Messages

Ken,  I'm sorry for not responding sooner, but I did type a reply over the weekend and when I hit the post button, my message disappeared into never land because my time had expired.  I've been very busy planting a vegetable garden and getting ready for summer.  I'm sure the Tormek engineers have tried to address this issue, but maintaining a sharp flat surfaced wheel parallel to the tool bar is essential to utilizing the precision built into some of the tool holders.  It would be nice if the planer blade holder had a diamond sharpening attachment to precisely dress the wheel absolutely parallel to the planer blade holder.  The diamond dressing tool Tormek supplies is a step forward, but operating it with thumbwheels is slow and really does not allow for dressing the wheel coarsely.  A similar diamond dresser would  also help optimize the some of the other holders that have square alignment guides built into them.  In the message I wrote over the weekend I suggested using a home made tool similar to a machinist's planer gauge.  That sort of adjustable tool would enable aligning the tool rest bar absolutely parallel to the grinding wheel surface so perfectly square edges would almost be guaranteed.  Once I get my spring planting done I'll try to write more.  Allen

Rob,  While awaiting a reply from Stig with an explanation on the finer points of miter trimmer blade sharpening, I'll try to touch up my 8 inch long CPM-M4 joiner blades.  When working in machine shops some of the larger surface grinders were set up with general purpose wheels that we used for all types of steel.   So far the stock Tormek wheel seems to be adequate for most of my grinding jobs.  I'll try to spend some time working on the joiner blades over the coming weekend and let you know how they come out.  Allen     

Bobl,  Hair cutting scissors require specialized sharpening equipment similar to a surface grinder.  If you were to examine an expensive quality pair of hair cutting scissors beneath a low powered microscope, you would see very fine parallel transverse grooves lining one of the the cut edges.  The tiny grooves trap hair shafts so they cannot roll as they are cut.  A specialized hair scissor sharpening grinder actually has very tiny ridges crush dressed into a fine grained grinding wheel.   If you were to resharpen both cut edges with the scissor attachment on your Tormek, you would remove the grooves and the scissors would not perform well even though they were very sharp because the hair shafts would roll as the scissor blades closed. This same thing applies to some better quality kitchen/poultry shears that are heavy enough to cut chicken flesh.  The grooves on the kitchen/poultry shears are considerably larger but sharpening them on your Tormek would also cause them to be less aggressive with soft poultry flesh, bones and skin because the blades would tend to push the bone, flesh & skin outward as they closed - they would still cut, but not as efficiently.

Ken, I received a response from support.tormek.se this morning and expect a response in a week.  It will be interesting to see what they can come up with.  I supplied the gentleman with a dimensioned photo of the actual miter trimmer knife.  Perhaps he'll saw out a wooded duplicate to experiment with.  Allen

Thank you Ken.  I'm a 70 year old retired tool and die maker with a passion for woodworking.  I picked up a new looking old Lion miter trimmer recently for a woodworking project with mitered door frames.  When employed years ago I would have just put the Lion trimmer knives on a sine plate and dusted them off in a wet surface grinder.  Retired now and with no access to industrial grinders, I bought the Tormek 'kit' to put an edge on a collection of wood working tools I've been using that lost their usefullness because they no longer cut well.  I made allot of my woodworking tools out of exotic materials.  My favorite tool steel was a powdered metal called CPM-M4.  Considerable harder and tougher than regular M2. my planer and jointer blades are made of of CPM-M4 to a Rockwell hardness of 62-64.  I specified heat treatment with triple draws and deep (Cryogenic) freezing to optimize the material's grain structure.  I've successfully put edges on most of my tools & bought the planer blade jig to sharpen my 8 inch CPM-M4 joiner blades.  My wood planer has a built in blade grinder.  I do have a planer/joiner blade holder I made for use in a surface grinder, but just don't have a wet surface grinder.  I did attempt to place the miter trimmer blade in the Tormek planer blade holder so it covered the tapped clamping stud threaded hole, but the blade stood so high in the holder I was unable to lower it to the grinding wheel to redress the 20 degree angle.  Since my planer jig is bought and paid for and I've got a milling machine in my workshop, I've been considering 'trashing' the blade holder and milling a pocket that will enable a trimmer blade to be mounted securely at the correct height over the wheel.  I checked out the video you've suggested and will try to make it work again.  I understand Tormek can't really make a holder or device for every single tool in the world, but I think their products are pretty well thought out and engineered to address the sharpening needs of most woodworkers.  Thank you again Ken and I'll keep you posted.  Allen

Elden,  Thank you for sending the link on the miter trimmer.  I'm looking for some spoon feeding on fastening a thick chunk of metal in a planer blade holder.   Tormek instructions are pretty vague and assume the fixture owners know what they're doing.  I'd like to know why Tormek suggest removing clamping screws on the planer blade holder.  Allen

My Lion miter trimmer blades are 1/4 inch thick and I've attempted to mount one in my planer blade holder on my T7.  The instruction manual suggests removing one or two clamping screws when mounting the blade.  Why?  Wouldn't this diminish the clamping pressure on the heavy blade?  I attempted to mount the miter blade further back in the holder over the tapped hole used for the clamping screw, but it was still kind of unstable and I wouldn't be able to safely sharpen the blade at 20 degrees.  What am I doing wrong?   Thank you, Allen