Alternative Water Grinders

[Saint Simon]

Having retired and left my beloved Tormek behind me I now need to buy my own for the home workshop. Does anyone have any experience of the alternative, and generally cheaper water cooled grinding systems? Should I just bite the bullet and fork out the Tormek money or would one of the cheaper versions serve me just as well now that I only have one set of chisels and plane irons to sharpen rather then a dozen?

 

[Trevanion]

If all you've used is a Tormek you'll only find shortcomings and faults and be saying "It's not as good as a Tormek" constantly if you go to one of the cheaper alternatives.

 

[Rorschach]

I've got the larger model from rutlands (i dont they sell it at the moment), it is just as good as the tormek it replaced.

 

[ED65]

What's wrong with a honing stone boy?

Now that I've gotten that Python misquote out of my system, honing guide + diamond plates?

If you can't be without a grinder a standard one with CBN wheel fitted will outperform a Tormek by a factor of about a zillion with just as little chance of blueing an edge.

There's a good intro to CBN wheels in this Stumpy Nubs video from 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXXiPK1L4s