sharpening with a tormek T7

[devonwoody]

I do not have a jig for my Tormek T7 to sharpen turning tools.

I have a set of cheap HSS bowl turning chisels.

I also have a set of Henry Taylor CS spindle chisels.

Is there a Tormek jig that suits sharpening of both styles of chisels?

 

[miles_hot]

SVD 185 will do both bowl and spindle gouges, however if you're getting into the round world you might do well to get the wood turning package so that you can do skews etc as well?

Miles

 

[CHJ]

John, PM sent for info.

 

[Blister]

I do not have a jig for my Tormek T7 to sharpen turning tools.

I have a set of cheap HSS bowl turning chisels.

I also have a set of Henry Taylor CS spindle chisels.

Is there a Tormek jig that suits sharpening of both styles of chisels?

If you have the Grey sandstone wheel you will only be able to re edge / sharpen the existing profile ,

If you try and re shape a HSS gouge or chisel it will eat the sandstone away and good buy wheel :?

 

[devonwoody]

Blister, I wouldn't discount your comments above, but it is contrary to the tormek guidance on the greystone wheel. Others have commented that the wheel grooves and the dresser is needed.

http://www.tormek.com/en/accessories/gr ... /index.php

 

[CHJ]

John, Blister is correct, IMO to put it bluntly, as a person new to sharpening turning tools you will wreck your Tormek wheel very quickly, if you think the Tormek Turning Tool kit is expensive just wait until you try and buy a replacement wheel.

Until you have mastered forming a suitable profile on your tools I honestly think you would be better using a white Oxide wheel dry grinder and simple, possibly home made jigs.

You don't see many Demonstrator Turners using a Tormek alongside their lathe.
Some turners who have the skill to produce very fine tool finishes on their work and who use a limited number of tool/jig requirements or have mastered freehand grinding (Cornucopia for instance) do use a Tormek in their workshop to maintain the razor edge they need.

 

[Bodrighy]

I know a few professionals who use a cheap B&Q grinder with a white wheel on it. Doesn't seem to affect there turning skills. I think your skill in sharpening is more important than having a fancy rig though the wheel is perhaps important. As Chas says, a homemade jig like the one he has on his web site or the Sorby one is more than sufficient. Personally I have started going back to freehand sharping for a few tools as I find it easier than the Sorby jig I have.

Pete

 

[miles_hot]

all too true however Tomek do do an attachment to allow the use of their jigs on a normal grinder which will speed up shaping no end. Doing it free hand is super cool however I prefer to spend my time turning than learning to grind. George sorted the shape of my gouge out free hand on a normal grinder (comparing it to his Tormek gouge) and then he refined the shape using the tormek gig so that I could copy the settings and keep it sharp at home - which is perfect. Using the Tormek "normal grinder" attachment will allow me to replicate this with none of the free hand skill required.

It should be noted however that some skill is still needed to use the Tormek as it is all down to the pressure and time applied to each section of the bevel so there's still plenty of time to mess it all up - but unlike a high speed grinder more time to spot that you're making a balls up

Miles

 

[jasonB]

I find these answers a bit unexpected. I bought my Tormek specifically to do a better job of sharpening my turning tools which it did. I can get consistantly repeatable results and take far less metal off the tool each time than I could with a offhand bench grinder.

There is little wear maybe 10-15mm off the dia in several years use and that also includes doing my work chisels and plane irons on a regular basis.

Or does the T7 have a much softer wheel than my slightly earlier model?

Jason

 

[SVB]

I think the key is whether one plans to sharpen the tool or to reshape the tool.

For sharpening the tormek is fine and will do a great job - for re-shaping the tormek is not the answer and use of the dry grinder is the way to go.

s

 

[miles_hot]

I agree completely with SVB - the tormek is excellent at sharpening but is less suited to shaping - hence why I will be getting the BGM-100 when I next want to re-shape a tool.

Miles

 

[cornucopia]

Simon has hit the nail on the head- although........ i only sharpen my main 5/8" gouge on the tormek and the stone quickly gets a dip in it(even though i move the gouge around on the wheel),which doesnt bother me but if i then want to sharpen a flat workers chisel etc i have to true the wheel which takes allot of time and cuts away allot of diameter on the wheel.

 

[Aled Dafis]

I also use the Tormek to sharpen my gouges, and it does a very good job indeed whilst only taking off the tiniest ammount of steel.

As others have mentioned, the original Tormek wheel quickly develops a dip, but once mine is worn out, which will be a good while yet, I intend to replace it with a Microcrystaline wheel from Peter Child.

http://www.peterchild.co.uk/grind/tormek.htm

These wheels are designed for HSS tools, and are much harder than the Tormek wheels, so will not groove as per the originals. The Microcrystaline wheels are also supposed to cut quicker, cooler and produce a finer edge than any other type of wheel.

Cheers

Aled

 

[cornucopia]

sorry to dissapoint you Aled- but i have tried both of the wheels from peter child and in my opinion they wear into groves/dip just as fast if not faster than the original tormek wheel.

 

[Aled Dafis]

sorry to dissapoint you Aled- but i have tried both of the wheels from peter child and in my opinion they wear into groves/dip just as fast if not faster than the original tormek wheel.

pipper!!

 

[SVB]

I can't remember who sells them but I think someone made a steel wheel with a diamond coating to fit the tormek.

This should deal with the wear issue - not sure of the life / quality / grit though.

Either way, still not designed for radical re-profiling with any wheel in my book.

S

 

[CHJ]

I have a Peter Child Blue wheel on my dry grinder, if the bonding wear rate is similar on the Tormek replacement then I can see why Cornucopia had that experience.

The Dry grinder Blue wheel cuts significantly freer than a white oxide and removes metal quickly with very light tool pressure therefore transferring much less heat to the cutting edge * but I have found it to be softer (looser bonding) not harder than the white oxide I have.

Georges experience puts me in a quandary at the moment as I'm playing with the design for a DIY wet grinder and was contemplating using the red or blue wheels from PC.

* the ideal engineering requirement, any system that requires high pressure contact between tool/workpiece and cutter/cutting medium to remove material is only indicating that the cutter is blunt and more than likely producing excessive friction heat.

 

[CHJ]

- not sure of the life / quality / grit though.

That has been my reservation on those SVB, I asked that very question (expected life) when I last saw them being demonstrated and got the 'how long is a piece of string' type response.

Having managed to wreck some diamond coated files much quicker than I envisioned and noted some wear patches appearing on some of my 'credit card' diamonds I use for touching up my gouges I am reluctant to use one for small area high pressure contact that would be required for a turning gouge. The diamond grit bonding is only as good as the Nickel plating as far as I can determine.

 

[miles_hot]

what about the new black wheel from Tormek - designed for the newer steels on the market a recent review suggested that it cut a little faster that the standard wheel.

Also if you're going to design your own arrangement could you look to replace the leather wheel with the new Tormek Japanese wheel which seemed to get a view good review in the same mag?

Miles

 

[CHJ]

what about the new black wheel from Tormek - designed for the newer steels on the market a recent review suggested that it cut a little faster that the standard wheel.

Also if you're going to design your own arrangement could you look to replace the leather wheel with the new Tormek Japanese wheel which seemed to get a view good review in the same mag?

Miles

The intention is to have a coarse and fine wheel if I can get enough cash in the piggy bank and find two to the specs I want.
For shaping a 80-100 grit is really necessary and should maximise ease of finish sharpening having same radius. I prefer to do my honing on a harder MDF wheel.