TORMEK has revolutioned and continued to advance water-cooled sharpening, and I wish I could afford one... maybe I can stop feeding the cat and the kids ... maybe not ... OhwellllOriginally Posted by Jeff Farris
TORMEK has revolutioned and continued to advance water-cooled sharpening, and I wish I could afford one... maybe I can stop feeding the cat and the kids ... maybe not ... OhwellllOriginally Posted by Jeff Farris
Jay Kilpatrick in Saginaw, Tx
Jeff,
Do you ever give private lessons on the Tormek?
Reggi
I've never done private lessons, but I have had a couple of requests. I spend so much time on the road with shows, that the thought of spending one of my few free weeks on a private lesson would make that lesson very expensive
Sorry we didn't get anywhere in New England this year. Trust me, I have been hammering on The Woodworking Show management to get back there next year.
Jeff, thanks for taking the time to put your thoughts/facts down for all of us.
I may want to sell a new Tiger 2000. That desicion will be forth comingOriginally Posted by Dennis Collins
at the end of this week or early next. I am new to this forum Saw Mill
Creek. I am trying to find my way around the site.
Copycats, knockoffs, etc are always suspect but when evaluating them or when someone else evaluates them we need to be sure of a few things, the impartiality of the evaluator, and the criteria used for evaluating/comparing the products.
With the 'T' brand wet grinder certainly a lot a forethought went into the design but as another woodcraft site evaluator mentioned, it has some weaknesses and of course the cost may well put it out of reach for many people with small shops, or home woodshop users who just need to keep a few tools sharpened.
There are other grinders beside the Scheppach and 'T' brands that deserve consideration as well, unfortunately the comments posted by Mr Farris, a sales rep for the company that bills itself as the official T brand rep. in the US, do not do that and further we have no quantitative test results. It would more useful to forum members if a non-biased evaluation could be obtained by someone who is neither a salesperson for one or products nor a prior owner of one of the evaluated products. In fairness to Mr Farris we could not expect him to point out weaknesses or drawbacks to the T brand grinder and that said I believe each of us need to evaluate a product based on our needs, abilities (tech and $$$), and a product's abililties.
This is a user forum and I believe that users should be fully aware of situation/conditions of any product comparison posted here even the informal ones. Mr Farris, provides us his view base on his experiences which, as a sales manager for the 'T' brand product cannot be considered fair and unbiased by any stretch of the imagination.
Last edited by Gary Hedges; 11-13-2007 at 11:21 AM.
I don't think I understand your point. This forum is for all members to give their view. I see that you became a member today. Welcome to SMC. Any member that has a view contrary to Mr. Farris is welcome to give his view. Mr. Farris has told us his position up front, so I still don't understand where you are coming from.This is a user forum and I believe that users should be fully aware of situation/conditions of any product comparison posted here even the informal ones. Mr Farris, provides us his view base on his experiences which, as a sales manager for the 'T' brand product cannot be considered fair and unbiased by any stretch of the imagination
If someone has expressed his preference for a brand and didn't tell us his bias, then you might have a legitimate gripe. We have manufacturing reps., sellers and even owners come on this forum and give their views, and as far as I know it is not under an alias.
As a matter of fact, I personally like to see manufacturers post and read the forums. It makes me feel that they really care what the consumer has to say. IMNSHO.
Gary
I'm guessing you might be referring to the Jet version of the Tormek, and maybe also the Makita-style horizontal wet stone grinder. I did that comparison before I bought a Tormek, so at that time I wasn't a prior owner. I went with the Tormek mainly due to the build quality of the machine. I found that with the Jet, there seemed to be misalignment issues with the arm that the various jigs ride on in relation to the stone. Also, the variety of sharpening jigs available for with the Tormek style sharpeners appealed to me, as I was primarily looking for a way to sharpen turning tools. These options didn't exist for the horizontal waterstone grinders.
That's why my wallet vote went to the Tormek. Does that make me biased now? I don't think so. I still remember and can explain my reasons for choosing to buy a Tormek.
As for the reliability of information provided by the manufacturer or sales reps for any tool/product posted on this board, of course you have to consider the source. But it doesn't mean that the information is bad, especially if it is kept to facts like Jeff Farris has done. In fact, the incentive to post factual information is probably higher since this is a public forum.
Suppose it turned out that the Scheppach stone was not narrower than the Tormek, or that there were not issues with the frame of the machine interfering with the usable life of the stone, as Jeff stated in his post. You can bet that the various wooddorking [sic] websites and forums would get plastered with posts along the lines of, "OMG did you see that the Tormek guy lied over on SMC about the Tormek what a d0rk it must sux0r WTF."
I think that manufacturers and their representatives have to be and are more careful about what they post on internet forums for exactly this reason. In fact, many corporations prohibit their employees from identifying themselves as employees when posting to a forum for exactly this reason.
So as long as Jeff Farris clearly identifies his relationship with Tormek, I'm happy to hear anything he says about the machine. It's when people who have such a relationship with a product but minimize or hide the relationship while posting that makes me uneasy.
By the way, he does a great demonstration as well. I had the pleasure of getting some very useful tips from him at a woodworking show last year, although I'm sure he doesn't remember that.
If I were buying right now and had to choose between the Jet, the Scheppach, and the Tormek, I would go with the Tormek for the simple reason that I would want to get the lifetime supply of stones (3 stones actually) that they offer for free, right now. Offer expires at the end of the year.
Once this offer expires, then I would probably take a good look at the Jet system. I hear good things about the stone, and it has been out in the hands of consumers for a while now with next to no complaints.
Tormek leaflet on free stones.
http://www.tormek.us/en/leaflet/pdf/fgl_offer.pdf
I'd like to know how much the return Transport cost for the replacement stone is.
Last edited by Chris Zenda; 11-14-2007 at 12:29 AM. Reason: spelling
Probably a lot cheaper than the $139.99 that a new stone costs.
(A replacement stone for the Jet is $119.99).
Last edited by Wilbur Pan; 11-14-2007 at 9:27 AM.
HF has a clone too. No need to pay the expensive Tormek price. Geez, how much is a motor and grinding stone worth?
The Jet is on sale for $206.00 at Amazon.com, and if you apply for a Amazon credit card they'll deduct another $30.00 and free shipping applies. I was a phone call away from ordering Tormek but this really has me thinking to go Jet.
I have the tormek and it pretty much works as advertised.
However, I still prefer to use stones for sharpening my chisels and plane blades, it is much faster than the tormek(at least for me).
For sharpening turning tools the tormek is great, but I prefer to use the wolverine jigs instead of the tormek jigs. Frankly, the wolverine jigs are infinitely better the tormek jigs. The wolverine jigs are easier and faster to setup. I was previously using a slow speed grinder to sharpen my turning tools, but the tormek is much better because bluing is not an issue with it.