sorbys pro edge

[jeff oldham]

I have the wolverine jig and cbn wheels and it seems like I get passable results from it,,i have watched a lot of you tube videos on sharpening and most everyone uses the wolverine system,,,im sure it just takes time to get it right but can anyone give their option of the sorbys pro sharpening system,,kinda expensive to not get better results,,or is it a learning curve like on the wolverine system

[Mick Fagan]

I don't believe you will get better results, both systems are easily capable of producing very sharp chisels. In fact pretty much everything I have used is capable of producing very sharp chisels.

In my Men's Shed, we bought the Sorby Pro Edge system, primarily because many people with not so great experience in sharpening chisels could easily learn to more than adequately sharpen to a razor edge very quickly. Providing they follow the correct procedure, things work.

I myself have the Tormek T7, which I have had pretty much from when it was introduced to the world. It is wonderful, but other systems are also wonderful. The Wolverine system is wonderful, I have used it, but prefer my Tormek for sharpening.

For shaping, which is what both the Wolverine and Sorby systems do fast and very well, I would today purchase either one of those, with preference for the Sorby system. The Sorby system is also very easy to use for any normal wood working chisel, think hand planes, and any kind of wood working chisel.

Shaping on the Sorby and Wolverine systems is quick and easily done. Sharpening on the Wolverine and Sorby systems is quick and easily done.

In short, either system is reasonably equal; you just need to carefully hone your skills; pun intended.

Mick.

[John K Jordan]

I've seen the Sorby but haven't tried it. Doesn't it leaves a flat bevel instead of a slightly hollow ground bevel?

I use 10" and 8" CBN wheels on a Tormek and bench grinders with the Tormek and Wolverine jigs and platforms. The sharpener and wheel I use depends on the tool and whether I want to shape or sharpen, for example I use a platform for skews, Tormek jig for spindle gouges and so on. The wheels make a hollow ground bevel. I also have a WorkSharp machine that makes a flat bevel and I've tried it on a few tools.

Both the hollow ground and flat bevels seem to cut fine. One difference is when the tool starts to get dull I use an extra fine diamond hone or a flat MDF piece with polishing compound to touch the edge back to razor sharp, sometimes both. I generally hone several times before resharpening. Honing removes only a very tiny sliver of metal from the edge and I like the hollow ground edge for that. Honing is easy with a hollow ground edge since the hone is held against the edge and supported by the heel of the bevel. Supported like this makes honing very easy even for unskilled fingers since the hone stays in perfect position. It is harder for me to hone a flat beveled tool the same way since the hone needs to be held at a small and consistent angle to prevent rounding over the edge.

Sometime I want to take one of my skews to a Sorby dealer and try it. I hope I don't like it since I'm out of room at my sharpening station.

Tormek_CBN.jpg

JKJ

[carl mesaros]

Yes Jeff the Sorby system is definitely pricy especially if you already have a sharpening system that you are satisfied with. I was sharpening with a conventional grinder with white wheels and Jet Tormek knockoff. A few years ago while attending the Woodturning symposium in Tennessee, I saw the Sorby system being demoed. At the end of the day I was telling my wife about it and how it seemed to be a great system and much easier to use. I heard no comments against purchasing another tool so that (in my mind) gave me the green light!
So on the last afternoon of the symposium I purchased one. No regrets. I haven't used my grinder or Tormek since.
As stated above you can get excellent results from CBN wheels and the Tormek, But the ease of sharpening and changing from one grind to another and one angle to another can't be beat.

[Reed Gray]

Sharpening is another art that is necessary to develop if you want to have fun turning. From Sharp Fast or one of the circular flat plate sharpening people, "A dull chisel is just a screw driver." With all the sharpening jigs available it is pretty simple to get consistent and predictable edges. The bigger problem is figuring what type of edge you want. For most of what we do, a 180 grit CBN wheel if sufficient. What you do after that depends.... Having a second 600 grit wheel will do 95% of any edge surfaces you will ever need, and the honing wheel on the Tormek will make up 4.9999% of the rest of what you need. If I had that Sorby Pro Edge set up, I would probably need at least 2 of them so I wouldn't have to change belts. Easier to have 1 grinder with 2 CBN wheels, or the obsessive side of me has 2 grinders with 80, 180, 320, and 600 grit. I do have another grinder still in the box, which will have a 1000 grit wheel, or I may get a fine grit diamond wheel for the Tormek.... The best belt sander set up I ever saw was one that Stuart Batty developed some years back, but it vanished when that business failed.

robo hippy