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To add a voice to what Ken said-I am not sure the tormek is the best option for polishing the back of your plane blades.  I have tried to use the original stone to flatten a blade back and it worked fine.  I have one of the extra fine Tormek diamond stones that I use for that process now and it works great-for grinding but not for polishing. To get the polish follow Ken's suggestion and look into the "ruler trick".  It works and saves time.

Ken,

I actually enjoy sharpening quite a bit.  I am still very much a novice, but I find it relaxing and thought provoking at the same time.  I find that when I don't get the result I was hoping for, I ask why.  I try to research but I find most of my most valuable learnings come from trial and error.  While not the most efficient method of learning, it seems to be my most effective teacher. As i age, I find that I get more enjoyment from the process of woodworking/sharpening/really anything more than the finished product.  Don't get me wrong, I strive for very sharp tools and beautiful work product, but I find that I am less flustered by a less that optimum result like I was when I was a bit younger.  This may sound a little "crunchy" but I enjoy the zen of shaperning and woodworking. 

Cheers

Rich-thanks for posting that.  I really enjoyed his take on this.  As I am learning traditional woodworking techniques, I find I am enjoying woodworking more.  I am producing projects much slower, but this is my hobby and not my vocation so I am good with that.

Here are some pics of the scratch pattern off the Extra Fine wheel and leather wheel. Spending more time on the leather with fresh honing compound did in fact help.  The resulting edge worked wonderfully. 

Now that I have a little more time today, I will do just that-spend more time polishing the edge and see if I can work toward a little better polish.

Thanks as always Ken!

I broke down and picked up the Extra Fine Diamond stone.  My main reason for making the purchase was I wanted to remove the stone grading from my process (as much as possible).  My thought was that will help eliminate a variable in the sharpening process. Now it may be a minor variable, but that was one of my justifications.  I sharpen mostly woodworking hand tools so limiting variables for my application may not be as critical as for knife sharpening.

I got home and promptly read the instructions and installed the new stone.  I sharpened 3 of my utility chisels to help ease into the new stone/break-in period.  When they say that the stone will be a little aggressive at metal removal-that is very true.  I am glad I took it easy and checked my progress often.  Its funny how out of square I was with those chisels when I was first learning to use my Tormek....

The scratch pattern from the stone is "fine" but not even close to a polish and I didn't expect it to be.  I did expect however that I would get a nice polish after using the honing wheel and that wasn't the case of me.  There is still a fairly distinct scratch pattern in my chisels-maybe more than the stock stone graded fine.  I was surprised that was the outcome.  Now that may change as the wheel gets broken in, but not after the little bit of work i did today.

I would say that I am happy with the stone's results but I still have a bit of learning to do with it.  If I can figure out how to post pictures on the forum, I will show you what I am talking about.

Dak and Rich-Thank you very much!  Rich, your handbook is very helpful and it very concise.

Thanks for everyone's insights.

Right now I am fairly comfortable using the honing wheel.  I keep the plane blade or chisel in the jig that I used for the sharpening step and keep the angle the same when honing bevel on the leather wheel.  I rest the blade/chisel on the tool rest and remove the blade from the jig when I am ready to hone the burr off of the back.  I have never deburred with a stone so I guess I will try that and see if I get a better result.

I will order the book you mentioned so thank you for the advice and thank you for the welcome.  I have read a ton on the site but this was my first post-so again thank you for the help.

I have a question on the sharpening process that you guys use.  I know some folks do the standard Tormek "book" process of course grind, grade stone, fine sharpen then hone and that's it.  That is the process I have used for the last few months as I have learned the Tormek and its jigs.

I mainly sharpen just chisels and plane blades as I am learning traditional woodworking.  I am trying to establish a more advanced sharpen practice and I am looking for advice.

I have read that some suggest doing the above process but to they use a 4000 or 8000 japanese waterstone (flat stone) to do the honing and or for refining the flattening/polishing the back of the blades/chisels.  I have read that they use the stone to deburr the back after the sharpening has been done and don't use the leather wheel because they round over their work.

What process do you folks use/suggest?  BTW I have the T8 and a 1000/8000 flat stone for my sharpening tools (just got the stone).