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Also a newbie, I have been wrestling with the same.

see https://forum.tormek.com/index.php?topic=3877.0

Sorry, with 'weight' I actually mean 'mass'.

I am an engineer by profession, and do calculations whose results need to be expressed in the units preferred by the client. For most of my calculations I use a mathematical program called 'MathCad', and that programs allows you to do just that very easily.

There is a free version available at https://www.ptc.com/en/products/mathcad-express-free-download.

Oh, not to forget: on a ship I was sailing once, the (UK) cook, after having consumed almost 24 fluid ounces of whiskey, was very very sure that inches were more accurate then millimeters, and that SI units would therefor never win.

24 fluid ounces, by the way, is 24 /128 gallon, or approximately 0.7 liter, or 1 bottle, pick whatever unit you prefer...

[You completely missed the point AND you made an essential mistake.]

You completely missed the point AND you made an essential mistake.

I am sure I did not. I have it from a reputable source, the American institute that governs this. On a website is found a few weeks ago, if I can find it again I will post the link. (here it is, https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/11/14/18072368/kilogram-kibble-redefine-weight-science)

Quote from this website:

In the United States, we still use imperial units: pounds and ounces. But really, all our measurements are derived from the International System of Units, or SI, which uses meters and kilograms as the fundamental units of length and mass.

When it comes to mass in the US, everything traces back to these puck-shaped cylinders, which are precisely machined to weigh 1 kilogram. Officially, in the US, 1 pound is defined as 0.45359237 kilograms. A foot is defined as 0.3048 meters.

End of quote

If you read my post well, you will see that I mean that in the US the weights and measures are calibrated to those we use in Europe, like the IPK. Then they use conversion factors to 'translate' these to US customary units. 

Examples of conversion factors?

- 1 kg (metric) equals 2.2046226218 lbs (US Customary)
- 25.4 mm (metric) equals 1 inch (US Customary)

And, by the way, no need to shout..... I am not blind....

I recently learned that the US actually uses the metric system. Which means, weights are related to the standard kilogram, distance to the standard meter etc. So there is no standardized pound or inch available, such as the standard meter or kilogram stored in the vaults of the body governing the SI units.

There are conversion factors, to convert these standardized units to US customary units. That's all...

Americans are metric, they just don't know it....

I have a (good) square, I've seen David's cambering video, I've seen many videos of plane blades being sharpened. I also understand that if you grind too much on the center of the blade, you get a concave edge.

Even after carefully trueing the stone I still get a slightly lopsided, concave edge. The being out of square is not the main issue, it is easily compensated by the lateral adjustment of the plane. But the concave edge troubles me more. I read what's in the manual, extended the blade further from the jig and tried putting more pressure on the sides of the blade. Does not really work consistently.

I prefer not to tamper with the cambering knobs for adding a slight camber, it's a pain to get the edge square again. Even a minute adjustment has quite an impact.

Watching videos I see one guy moving the blade across the stone so fast it's almost a blur. Another guy moves three quarters of the blade out of the stone on both sides. Yet I also see that they move slowly, and keep 90% of the blade on the stone. And all claim a perfectly square, straight and sharp edge. Monkey See, Monkey Do, but this monkey does not not know what is the best See to Do.

Which brings us back to what Ken said in the start of this topic: lots of videos available, but not all of these show a consistent high level of craftsmanship.

I'll see what the Tormek guy can show us in the demo in March...

Once you know what good is, you can easily detect what not so good is.

Yes, it just takes a while to sort out the good from the bad. But that is part op the fun, actually.

I am looking for a good demo on how to get plane blades square and straight with the square edge jig, because in my case they're neither. The manual actually tells that if you move the blade across the stone on an even speed, you'll get a somewhat hollow edge (page 125). Now, a slightly cambered edge would be great, but a hollow edge is undesirable. I must have watched more then a dozen YouTube video until I found one that deals with this problem. I am going to try out tomorrow....

Recipe for posing as an expert:

• Get a Tormek, preferably used or with lots of grime on it so it looks as if you've been doing this a long time
• Get a video camera, or a decent phone
• Read (parts of) the manual, or watch some other YouTube videos
• Get a YouTube account
• Record your trials and tribulations, and make sure to add a significant degree
  of certainty in your voice when you 'explain' what you are doing.
  Don't be brief, just keep on rambling
• Put your recordings on YouTube, with annoying music in the background.

Et voila!

A few thoughts: ...

Ken, I'll keep my eyes and ears open. Many things to learn, and plenty of time. In a couple of weeks I and going to attend a demo by a Tormek representative, guess I'll get some answers there as well.

One question occurs to me :  what is the steel in your chisel ?

Not quite sure. The chisels are from Kirchen, and Dictum. I think these are made from an O2-like steel. And my Grandfathers ancient Goldberg chisels, dating 1880 or so..

