Three Questions

[jimmyhil]

Hello, I'm new to the Tormek Community. For quite sometime I have been struggling to get the perfect edge on my tools, and have tried everything else but the Tormek, mainly because of the cost.  Having thrown all that money away on systems that did not work for me, I have now come to my senses and purchased the Tormek system. I'm sure I have made a good investment from the results I have achieved in sharpening two bowl gouges.  As I was using the system several questions came to mind which I would like to include in this post.  To the community out there the answers may seem obvious, but I'll ask them anyway.  The first one concerns the position you adopt when at the machine.  I stood in front, and found that my body got in the way when sharpening a long handled bowl gouge.  Is the bench I have the machine on two high?  Jeff Farris stands to the side of the machine, while other users on Youtube stand in front. What is the perceived wisdom on this.  My second question concerns the use the the grading stone.  Once all my tools have been shaped does the stone stay in the box until I buy a new tool?  Lastly I have several packs of honing compound from other systems can I use these on the Tormek or is there a quality issue? Many thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to your comments

[jeffs55]

My bench is of normal height, about 30, inches which makes it too high for me to use. I am 5' 9'' tall. My remedy is to stand on a stool that I made for this purpose. So with that I can look down and see the tool edge on the wheel. This would make the tool lower than waist high, the top of the tool at the highest point of the wheel. The tool grader does not wait on the next tool, it waits on the next sharpening session as determined by how much it was used last. If you are sharpening hard steel, I like to use it even during the same session to keep it grinding. It is possible to clog the wheel so that the grading tool becomes less and less effective. I cannot speak to the use of other compounds but feel confident they are interchangable as there are not any  "secret" ingredients being claimed by Tormek. I am sure that the more you use the machine, the happier you will become.

[Jeff Farris]

Jimmy,

For turning tools, I stand beside the machine to keep myself out of the way of the handle. Height of the machine is somewhat a personal decision. When I am working with the Universal Support in the vertical position, I like to be well above the machine (top of the frame about waist high), but when working with it in the horizontal position I prefer the machine higher (top of the frame a couple inches below my sternum).

Grading is an ongoing process. Two things happen.  One, the stone glazes and doesn't cut until you clean it...with one side or the other. Two, while a lot of folks think the fine cut will be sufficient if they sharpen frequently, in reality you rarely come back to the machine soon enough for the fine cut to be enough.

Hope this helps.

[Rob]

When I'm doing bowl gouges, I just swivel the machine about 25 degrees away from me. That way the handle doesn't catch you when using the articulated jig

[Rhino]

I use a day care/kindergarten/nursery plastic table.  You can buy them from, for example, IKEA, cheap.  Or maybe a relative whose kids are grown would have one. The one I have is all plastic, won't rust, and is maybe 20 to 24 inches high, so sturdy I can sit on it.

For me it brings the working part of the Tormek to about 30 inches - which is about where a bench stone would be if you put a bench stone on the bench.

[jimmyhil]

Thank you for all the suggestions offered in response to my queries.  They have all been very helpful.  I'm sorry that I could not say thank you earlier, but I have recently changed my Internet Service provider, which meant that I lost the internet for some ten days.  This was very frustrating, but because of your advice I am no longer frustrated when sharpening my tools.

[Rob]

you're most welcome