First post here - I'd like to start by saying thanks for all the great information already accumulated in these forums. I inherited a Supergrind 2000 from my father about 18 years ago and he had owned and operated it for probably a decade before that. It came to me on a nice stand that he had built with drawers and sliding door cabinet. It also came with several jigs and fixtures mainly for sharpening lathe tools but also the knife jig and the planer blade jig. It also has the extra side honing wheel for shaped tools. I have used it since I got it as 'utility' sharpener - mainly for kitchen knives, scissors and outdoor blades (chipper knives, pruners, etc) by going from the main stone with jigs to honing side wheel freehand. I preferred to use waterstones for all my chisels and planer blades just because I was used to this system and good at it, even though it is time consuming.
I thought it only had the standard main stone which does not have a name on it (but I assume is equivalent to the current SG250) until the other day when I finally looked in the back of the bottom self on the cabinet side - there was a box just the right size to be a stone - it turned out to be a NIB old stock Matsunaga Sun Tiger 4000 grit stone. Doing some research online about this stone led me to the Knife Grinders AUS site and this site which, after much reading, has convinced me that the Supergrind might be a bit more than a utility sharpener. I think my issue has always been getting the hang of the freehand honing - after reading it turns out that there are many solutions to this right on the Tormek.
So here is my plan of action to up my Tormek game:
- Download some blade angle setting software, most likely the TormekCalc Excel version available here and figure out how to set angles precisely (thanks in advance jvh)
- Make or upgrade to the front vertical block and possibly the larger US-430 support with micro adjust to get consistent angles on the current honing wheel
- For now, I think I'm ok with the rest of the small upgrades that are typically recommended
The main question:
- I am considering a new wheel for finer grit or honing - I am considering adding a rock hard felt wheel or possible a paper wheel that would accept a diamond solution. The routine would then be - SG250 for main grind and angle set then to Sun Tiger 4000 to refine and finally to the paper or felt wheel with a 1 micron solution. I did try the Sun Tiger and was actually quite pleased with it despite reading some of the reviews on here first - mine ran true and certainly refined the SG250 surface.
- Another choice is to spend a bit more and add a diamond wheel - possibly the DF or DE; the routine would then be SG250 to DF to hone
Hope you can all help me spend some $ - which route do you think will be the most satisfying?
Thanks in advance,
Keith
I thought it only had the standard main stone which does not have a name on it (but I assume is equivalent to the current SG250) until the other day when I finally looked in the back of the bottom self on the cabinet side - there was a box just the right size to be a stone - it turned out to be a NIB old stock Matsunaga Sun Tiger 4000 grit stone. Doing some research online about this stone led me to the Knife Grinders AUS site and this site which, after much reading, has convinced me that the Supergrind might be a bit more than a utility sharpener. I think my issue has always been getting the hang of the freehand honing - after reading it turns out that there are many solutions to this right on the Tormek.
So here is my plan of action to up my Tormek game:
- Download some blade angle setting software, most likely the TormekCalc Excel version available here and figure out how to set angles precisely (thanks in advance jvh)
- Make or upgrade to the front vertical block and possibly the larger US-430 support with micro adjust to get consistent angles on the current honing wheel
- For now, I think I'm ok with the rest of the small upgrades that are typically recommended
The main question:
- I am considering a new wheel for finer grit or honing - I am considering adding a rock hard felt wheel or possible a paper wheel that would accept a diamond solution. The routine would then be - SG250 for main grind and angle set then to Sun Tiger 4000 to refine and finally to the paper or felt wheel with a 1 micron solution. I did try the Sun Tiger and was actually quite pleased with it despite reading some of the reviews on here first - mine ran true and certainly refined the SG250 surface.
- Another choice is to spend a bit more and add a diamond wheel - possibly the DF or DE; the routine would then be SG250 to DF to hone
Hope you can all help me spend some $ - which route do you think will be the most satisfying?
Thanks in advance,
Keith