Messages

Welcome, sharpwoman.  I just purchased the scissors jig (it arrived today).  SharpTools has a well done you tube on sharpening scissors.  I hope you get lots of helpful replies.  I would also benefit from good suggestions.  Scissors are indeed as much tools of the trade for cosmetologists and seamstresses/ tailors as chisels and planes are for woodworkers.  Having more female sharpeners on the forum would be interesting.

Best of luck in your new venture.

Ken

I would suggest building the box with a space to securely store the grinding wheel beneath the T7.  It would give a low center of gravity and keep things from tipping over.  The new quick change shaft would seem like a nice idea with this arrangement.  Accessories could be stored beside the T7.

Two suggestions: 

A quick check with machinist's inside calipers would tell the tale.  If the feel on the right side between the stone and the bar seems the same as the left, you are parallel.  No need to get fancy; simple inside calipers
will suffice.

An old woodworker's trick is using winding sticks.  These are two parallel sticks placed on a board to be planed.  Sighting through the two sticks shows any "wind" (long "i") in the board which needs to be planed. (They should look parallel.) In good light, look through the gap between the wheel and bar from an angle which makes the gap small.  Your eyes will tell you of the gap is not parallel.

As a very full time grandfather of two pre-schoolers, my shop time is almost non-existant.  I am able to sneak in some computer time early in the morning.  I have been enjoying the training/demonstration videos that Jeff posted on his site and those in the turner's information kit.  Well done, Jeff.  It's easy to be a cheerleader for a fine product.  You went beyond that and provided some very solid, practical user information.  Thanks.

Ken

Good suggestions about using the foot switches.  I had the opportunity to try flattening an old plane blade and a 3/8" chisel. (I am very new to the Tormek.) The switch would have helped with the narrow chisel blade.  It certainly would not have hurt with the wide plane blade, although its width made it easier to align.

Using the side of the Tormek wheel strikes me as more like getting onto a moving escalator than jumping onto a moving train.

I will continue practicing back flattening with my Tormek.  The Tormek is certainly the cat's meow for many operations, and I am very happy with my decision to purchase it. However, I do not expect any tool to be "universal". This may be a situation where my old glass plate and sandpaper may be more practical for me.

Thanks for the replies.

I finally tried back flattening yesterday.  I was surprised with how simple it is.  I started with a spare old plane blade.  The wheel moves slowly; a little practice soon makes one comfortable. I did not use the universal support bar, although it seems like a good idea. The Tormek did as well as my 1000 grit waterstone, with less discomfort to my hands.  It was no faster.  In the future I will look into beginning with the 200 grit waterstone if much flattening is necessary.  I still prefer to finish with the 4000 or 8000 grit waterstone.

The Tormek did a nice job of flattening an old 3/8" Buck chisel with a belly in the blade.  Progress was slow, but very controlled.

Why the 80 grit stone?  I recently purchased a Norton 3X 46 grit stone for my dry grinder.  It cuts fast, and the finish is surprisingly not as coarse as I had expected.  These stones are made with two different binder hardnesses (I and K).  I don't know which might work better for you.  I also don't know how these stones would work wet, as mine is a six in diameter.

If it worked well wet, an eight inch 3X 46 grit stone would certainly speed up shaping.

I would agree with sbachner's suggestion.  A taller support bar would be a simple task for a local machine shop.  I recently had a local machine shop modify my Omnijig (dovetail router machine).  The work was done far more precisely than I could have done it, and the price was fair.

If you want to lower your end cost, consider having the shop make up several units, and sell the rest on ebay as after market products. 

I neglected to mention in the first post that Ron Hock states he made the suggestion for the fix to "Tormek's US representative". 

On page 90 of his sharpening book, Ron Hock states that he suggested a fix for flattening the backs of chisels and planes with the Tormek, and that it may already be available.  Would you please describe this.
Thanks.