ColinP
Established Member
I'm in the process of setting up a new workshop after a long break from cabinetmaking. I was for most of my working life a professional cabinetmaker but I fancied a change a few years ago. In our workshops we had a Tormek2000 which was used quite hard probably daily for about 15 years, it had a replacement stone at sometime but when I packed up it had reduced to just 7" again, just enough to just touch the water. So put away for the last 10 years or so with only occasional use, I pulled it out last week and tried to remove the stone so I could order a replacement but it was solid (as you'd expect really!), eventually it broke and the lead collar was removed from the shaft. At this point I noticed the shaft was badly rusted and the bearing horribly loose. Totting up the cost of repair it seemed un realistic to bother given the cost of some of the alternatives.
After some thought and reading I decided to give the 8" Record a go. First impressions on unpacking were that it was rather plasticy, I suppose that's just one less part to rust and look a mess as the Tormek had. Putting the bits together I noticed that the straight edge jig didn't fit onto the 12mm bar as the nylon bush was too small, I just reamed it out by hand with a 12mm drill bit, it was fine after that.
First job was to true the stone up but it was pretty good as was. Next job was to have a go on a plane iron, the supplied angle gauge works quite well, I was very used to the old yellow gauge from the Tormek but I will soon get used to it. Then I had a go at grinding, well what can you say? I had read that the Record stones don't grind that quickly but I had no complaints at all, it seemed as quick as I remember the Tormek did. I do suspect that the stone is actually a little softer but on plane irons and chisels that shouldn't be an issue. Next I ground up a couple of chisels, my chisels are remnants of Japanese Orie Nomi all just short stubs of the originals. They wouldn't fit in the jig, for that matter they wouldn't fit in the Tormek jig either, so they were hand held. No issues, easy to control and soon hollow ground and square (ish). I didn't use the honing wheel, I never did, I prefer to finish off with waterstones.
How do I think it compared against the Tormek? Well very well really, no not quite as well built but if you couldn't compare directly or had never used a Tormek you wouldn't know. The only real downside was it isn't quite as heavy so can rock occasionally when you're being careless. For the price (£149) it was a fair bargain, for home DIY type use like it will be getting here it is a bit of a no brainer, it will certainly do me for the next few years. If I wanted a wetstone for a professional shop or I was loaded I would get another Tormek but the cheap imitation isn't very far behind
After some thought and reading I decided to give the 8" Record a go. First impressions on unpacking were that it was rather plasticy, I suppose that's just one less part to rust and look a mess as the Tormek had. Putting the bits together I noticed that the straight edge jig didn't fit onto the 12mm bar as the nylon bush was too small, I just reamed it out by hand with a 12mm drill bit, it was fine after that.
First job was to true the stone up but it was pretty good as was. Next job was to have a go on a plane iron, the supplied angle gauge works quite well, I was very used to the old yellow gauge from the Tormek but I will soon get used to it. Then I had a go at grinding, well what can you say? I had read that the Record stones don't grind that quickly but I had no complaints at all, it seemed as quick as I remember the Tormek did. I do suspect that the stone is actually a little softer but on plane irons and chisels that shouldn't be an issue. Next I ground up a couple of chisels, my chisels are remnants of Japanese Orie Nomi all just short stubs of the originals. They wouldn't fit in the jig, for that matter they wouldn't fit in the Tormek jig either, so they were hand held. No issues, easy to control and soon hollow ground and square (ish). I didn't use the honing wheel, I never did, I prefer to finish off with waterstones.
How do I think it compared against the Tormek? Well very well really, no not quite as well built but if you couldn't compare directly or had never used a Tormek you wouldn't know. The only real downside was it isn't quite as heavy so can rock occasionally when you're being careless. For the price (£149) it was a fair bargain, for home DIY type use like it will be getting here it is a bit of a no brainer, it will certainly do me for the next few years. If I wanted a wetstone for a professional shop or I was loaded I would get another Tormek but the cheap imitation isn't very far behind