The planes are two old Stanleys, an old Record and two branded Peaktool. These are basically the same as the Woodriver planes sold in the US. Oh, and and old Record rabbet plane, a Lie Nielsen shoulder plane and block plane, and a Peaktool block plane.

And finally, a Veritas shooting board plane with a PMV11 blade.

not course, but coarse, of course... 

Thanks for the replies.

I have looked at several pages on this forum now, and it seems I am not alone in finding the grading process somewhat troublesome. My main gripe is the force and time it takes to roughen the wheel. Getting older, and shoulder starts acting up when I have to do that.

Prior to the Tormek I used a Veritas honing guide to sharpen my bench chisels and plane blades. I have several diamond plates, and Japanese water stones. But getting a consistent primary bevel is a lot of work with this guide, as even a minute difference in setting up shows on the bevel. I admit to being too critical about this, I just don't like it. So I spent a lot of time sharpening. Accumulating diamond plates and water stones, and guide with accessories  made me realize I was spending the same amount of money as I would on a Tormek, and still it was a lot of effort. Hence the Tormek.

I thought about the T4 at first, but adding the not-included accessories the T4 is almost the cost of the T8, so I decided on a T8.

Don't get me wrong here, making remarks about the grading does not mean I am sorry for purchasing the Tormek, on the contrary! I am just in the process of finding out what works best for me personally!

I have a good Japanese water stone. And a leather strop with honing compound. I once watched David Charlesworth (on YouTube), the famous woodworker and teacher, creating a razor sharp bevel on a chisel with just three strokes on a very fine grit water stone, and I wondered how he did that. Well, it's because he is cheating a little. The person who sold me the Tormek also told me that: David uses a Tormek to prepare all his chisels, to give it a good primary bevel first. And he finishes with a manually added secondary bevel on a water stone....

So, for now, I do the same. I leave the wheel course, and grind the primary bevel on the Tormek. Then I take the chisel out of the jig, and put it on the water stone. No honing guide used. The somewhat hollow primary bevel is excellent for finding the correct angle on the stone. I then lift a hair, swipe a few times to create a super smooth secondary bevel. Then using David's 'Ruler Trick' I create a minute, shallow back bevel. Also just a few swipes. And finally, a dozen swipes on a strop. My chisels have never been sharper, my planes leave a super-smooth finish on the wood.

Doing it this way minimizes time on the Tormek, and creating a secondary bevel is less then a minute. And way, way less effort!

Before, after creating a decent (flat) primary bevel on diamond stones with the Veritas honing guide, I would maintain the chisels without aide. But bevel angle and squareness were running out rather quickly, I don't do it enough to create sufficient muscle memory.

Anyway. There is enough of the wheel and stone grader left for experimenting, who knows how I will do it in the future...

David Charlesworth sharpening a chisel; don't get fooled by the honing guide! Look at the far right at the start of the video, you'll see his Tormek! (video in link here starts half way)
https://youtu.be/un-DVvXnCeA?t=80

The Ruler Trick:
https://youtu.be/nykVPKbUGTo?t=341

I purchased a T8 a few days ago, to sharpen my woodworking chisels and plane blades.

I watched tons of videos about the Tormek systems, finally decided I wanted one. Bought one at my favorite brick-and-mortar shop. Setting up was easy, and regrinding the bevel my first chisel took only a minute or so, since the stone was new and quite rough. Grading to finer grit with the grading stone worked fine, and the sharpening grooves were much finer after the second sharpening. Polishing with the leather wheel took much longer, as I expected all the sharpening marks to disappear (which they don't, as they do with an 8000 grit Japanese water stone) ....

Chisel was nice and sharp with a new primary bevel. So...... next one! But before that I wanted to grade the wheel back to coarse. Watched several videos about that with the grading stone, but I did not get the wheel back to the same coarseness as before. Now I know that the wheel may be supplied as 'extra course', as it will be after trueing, but it remained much too fine to sharpen quickly even after several tries. Only after pushing really hard for a minute or so made a significant difference.

So if I have to sharpen several chisels and/or plane blades and have to go through multiple grading sessions.... man, then my shoulder is acting up from the effort. Don't want to do that. And sharpening everything coarse first, change to finer grade and re-sharpen everything is a lot of work setting things up every time (with aid of Sharpy marker, ofcourse).

So what I do now is sharpen at grade course, and then manually polish a secondary bevel (micro-bevel) / deburr on my 8000 grit Japanese water stone. Five or six strokes will do. Then some stropping on a leather strop and chisels are perfectly sharp, plane blades leave a butter-smooth finish. This is much faster then going the grading-to-fine and leather wheel stropping on the Tormek.

But..somehow I feel as if I am doing something wrong, as if I am only using a small portion of what I paid for. Leaving the wheel at the finer grade means touching up a bevel takes ages, that's not an  option. Trueing the wheel between chisels not an option either. Re-grading  as I tried it, way to much effort.

Am I missing something? Is there a specific trick when changing the grade? I watched many Youtube videos, they are all doing it the same way more or less, am at a loss here.