicely honed back side.

Maurice

[David Elsey]

hi everyone,

I really like the WorkSharp. It makes lapping a chisel or plane iron very fast. Lapping seems to take the most time, that is to get the back flat. That is the biggest advantage of the Worksharp I have found so far. Neither the Jet or Tormek will lap or advertise they do.

I realize the edge may not be exactly 90 degrees, however, neither will a Tormek or Jet if the operator is not careful with his set up and his stone is not graded or manintained properly. Glass stays flat.

I do not recommend the belt sander idea, It creates a lot of excess heat and can depend on the operators expertise.

Also I do not like the inevitable mess of a water system, even a slow speed can slop water, and if water is not available in your shop, you have to carry it in and carefully pore it, and not exceed the water level, then dump it when you are done. Each step can lead to spills and dedicating a space away from other tools.

I use my WorkSharp on chisels and plane irons and am very pleased with the result and the speed I can achieve sharpening at. There is very little mess afterwards. I have just sharpened most of my tools and will let you know about re-honing in the future, but it looks easy to me.

Good Luck in finding a system that works for you. Nothing is perfect, but a combination of dry and wet systems might be.

David

[Tony Zaffuto]

Well, I've had my WorkSharp for several months now, and the jury is still out. Last week, while preparing some cherry for a table I'm making (smoothing operations), I needed to hone the plane blade. Without any forethought, I simply took a few swipes on my translucent arkansas stone and then the leather strop (free hand) and back to the plane. It was a natural motion without any forethought.

Yes the WorkSharp will get you to acceptable sharpness, and I think it excels at putting a flat bevel on very quickly, should you need to get rid of a nick or whatever. However, the consumeable paper is a PITA, as is the 2" width limitation. Long and the short of it (probably) is, I'll have the WorkSharp around for some time and use it less and less frequently until I'm back to my old methods and its gathering dust.

T.Z.

[Allan Froehlich]

I have the Jet sharpener with the dual wheels: small dry wheel, large wet wheel.

I will use it to sharpen plane blades wider than the wheel itself, but it has a special holding jig on it purchased seperately. I always finish hone the blades on waterstones till I can see my reflection.

[charles hotchkiss]

David,
Perhaps it would be of some help to you regarding your question if you take a look at the review on the worksharp in the January 08 American Woodworker. They review 3 sandpaper-based sharpening systems the Lap-Sharp LS-200,the Veritas MK.II and The Worksharp WS3000. Personally, I am looking for some input on the Lap-Sharp(which received an Editors Choice Award) and the Worksharp WS3000 (which received a Best Buy Award). I have been there done that with the Tormek/wet grinder and owned the first model of the Veritas machine that came out a number of years ago.:)