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Interesting. Thanks Mike

And Herman I was aware of the jig converter tool but thanks anyway

Rob

 

Yeah you know Tormek have reached sharpening nirvana when you get a prosthetic hand as part of the standard package :/)

Yeah that's kind of what was occurring to me. If it was dry would it be more like a regular bench grinder only slower.

I've been thinking about that old post from Ionut about grading the wheel (carefully) with no water in the tray

I haven't tried it myself yet.

In a similar vain.....

Suppose you wanted to take loads of metal off during a shaping operation, couldn't you grind dry for short bursts....only thinking out loud and haven't tried it. I guess there would be no cooling and no swarf removal, so there wouldn't be any point right?

Somehow though, intuitively, it seems like it would be more aggressive?

Rob

I have a full set of all the sizes of Yankees Ken. Funnily enough I used one today. Mind you I also have the makita 18v cordless range too. The Yankees still come in every now and then. Also with a straight bit, great for prising off paint tin lids!

I didn't really say that...honest

Not at all Elden, I for one enjoy reading your posts. Keep them coming :-)

Hi Herman

Me too mostly until I did the planar blades. I do sharpen and shape HSS turning gouges too and I've used the original stone with no problems in those. It's just been the planar knives which have been too much for the old wheel

My marathon experience with planar blades (12" HSS) has its final instalment to come. I've now had the blackstone delivered and look forward to retrying with it installed

I hope I have a realistic expectation based on Jeff's feedback

My issue with emptying the water tray is that when I was grinding my planar blades, it wasn't the metal that clogged the tray, it was sloughed off  ceramic from continually activating the wheel. At the end of the trip I had reduced the SG diameter by over 5mm.  That's more than at any previous time in its history with me

I feel that if you're constantly emptying the tray and re activating rather than actually grinding then you've reached the point where the tool isn't fit for that particular purpose.

I appreciate I eventually got the job done but the cost in both time and lost grindstone was completely unacceptable to me and I'm pretty reasonable. I also love my Tormek and would err on giving it the benefit of the doubt

I sincerely hope the blackstone works for my next outing with the planar blades or I will have had my first real disappointment in five years. It's never let me down before. Every where you read, including Jeff's own advice is that planar blades of HSS are its most challenging job. My hope is that the blackstone was really designed to overcome this. That's what the marketing says, my upcoming test will soon give me a personal perspective. As I said before, the setup whilst fiddly wasn't what blew me away, just the total inability to actually cut HSS at anything close to an acceptable rate.  I'm really not exaggerating when I say the blade was really grinding the stone not the other way around :-)

The blackstone has to be better.  I'll report back here with the results but it may be a few weeks because I'm waiting on delivery (from Canada) on the Oneway Multijig. It's a brilliantly designed dial gauge with magnetic base to aid in ultra accurate plane blade height setup. Once that arrives ill pop the knives back out and regrind with the new wheel

While becoming familiar with my DBS-22 (drill bit jig), I used both stones.  My unscientific opinion is that the Tormek is essentially designed for the original SG general purpose wheel.  I did not notice a difference between the SG and SB on a 3/8" drill bit.  Both did fine.  I might feel differently with larger bits or more of them.

Since I have both, I would use the SB stone for high speed steel drill bits, planer/ jointer blades and turning tools.  If I only had the SG, I would use it for everything and not worry about it.  While it may not be specifically designed or harder steels, it does a very adequate job. 

Ken

Hi Ken
That's exactly what I did for the first five years of my Tormekking (just invented a new verb, note to self, inform Oxford English Dictionary). And I was happy as the proverbial pig in the poke. Then, mad impetuous fool that I am, I buy the planar jig and well......you know the story

So that's what facilitated the blackstone buy for me personally. I now realise that for bits of steel that are:

a) very long
b) very hard
c) very made of HSS

you could indeed use the SG but life's too short to spend 8 hours grinding planar knives. So I'm with you, if you have the choice, "whack the black" when HSS comes along and "free the SG" otherwise.

I couldnt yet forsee any circumstance where I would use the Japanese soft stone. Because I wouldn't want to be switching stones to hone when I have a perfectly good strop right in front of me

On the other hand......never say never!

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

Wow I missed that thread

That looks like a great idea, specially when doing planar blades

Rob, "...oddly enough I recently asked Jeff to address before I bought mine."  Obviously you are a man of great intelligence! 

Great minds think alike :-)

No they're good questions which oddly enough I recently asked Jeff to address before I bought mine.  Here's my take from what I currently understand

The blackstone has been made in response to advances in the metallurgy of tool steels. It's particularly designed to help grind high speed steel (HSS) and some other what are called exotic alloys ie like HSS in that they're very hard

Many regular workshop edge tools are made from carbon steel which is relatively soft. The original Tormek grindstone can handle that steel ( might be a chisel or hand plane blade for example).

A newer breed of tools use HSS like electric planar blades and turning tools. They use HSS becuase apart from being very hard it's also more resistant to high temperature than carbon steel. When you're poking a diamond parting tool into a chunk of fast spinning English Oak, believe me you find out just how hot a turning tool can get!

Even more hard and temperature tolerant is tungsten carbide.  This is what they fix to the tips of table and chopsaw blades

The blackstone can handle carbon steel like the original stone. But it can also grind HSS. the original stone really struggles with HSS. Apparently the blackstone can also touch up carbide but not shape it.  Meaning it can re sharpen an already correctly shaped edge but don't expect to shift a lot of carbide.

The stone itself has more abrasive particles per unit measure so it's finer essentially. Also the abrasive is harder so its meant to wear less. (The particles retain their sharp edges for longer)

So I can understand how it outperforms the older type wheel in harder metals. What doesn't make sense to me is why should it not cut carbon steel faster than the original wheel.  However I have no reason to doubt that's the case so like you I can't see any reason why you wouldn't have it mounted all the time. It only offers advantage with no downside that I can see

Glad to hear your problems are over Mark.

My SB250 Blackstone arrived today. Can't wait to give it a spin (pardon the pun)

I will heed Jeff's advice and not expect the planar blade metal to just "walk off" mind :-)

I think it's first tour might be on a bowl gouge I'm going to grind the wings off a bit further.

This is picking up on the thread on planar blade sharpening but is more generic so figured here is the appropriate place

Jeff you advised activating the SG using the corner of the grader because that's more aggressive. I entirely understand that and have always done it ever since watching your DVD for turners

One minor detail occurred to me as I was blasting into my SG during my planar sharpening.  My corners on the grader have all worn smooth some time ago. Is there any cutting tool you know of that can kind of reactivate the re activator? (If you know what I mean)

I'm thinking is there some way to get corners back in the 220 side of the grader or does that not matter? 

Many thanks in advance

R