Messages

Dan,  maybe we hit a sensitive nerve.  Come on, you guys, there is no shame is owning two (or more) Tormeks.  You can share your secret with us.  Neither should you be embarrassed to admit that you change wheels.

Neal,

You might try sharpening them the way you would sharpen a cold chisel- resting the blade on the universal support bar.  (Use the front edge of the handle as a fulcrum.)   Use the horizontal position (wheel revolving away from the edge) and set the angle with the chisel handle against the bar.  Eyeball for square.  (I don't think squareness is all that critical with these chisels.  I have a set of three from Lee Valley, which I believe are the same thing.  They are useful for tweaking where bigger chisels fear to tread, or get stuck trying.

Recheck the grinding angle for the skews.

I would start with the stone configured to the fine setting, or even with the leather honing wheel.

Keep us posted.  I'm still in the "stone age" with sharpening my dog leg chisels.  I'd like to modernize.

Ken

Jeff,

I really appreciate your last post.  I realize the primary driver (and funding) for this forum is to encourage sales of the Tormek and its accessories.  That's fine.  When a salesman advises a potential customer that a product might not be all that useful to him, that's an honest salesman.

(I buy most of my tormek from my local dealer.)  I did order the Advanced Water Trough and a micro adjuster part from SharpTools USA.  My order arrived in lightning time. Excellent service.

Keep up the good work and thanks for the honest advice.

Ken

In recent posts there has been much interest in the Tormek 4000 grit wheel.  I would be curious to know how many of you who actually use one switch back and forth and how many use separate Tormek machines for the different wheels.

Ken

Very interesting and informative posts. 

Ionut, would you please post some more detail about your modification of the TT-50 to reduce vibrations.

Thanks,

Ken

Hi, Crackpot.  Welcome to the forum.  After your marathon sharpening run, do you notice any appreciable reduction in the diameter of your grinding wheel?

Ken

A discussion of O1 and A2 started in the Tormek portion of this forum.  Use of the word "and" rather than "or" in the title was intentional. I believe both have places for woodworkers.  The O1/A2 debate reminds me of the high speed steel/carbide debate for saw blades and router bits.  The carbide side wins hands down for longevity, but the high speed steel carries the day for keenness.

Lie-Nielsen makes bevel chisels in both O1 and A2, A2 being the "standard" chisel.  They grind their chisels to a 30 degree bevel, and suggests a 35 degree micro bevel.  These chisels seem designed to be struck with a mallet, as in dovetail making.

They also make longer interchangeable handles for the chisels to be used in paring functions.

Who says hand tools are "simple" tools?

Ken   

Jeff,

You must be a faster sharpener than I am.  Polishing a chisel bevel to a mirror finish with Arkansas stones took me six weeks.  (Just kidding, but it was a very slow and painful, to my hands, process.)  The most annoying part was that after all that work, I had produced a skew chisel.

I believe the problem is operator error/inexperience.  I have since embraced microbevels and water stones.  Of the two I would say the microbevel is the more important factor. 

The main improvement I have found is the Tormek.

You might want to look into microbevels. Leonard Lee and Ron Hock cover them well in their books, as do the Lie-nielsen youtube series.

Ken

Steve,

The story of your grandfather is remarkable.  We can learn so much from that generation.  Like Dan, I believe you and I honor our grandfathers by following them in woodworking.  I believe we are links in a chain, benefitting from those before us and, hopefully, helping those after us.

The imp in me would like to place a useless, but intriguing, gadget in my tool box to puzzle my heirs.  They might even find a use for it!

This is a fascinating group post.  I hope more like it will follow.

Good luck building your shop; you have certainly paid your dues.

Ken

Nice post, Dan.  I too, am fortunate enough to have some of my grandfathers' tools.  They are treasures.  Our grandfathers lived in an era when Stanley, Preston, and Record made quality products.  With our present day technology, makers such as Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley have surpassed the older toolmakers, albeit at a much higher price!  That does not mean that our classic tools are not capable of fine work in skilled hands. 

I hope you (and others) will continue to post.  There is much to be learned from our combined experiences.
The woodworking portion of this forum could certainly use a dose of new life.

Ken

It seems there are probably two groups on this forum: Older guys (like me) who have acquired their tools over the years and younger members who are actively acquiring tools.

Tools tend to be around for a long time, both good and not so good ones.  I think there is value in pursuing multiple blades for a plane.  However, before invested much in blades, I would make sure I had a first-rate plane for them.  I think Ionut is right on recommending low angle planes.  My first choice would be a Lie-Nielsen low Angle Jack Plane.  The plane comes with a low angle blade. A toothed blade is available, as is a scraper blade.  Lie-Nielsen will supply A2 blades in any bevel angle requested.  This plane is an outstanding tool, and can be made to function as several planes.

A large diamond stone would be very nice to flatten planes and chisels.  If one intends to flatten many tools, it would seem a good investment.  For a Stanley block plane, wet or dry sandpaper glued onto a piece of glass will do a very fine job for very little cost.  The cost of a large diamond stone and a replacement A2 blade would go a long way toward the cost of a Lie-Nielsen or Lee Valley plane.

I presently own one Lee Valley plane (the small plough) and one lie-Nielsen chisel.  The quality and engineering is outstanding in both.  If I had to replace my old tools I would go for this quality, even though it would mean a longer acquisition time.

Ken   

Dan,

Your points are well taken. 

Ken

Dan,

I would not replace blades on a plane until you have skillfully tuned the plane and sharpened the existing blade to razor sharpness.  Concurrently, you should acquire the skill to use the plane well.  At this point, you may well decide to replace the blade, upgrade the plane, or start making things.

I have watched Ernie Conover do some amazing work with an old Stanley smoothing plane he had just tuned. 

Ken

My most used chisels are a set of Stanley 60s, now almost forty years old.  If Japanese chisels are "the Ferraris of chisels", mine would probably be the Chevy pickup models.  They have served me well, and continue to do so.  I have used them for a few dovetails, mortise and tenons, fine paring, and a lot of not so genteel work.  I don't think they would benefit much from anything beyond the Tormek honing wheel.  Leonard Lee states in his sharpening DVD that most woodworkers really don't have the skill to benefit from finer honing that 4000.  I would agree with him.

I can also see the value in trying to push back the skill frontier be more painstaking sharpening for tools used in fine work.  I would not discourage anyone from the pursuit of excellence.  The Tormek can certainly handle the hard work of sharpening.  Whether or not one chooses to use other honing techniques, the Tormek is a trooper for grinding.

Ken

Howard,

Two thoughts:

Would your gouge possibly fit in the multi jig if the handle was pushed through instead of going front first?

The second thought is to make a pocket similar to the Oneway jig for roughing chisels.  King Heiple has described a good homemade version. 

Ken