Sharpening system

[sawdust maker]

Hi All
I'm looking for a descent sharpening system. Looked at the Tormek T-4 and T-7 but at nearly £300 and over £400 they are not cheap, especially when you ad the extras. Also looked at the Scheppach 240V Sharpening and Honing System at less that £200 for the machine it looks like a good buy. But, what do you think. Does anyone out there use these machines? Is there something else I should consider? Looking forward to your expert advice, thanks.

 

[geordie]

Hi sawdust i got a scheppach(the cheaper one) a few years ago for my turning chisels it was way to slow but i use it for regular chisels and plane irons
and is fine as they are for site use and not cabinetry

Geordie

 

[deema]

I originally bought the Scheppach system and was really disappointed. I then bought the Tomek T7, which I have Ben delighted with. I found that you don't really need all of the accessories, just the ones that come with it.

 

[sawdust maker]

Thanks Geordie
I need one for hand plane and chisels but also able to do the blades on my planer thicknesses. I could keep my old grinder for the turning chisels. I'm hoping someone who has a Tormek will comment on it. There is a turner's kit for that machine, so I'm wondering if it turns faster.

 

[sawdust maker]

Thanks Deema. That's not what I wanted to hear, but half expected it. Maybe you do get what you pay for. Do you use your Tormek for turning tools?

 

[JimB]

I have a Scheppach which works fine but - it is slow (but sure), cleaning the sludge out of the water reservoir also takes time and I would be shy to use HSS on it.
Yesterday I had a CBN wheel arrive which just fits on the ordinary bench grinder. So far excellent. It grinds high carbon steel chisels without needing to keep cooling them and is fine on HSS.

 

[Mike.S]

I recently acquired a Work Sharp 3000 (around £200) and find it great for flattening the backs and sharpening chisels/plane irons. It also preserves flatness of bevel - I'm not a fan of hollow ground (concave) bevels. Search about and you'll find some posters to this forum, inspired perhaps by Stumpy Nubs and others, have added to the usefulness e.g. storage, MDF wheels, using standard sanding discs (cheaper....

I'm not a turner, so don't use gouges etc so can't comment on sharpening those.

 

[deema]

I don't use the Tomak for turning tools as they cut very rapidly grooves into the stone. Instead I bought a cheap (I do mean cheap) Crusen 200mm grinder from Axminster - one of their returns. What I do use is the Tomak gauge sharpening kit on it. The official rest bar is very expensive, however the Jet bar is as close to identical as it's possible to get. So I have one of those mounted on the Crusen. The occasional carving gouge gets the Tomak treatment as does virtually everything else.

I move what ever I'm sharpening across the Tomak stone, with the blades angles against the direction of turn. Tomak don't recommend moving the piece to be sharpened across the stone, however I've never had a problem. The benefit is that apart from once I've never in 5 years had to tru the stone which saves its diameter.

I use the Tomak all of the time, it's quicker (for me - set the rest at a given height. Move the tool in the jig until you get the angle you want and then create a gauge line on a piece of scrap ply or similar. I place the holder against the ply and mark the end of the tool. It takes about 4 minutes initially and then you have it - just like setting a manual sharpening jig, if the stone wears significantly you need to make another template) than the hand sharpening methods with stones, and the strop wheel in seconds can keep an initially sharp tool going almost all day - hidden gems of metal allowing!

 

[sawdust maker]

Anyone know if the Tormek SVH-320 Planer Knife Jig will fit any similar sharpeners, such as the Triton Wetstone Sharpener 120W TWSS10 or the Jet JSSG-10 machine. Both of these appear to have good reviews and at £200 are a good price, but nether have an attachment to sharpen machine planer blades like the Tormek.

 

[deema]

Its only a personal opinion, but I would not look at sharpening my own planer blades. When I had a machine that needed the blades to be sharpened, I found that having three sets was far more cost effective and efficient. I had a 12" machine requiring three knives, a set of good quality knives was c£25, and about £18 to have them sharpened. One set on the machine, one in reserve and one at the sharpeners.

The reason I would not do it myself is that they must be balanced, each blade must weight exactly the same as the next. They are normally kept in sets for this reason. They also need to absolutely straight along the edge for them to cut properly. A thou or two out from one end to the other is a really big deal.

I found, and still find with my Tersa block, that often as not it's the hard lump in the wood that causes me to change the blades rather than them becoming too dull. You really do not want to be hand grinding out a couple of millimetres off three or more blades to get them back into balance.

The Tomak or indeed the Veritas planer blade sharpening systems will pay for a lot of blades! Normally you get a good life out of a set of blades before having to get them sharpened.

 

[Waka]

Hi All
I'm looking for a descent sharpening system. Looked at the Tormek T-4 and T-7 but at nearly £300 and over £400 they are not cheap, especially when you ad the extras. Also looked at the Scheppach 240V Sharpening and Honing System at less that £200 for the machine it looks like a good buy. But, what do you think. Does anyone out there use these machines? Is there something else I should consider? Looking forward to your expert advice, thanks.

You might want to look at Robert Sorby's Pro Edge System, I don't have one as yet, but am thinking of buying one shortly. I've spent a few days researching this system and it appears to do everything it says on the box. It's also well within you price range.