a question for Allen

[Ken S]

Allen,as a tool and die maker, you routinely worked within tolerances most of can hardly imagine.

Have you sharpened any square edge tools (chisels) with the SE-76 jig? If so, have you achieved a degree of squareness you feel is appropriate for your woodworking? Any "tricks of the trade" would be appreciated.

Ken

[Allen B Sowinski]

Ken,  I'm sorry for not responding sooner, but I did type a reply over the weekend and when I hit the post button, my message disappeared into never land because my time had expired.  I've been very busy planting a vegetable garden and getting ready for summer.  I'm sure the Tormek engineers have tried to address this issue, but maintaining a sharp flat surfaced wheel parallel to the tool bar is essential to utilizing the precision built into some of the tool holders.  It would be nice if the planer blade holder had a diamond sharpening attachment to precisely dress the wheel absolutely parallel to the planer blade holder.  The diamond dressing tool Tormek supplies is a step forward, but operating it with thumbwheels is slow and really does not allow for dressing the wheel coarsely.  A similar diamond dresser would  also help optimize the some of the other holders that have square alignment guides built into them.  In the message I wrote over the weekend I suggested using a home made tool similar to a machinist's planer gauge.  That sort of adjustable tool would enable aligning the tool rest bar absolutely parallel to the grinding wheel surface so perfectly square edges would almost be guaranteed.  Once I get my spring planting done I'll try to write more.  Allen

[Ken S]

Good post, Allen. Losing a long post with a lot of thought is frustrating. It has happened to me several times. For more involved posts, I now compose them with my word processing program and then copy paste to the forum post. Even the simplist word processing programs are more than capable for this.

Very interesting thoughts on the diamond dresser. A diamond dresser resembling a short jointer blade which fit into the jig could be very useful. I hope Sweden is following this topic.

When Tormek AB decided to handle more of this forum "from headquarters", I hoped that might also include posting information about the product and design research they  have done over the years. I still have that hope, but have not yet seen much information. I believe two way communication between Tormek engineering/training and the forum could be mutually beneficial.

Enjoy your gardening. Most of this forum is not time sensitive. I look forward to learning much from your tool and die maker life experience insights.

Ken