a tale of two machines

[Ken S]

Over the years I have concentrated my creative ideas on two woodworking machines, the original Omnijig and, more recently, the Tormek. I plan to show some of the modifications I have made to my Omnijig in the Handtool Woodworking subforum. I believe my thoughts on the two machines fit the Tormek General part of the forum.

The original  Omnijig and the Tormek, although performing different functions, have much in common. Both were invented outside of a large company research department. Both are well designed, solidly built and versatile. Both are simple machines. Both have been the top of the class in their prospective functions.

In my opinion, where the Omnijig and the Tormek differ is in their history. While the Tormek started out with no universal support and relied upon an electric drill for power, the Omnijig began with an impressive lineup of five extra templates. With these templates, in addition to half blind dovetails, the user could make small half blind dovetails; "hand cut" (half blind dovetails spaced two inches apart); adjustable through dovetails; box joints; and tapered sliding dovetails.  No other dovetail jig on the market had as much firepower. That was the high water mark of the Omnijig.

Whereas the Tormek continued to be manufactured by Tormek AB in Sweden under the inventor, Torgny Jansson,the Omnijig was sold lock, stock and barrel to Porter Cable. Porter Cable did  a good job of maintaining the quality of the Omnijig, but added no innovations. Porter Cable was sold many times to various larger companies over the years.  Eventually the venerable Omnijig was discontinued and a "new and improved" model was introduced. If dovetail router jigs did not sell well, the megacompany could pick up the slack with battery drills or small kitchen appliances.

With Tormek AB, the only product line is the Tormek wet grinders. If their wet grinders do not sell, the company goes out of business and the employees have no employment. Early on, Tormek switched to powered units. The universal support bars and basic jigs were introduced. Improvements and innovations followed through the years.

I believe the Tormek will continue becoming more versatile with ongoing innovation. We have already been seeing this. I also believe that the now "old" Omnijig has a lot of unfulfilled potential. The Omnijig will continue evolving with creative individual owners. From a commercial standpoint, unfortunately, it is yesterday's news. Let us hope that Tormek continues to be manufactured by the same small family oriented company in Sweden and that it continues evolving.

Ken