Proper height for machine when seated?

[srenovo]

A new member's first question and a little background.  Back before the Salk and later Sabin polio vaccines were invented, I spent a summer and early fall so weak that the lyrics of Pink Floyd's  - Comfortably Numb barely describe that experience.  It's years later - I can barely endure the pain of standing for any period of time.  Over the past several years I have slowly been converting the parts of my workshop to areas where I can be seated in an office chair to do as much as possible.  My knife sharpening area is desktop high (~30") and I can sharpen with almost no pain with my various sharpening devices.  But sharpening bigger edges requires the use of a larger machine - my Tormeks.  I have two so I don't have to lift stones to change to 4000 grit.

My question centers around my desire for a seated sharpening station for my Tormeks.  How low should I make my benchtop so that I can work on sharpening tools comfortably and safely?

[Ken S]

Steve,
Our member, "wootz", the late Vadim Kraichuk of Knife Grinders Australia, used sitting benches with his Tormeks. These are seen on his you tube channel. I don't recall him posting any height information; however, comparing the height of his bench with the height of his Tormek should give a good estimate.
Ken

[Elden]

I made the height to be adjustable. Don't remember the height that I used the most. A link to the thread that covered that is below.
Elden

https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=1606.msg6906#msg6906

[cbwx34]

This might help...

https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=4023.0

[Ukfraser]

A couple of other thoughts, i appreciate it might be difficult to move the tormek but hopefully you have some help.

You already have a sharpening station, have you tried a tormek on it and seen roughly how much lower it needs to be to make it comfortable?

Also i have a nest of coffee tables which are all different heights but big enough to use a tormek on and wondered if you have anything like that you could experiment with?

Or if they are too low, try putting it on another chair seat, and adjust the working height by building it up with magazines.

I find it best to experiment with a mock up and the tormek doesnt need to be running so doesnt need water in the trough but that way you should be able to find your ideal working height based on your chair and your back height.