Messages

I really enjoy sharpening with the Tormek on the side and producing flat bevels on my chisels and plane blades. Although the diamond wheels work well for this—they're efficient and retain their shape—one does have to use the anti-rust solution (more chemicals and money down the drown) and diamonds are not the best media for sharpening laminated Japanese steel. Also, I miss the "feel" and "feedback" of the SG Waterstones.

Some time ago, Rich Colvin did some experiments in sharpening on the side of the SG Waterstones with the recently introduced MB-100 jig and photographed his results. The flat bevels sharpened on the SG Waterstones, especially the Japanese Waterston (SJ-250), look really good. No chemicals are necessary when sharpening with these stones and there's no need to worry about damaging expensive Japanese steel with Waterstones.

The main problem, of course, is that these stones will wear, hence the million-dollar question: How can one true the sides of the SG Waterstones so that they could be used for regular, flat-bevel sharpening? Could one true (lap) the stone flat on 80-grit wet/dry sandpaper attached to a large granite surface plate or large panel of float glass? Or does the wheel have to be trued on the Tormek? Does the bar of the MB-100 jig have to be parallel to the flat side of the stone when truing the stone? If so, could one attach a small diamond plate to the bar and press it against the stone to true it? Or how about attaching PSA-backed diamond abrasive to one of the flat tool holders, which would be attached to the MB-100, and pressing this against the stone?

I would be grateful for any suggestions on how to accomplish this task so I can enjoy the results that Rich achieved on a regular basis.

Yours on the path to sharpening nirvana,
sweet_strings

Wonderful. Thank you, Rick! I look forward to hearing about your experiments with these Digital Angle Cubes in relation to setting up angles on the Tormek.

Sweet_strings

Ken, I appreciate your comments and advice about the TTS-100 jig. Thank you. I'm not that concerned with repeatability, as I like to use different angles for different blades. The digital angle cubes would certainly make finding those angles easier when sharpening on the side of the stone, if it can be done. I won't get into a debate about what is better, hollow grinding or flat grinding. In short, I've tried both and have found that flat grinding produces a more durable edge on my plane blades and chisels and requires fewer visits to the sharpening stone.

The reason I'm curious about using the digital angle cube with my Tormek, is that many woodworkers use them in traditional manual sharpening to help set up a wide variety of angles in a sharpening jig. They place the digital angle cube on a flat stone, zero it out, and then place it on the face of their plane blades and chisels, and raise the blade up or down to the desired angle, which will register clearly on the screen of the digital angle guide. I can't think of anything simpler or more accurate in terms of setup. No distances to measure, no crouching down to see a sliver of light underneath the edge of a blade. Modern woodworkers are finding more and more uses for these little marvels. In a recent issue of Fine Woodworking, someone even suggested using them in place of winding sticks!

I don't yet own a digital angle cube that can measure 360 degrees (4 X 90), so I thought I would ask members of the forum if they have tried it for setting angles against the side of the Tormek wheel. Rick seems to have had great success with this procedure for his turning tools. Rick, have you tried it with plane blades and chisels?

Thanks to all of you for these excellent comments and advice. I wasn't suggesting that I would use the angle cube for checking progress when flattening the back of a blade. I'm primarily interested in using it in place of the WM-200 Angle Master, which can be tricky to use without good light and a clear view, for setting up the primary bevel angles on my plane blades and chisels in relation to the side of the stone.

Since I prefer grinding my primary bevels with a flat grind and am excited by the beautiful flat-ground facets that the new Tormek diamond wheels can produce, it would be great if one can zero out an angle cube on the side of the wheel (the flat reference surface), as Rick suggested, and then place the angle cube on the blade to be ground and adjust the Multi Base until the desired bevel angle (say 25 degrees) registers on the cube's digital display. To me, this would be the simplest, most efficient, and probably the most accurate procedure for setting angles when sharpening on the side of the wheel.

Sweet_strings

I'm really excited by the Tormek's new ability to sharpen on the side of the grinding wheel and get a flat grind on my plane blades and chisels. Considering that the side of the wheel is a flat reference surface, is there any way one can set the grinding angle accurately & easily with one of the new, small digital angle guides? Would something like this Fowler mini-Mag Plus Protractor, which can measure angles at 360 degrees (4 X 90), do the trick?

http://www.fowlerprecision.com/Products/Electronic-Protractors/Fowler-mini-Mag-PLUS-Protractor-54-422-500-0.html

Thanks for your considerate help.
sweet_strings

Would someone kindly recommend a good, precision machinist square that will enable me to keep my plane blades and chisels in the Squre Edge-77 jig while checking my progress towards square? I often sharpen blades that are wider than 2 3/8", such as the No. 8 plane blade (2 5/8") and No. 80 Scraper Plane blade (2 3/4"), and I'm a looking for a machinist square that can check a blade at least 3" long (from the inner edge of the stock to the end of the square's blade).

The stock part of the square should not be too long, however, otherwise it will run into the jig. This is especially true when checking the sharpening of short blades or ones with higher angles (e.g., 40 degrees or more) that require shorter protrusions out of the SE-77 jig. Ideally, the stock part of the square should be less than an inch long, or would be made of a material I could cut down to size if necessary.

I'm getting tired of having to remove the blade from the SE-77 jig every time I wish to check my progress for square.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.
Chris