Tormek SVS 50 or SVD 185 for woodturning tool sharpening

[harvestbarn]

Any recommendation as to which jig to buy for sharpening wood turning tools? The multi jig SVS 50 looks simpler and able to do skews and parting tools but the SVD 185 has much more adjustment but is it needed?

I have both the Tormek and Worksharp and intent using the jigs on both as HSS takes so long on the Tormek if any amount of shaping is needed.

 

[Silverbirch]

The SVD 185 enables you to move the tool in an arc, which is needed to achieve a swept back/fingernail profile for spindle and bowl gouges, but won`t let you sharpen parting tools or skews. As far as gouges go, the SVS 50 will only allow you to rotate the tool around a central axis, restricting you to sharpening gouges with a straight across profile, as in a spindle roughing gouge (in addition to skews, parting tools etc).
In other words, you would need both. Another alternative would be to use the SVD 185 for the gouges as described above, and use the adjustable flat platform (I forget what Tormek call it) for skews, parting tools, roughing gouges and scrapers.

 

[custard]

Is a Tormek the best machine for sharpening thick High Speed Steel tools? The inescapable down side of a water cooled, slow turning wheel is that it's awfully slow in removing metal and I doubt any sharpening jig can change that basic fact. I tried upgrading to one of the expensive Tormek black wheels but that didn't improve matters much so I bailed out of the Tormek system.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

An interesting point Custard raises and one I have spent a good deal of time and money grappling with. After many years of trialing this and that to get the best compromise I would now very definitively state the following to help people make an informed choice:

Tormek is extremely good for sharpening and extremely bad for shaping. The difference is simple, sharpening you're tickling an edge back onto an existing profile of the tool. VERY little metal is removed and the combination of water cooled and fine graded stone give a super edge. Try changing the profile though to a common thing with gouges, a fingernail profile or indeed any other major shape change and you're in for sore fingers and a fair bit of time. And I also switched to the silicon blackstone for HSS....waste of money. Don't even get me started on planar blades!!

For shaping, nothing beats a linisher style machine with a coarse abrasive paper. It positively hogs metal off so is excellent for shaping.

For elliptical grinding, the SVD-185 is as good as it gets. In fact many other manufacturers, including Robert Sorby licence the Tormek jig for their own sharpening systems because Tormek own the patent.

The platform by the way is called the Torlok Toolrest.

I've also got the bench mounted BGM-100 that allows your Tormek support bar to be applied to a regular bench grinder thus allowing you to re-use the expensive Tormek jigs on a fast non water cooled grinder. That also helps with moving metal quick but I still prefer a belt (linisher) because it's faster while being cooler so you risk drawing the temper of the steel less.

My setup now has me using the RS pro-edge for 80-90% of my turning tools. I still use the Tormek for a particular bowl gouge grind and also for knives, secateurs etc which it is brilliant at. All the shaping is done on the PE and I also have the dry grinder setup for scrapers with the Torlok toolrest and I also use the bench grinder for loads of other general grinding jobs. I do drill bits on the pro-edge, bloody useful for that. I do bench chisels and plane irons but if I want to do tricky end grain with a block plane its back to the Tormek for a really fine edge. For general planing you can just tickle an edge back on the leather honing wheel without any grinding at all or just give it a couple of manual passes on a stone.

I also keep a diamond credit card file in my turning coat for tickling back the odd edge before a finishing cut which is a massive time saver and makes a huge difference. I love that diamond file, really useful.

 

[harvestbarn]

I have adapted a Work Sharp to take my Tormek jigs as I also found it was too slow when removing HSS steel.

This was most evident with planner blades I how have the SVD 185 jig and it also adapts well and of course provides a flat shaped grind

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Nice mod for the planar jig there harvest =D>

 

[custard]

My setup now has me using the RS pro-edge

+1 for the Pro-Edge.

Occasionally I'd appreciate a tool rest that was closer to the belt (even the "short tool rest" has "mind the gap" moments), and sometimes I'd like a more precise method of holding a tool square to the belt. But taken in the round it's a superb piece of kit, and the wide choice of belts just adds to it's versatility. For example with the Trizact A16 belt I can sharpen carving chisels in seconds to the stage where they just need a final strop before use, switching to a 60 grit Zirconium lets me hog the metal off a badly chipped axe, and with a 120 grit ceramic you can grind really awkward tools like a draw knife.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Agreed about the proximity of the toolrest. I'll "yes and" that with a mod that avoids fouling of gouges on the motor housing on the left hand arc of the elliptical swing. Adjusting the position of the belt assembly to nearly vertical eliminates much of the problem but you cant quite get a full swing round so it leaves a smidge of unground steel on the wing.

But I'm nit picking because overall I'm in total agreement of your view of it in the round. I've also experimented with trizact belts and now use them on my bench tool edges all the time. Boy does that save a lot of time and faff. Marcros, Paulm (from here) and I have all clubbed together in the past to buy belts in bulk from A&D Abrasives in Andover because they only do a minimum order size but they're good quality and the cheapest we've found anywhere in the UK. If you're interested, I'll ping you next time we're ordering in case you want to join in.

 

[custard]

Hello Bob, yes count me in! Much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

no worries