Grizzly clone - been there, done that!

[Redoak]

Hi All! Well...I've been a 'woodworker' for quite some time now ( which means that when my wife wants a new piece of furniture like a table or cabinet, say. I say "Aw!, I can make a lot nicer table or cabinet than that! And at a quarter of the cost!") And that's generally true, except...the project gets put on my 'things to make list' where they tend to backup. Things to Make list Item #1,543 - New Sofa Tables.
Yet, in all that time, I have never picked up a turning tool, (don't have a lathe as yet) or a carving tool (cause, well I don't know how to carve). But I have felt the need for while now and started to pick up the occational tool when I had a few extra bucks.
So, now I own a set of Pinnacle lathe tools (mostly for spindle work) and a set of  Pfeil carving tools. A lathe stand, a lathe bed extension, a bunch of 'How To Turn' and "Carving' books, and a G3 chuck (still no lathe as of yet.) The reasoning being that sooner or later, I would have invested in so many tools and accessories for the lathe, that well...I'd have to get a lathe. See, makes perfect sense.
And I haven't tried to carve a deer or flower yet, even though I have some awsome carving tools. Because the book says, "that if you want to enjoy carving and be successful, you need really sharp tools". And what most experienced turners and carvers know, but I just recently learned, is that new tools always need sharping or honing before use. And since I really would like to "enjoy and be successful" I knew that I would need some way to sharpen all those tools.
Which brings me (kinda long way around the barn, I know) to the Tormek T7 and this forum. And no, I don't own the Tormek yet, but keeping with my previous... uh, logic - I have been quietly gathering Tormek accessories. (Sorry Jeff! I didn't buy them from SharpTools - Woodcraft had a Big Sale) So, I bought the 'Wood Turner's accessory package' and the Truing Tool and the Square-edge jig and the Stone Grader and a Universal support. And...(Don't get mad Jeff) The Grizzly Industrial T7 clone.  I thought that having Tormek accessories, that just about anything that could spin a stone wheel would work just fine.
Luckily, I didn't mount the stone on the Griz or try to sharpen anything (They won't accept returns if they are used). But I did try to mount the Tormek universal support on the Grizzly. Don't fit!
Tormek's centers for the support are on 90mm centers while Grizzly's clone are at 100mm. It would seem no big deal to drill new holes, but...I would have never been sure of why things weren't sharp. Was it my holes or the Griz or some other thing.
Anyway... I shipped the Grizzly back and a lot of the Tormek accessories that come 'standard with the T7' to Woodcraft. And (when I get a few more bucks, Jeff) I'm gonna order the T7 from Sharptools!
For now I thought(and this is where it gets a little wierd)... I got the extra 'Universal Support' set up on the sharpening table with a 'wooden T7' I made out of shop scrapes and a wood disk and 'practice sharpening' with the various jigs and chisels.
But after about half an hour of putting imaginary "scary sharp" edges on new chisels, gouges and skews I began to feel pretty foolish. Be hard to explain if someone should walk into the shop while I was 'sharpening'! Best keep the shop door locked - for safety reasons. 

[jeffs55]

You might want to consider a career in fictional writing. Your post was fun to read.

[Elden]

Interesting old post. Hmmm, wonder if he ever got a Tormek?

Then I got to thinking that maybe a person could find out since he obviously had posted 2 other times. I didn't want to search through all the previous posts that I had already read to find out (I started at the most recent and have worked my way down to page 17, phew I still have 21 to go  for the general questions!).

I am not very computer savvy, but I did manage to figure out how to search it out. Have to say, I am impressed by the search capabilities of the forum!!

By the way, he did.

[Rob]

Haha. That's a classic. Like buying the steering wheel before the car!