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Not sure if all Axmister shops sharpen tools, but Warrington does. Best to check first. They have a dry grinder with the bgm 100 ( I think ). They shape the tools with that if necessary then tranfer the tool to the Tormek to get it sharp as possible. Having the dry grinder with the bgm 100 would probably solve all my problems but I don't have the room for another grinder or the budget. And I'd probably only be buying it for the skew, which I hate using anyway! :-) So the axminster solution is best for me. But I am gonna ask them to try to shape the skew on the tormek first to see if I'm doing something wrong, or to make sure the chisel isn't hardened in anyway.

Further to my last post...

The skew I'm having problems with is a Henry Taylor HS21 3/4 inch high speed steel chisel.

I'm disappointed that the Tormek is pants at shaping but I am pleased with the sharpening of the tools that I managed to sharpen. With reference to dry grinding, I'm going to take my skew to axminster who will shape it on a dry grinder using the tormek kit for dry grinders. This is the only way. It's disappointing that having spent all that money on a tool to sharpen I might have to purchase a tool to shape. The reason I purchased the tormek was because I don't like using the fast grinders, hence why I'm taking it to axminster. I think in future, as I buy my chisels from Axminster, I'll get them to shape it in the shop using the tormek jig on the dry grinder and then I only have to sharpen it when required. Frustrating that I have to do it this way as it will cost me a few quid each time I need the dry grind, but I'd rather pay a few quid to get it sorted rather than spend a whole weekend trying to sharpen one tool!

It'll be interesting to know whether anyone else has the Henry Taylor skews and wether or not they have been shaped and sharpened purely on the tormek. I'm thinking of asking axminster to try to shape it purely on their tormek to see if they get the same issue.

Saw this post and I'm having the same issue, if not worse. I purchased a Henry Taylor skew. Previously tried grinding it sharp with a high speed grinder but wasn't confident with my ability to do so, so I purchased the Tormek with woodturning kit. Sharpened my gouges, and chisels, and they seemed ok, the chisels especially. But the skew is actually worse now than when i first purchased it. The metal just doesn't come off. I have trued the wheel several times, changed the water, regraded the wheel umpteen times, but nothing. My fingers got that sore after 4 hours of pressing the skew to the wheel, I finally decided to take drastic measures and although this doesn't sound like the most wise move, I managed to strap the skew to the wheel in such a way that I could leave the tool grinding away for 10 hours, checking on it every half hour. It's not even ground one side down!

I like the tormek and I like the fact that I can safely and accurately sharpen my tools, but this whole skew chisel issue has left me a little concerned that I have spent a great deal of money on a machine that isn't performing as promised. I must add that I am trying to reshape the skew, not sharpen it. But to sharpen it, I must reshape it first. The enclosed DVD states that reshaping can take time, but surely this is ridiculous. I'm sure nobody wants to spend a whole day on one skew chisel.

Has any body else experienced this, or could it be user error. I have contacted the supplier but not really getting a satisfactory response.