Messages

Hey Sgian,

One more thing beside the good auggestions by Ken.  Check the alignment of the jig - those two smaller knobs on the SG-77 are a bit touchy.  There is a line on the side of the jig to aid in making sure the jig is straight.  Also - on every chisel and plane blade I am sharpening I check the alignment of the tool to the jig with a small engineers square.  When I first started sharpening with the Tormek I had exactly the problem  you are describing, and it was driving me nuts.  The slightest misalignment of the tool in the jig will create a problem. 

I hope you get this "straightened out"!   

Joe

Hey Neil,

I agree that Tormek is very far behind in its support of Diamond wheels in general, and in the MB-100.  I do not know of any videos - I will give the vids posted by Mike a look.  Tormek is typically  a very responsive company - they have always been right on top of things for any issue I have ever had.  However I emailed them regarding this very question about 4 or 5 months ago when I got my diamond wheels and bought the MB-100, and I have yet to get an answer. 

Ken - can you give us any feedback why Tormek is niot supporting the MB-100 to the same standard they have other jigs.  It is a product they sell. I would expect them to pony up onthe support side of the house as weell.

Joe

Thank You Guys,

Hey Rick - what is an FVB (Front Vertical Base I am guessing)and where does one get such a thing?  I believe I have seen them in videos, bit dont know where they are sold.  If it doesn't cause a problem with the forum I would appreciate you letting me know.

I thank god every day to have a wife that is a cleaning maniac.  She is now approaching 60 years old and is still in perfect shape, and is a very good cook, and is, beyond all other things, my best friend.  We share a very unique sarcastic sense of humor, and enjoy each others company.  She is also a Woodworker - she entered the craft a little grudgingly, but now I come home and find her in the shop many days.  I am still in awe of her energy. I also love her more than I thought I was capable of.  I got very lucky!

JB

Hey Ken,

Exactly my perspective.  I just want to be able to understand the relationship between how I am sharpening and the quality of the edge I am creating.  This is an easy and accxurate/repeatable method of being able to get that metric.  Its not particularly expensive, and the concept is clear and well executed.  I will join that Bessex community.  See you over there!

I sharpen my household knives and pocket knives in adddition to all my WW hand tools.  I can see myself getting very into the edge of the knives all over our house.  I am almost more interested in sharpening than actually woodworking.  My shop reflects this - I think my investment in sharpening equipment/tools is higher dollars than my WW equipment.  Hi, my name is Joe, and I am a sharpaholic. I have a Worksharp. a Lap Sharp, and  a Tormek, in addition to all of the Shapton stones made, and literally every sharpening guide made.  I also do a lot with Japanese tools, so I can see me getting into Japanese natural stones at some point, but that is a whole 'nother ballgame when it comes to money. 

Thanks Ken.  BTW - not to sound like a sycophant (I love that word) but you do a fantastic job on this board.  I really appreciate the care and dedication.

Joe

Hi,

I am incredibly lucky to have a wife who absolutely loves to clean my shop.  She spends at least an hour or two vacuuming and wiping down surfaces etc after a shop day.  However one machine she cannot get to look as good as some of the others in the shop is the T-8.  It is only a couple of years old, but it shows water stains like crazy.  I promised her I would ask other users if they have any method or special cleaner they use on their T-8's?  Any help would be very appreciated.

2nd Question:  (Can you tell I have nothing to do at work?) - If I were to buy some parts to have on hand, for example a spare easy loock nut, or maybe a a second USB just to have on hand, is there anything you would recommend folks have a 2nd of?  Any part that you should be keeping a spare of? 

Thanks Folks.  Your help is invaluable.

Joe

Hey All,

I recently bought a Edge-On-Up PT50B.  If you aren't familiar with it, it is a sharpness testing system that relatively shows you when a tool/knife is sharp.  I think I was rounding my edges, so I decided to sharpen a chisel following the Tormek method entirely.  Sharpening through all three grits of CBN wheel, and then using the settings to hone the edge on the leather wheel.  I have never had as sharp a chisel, and it registered 240 on the edge tester.  None of my other edges were below 500.  (FWIW - 240 is listed as being as sharp as a new razor blade...).  I am truly psyched.  I think you can use this system to back engineer your methods, testing throough the process to see where you may be going wrong.  I had some very good luck.  Best result I have ever had off the Tormek.  I just hope I can repeat the process.  I will let you know.

My comment about being a satisfied customer waas regarding the Tormek.  the edge tester is great, and yes I am happy I got it, but my investment in the Tormek is much greater.  I am a very happy sharpener!   More to come soon.   You may want to think about the PT50 - A,B, or C.  Nice to have.

Joe

Hey Guys,

Not to be a complete noob, but I don't understand what spacer you are refering to.  I have all CBN wheels, and obviously change them all regularly.  I am aware of the spacer you are discussing, at least the Tormek version that came on the unit.  I have no idea where mine is.  What is the purpose and why is it important?  Is it that my wheels are all the same size as the Tormek shaft (I bought all Tormek CBN wheels...) and don't have an issue that you mau have?   Call me confused. 

I really appreciate any help you can throw my way.

Please stay safe guys.

Thanks

Joe

Hey Folks,

I tried all of the suggestions  and they all had some effect, but didnt really solve the problem.  I posted a question with a video to the Tormek Support site.  They responded with the following:

That was a very noisy water trough you have..  I am sorry about that..
I think the vibration is from light contact between the water trough upper edge and the housing.
Sometimes it can accidentally happen that the legs on the elevator has been bent downward.
A perfect water trough should be lightly pressed against the housing at the upper edge.
The locking lugs are intended to press the water trough against the housing.
This can be cured by bending them lightly upwards.


I tried the suggestion - took a 3/4" pipe clamp and used the pipe as a lever - bent the tangs that hold the trough up slighty - no more than a millimeter or two, and problem solved!  I am really psyched.  A huge thank you to Mats Wuolo at Tormeki support for the help.

I also wanted to say thanks tio the many folks out there who responded.  Very much appreciated!  The Internet can be a fantastic thing.

JB

Hi,

Being one of the luckiest men in the world - SWMBO bought me a Tormek T-8 Ultimate package plus the SJ-250 Japanese stone for Christmas in 2016.  When I received all this I decided I wanted to focus on learning the tool before I touched the SJ-250, so I put it away.  Life being what it is, I didn't look at it for a couple of years.  When I did look, I realized the vendor mistakenly shipped an SJ-200 instead of an SJ-250.  The invoice is for an SJ-250.  I imagine I am out of luck with the vendor, Highland Woodworking - but I do have an SJ-200 that I would love to use.   What is the least expensive Tormek unit that will accomodate this stone?  I am wondering if it is about the same money as buying an SJ-250.  Would be good to have a second machine with the SJ-200 loaded. 

Alternatively, is there a way to adapt the SJ-200 to fit my T-8? 

I realize there are restrictions on selling on this board - I am not doing that, just asking what Tormek machine would fit an SJ-200.  Thanks Folks.

Joe

Hey Jeff,

I wondered if people would think I was yanking their chain a bit.  Unfortunately I am serious - I have a good slice out of my middle finger on my left hand, and another on my thumb where a thumb pick rides.  It sounds really lame, I know, but my wife suggested that I try filleting gloves, but I just dont see them working in this situation.  So I am wondering if any other guitarists/woodworkers have encountered the problem?  I know the two hobbies are often tied together. 

One thought was that liquid band aid stuff - not a preventative,but possibly a short term fix.  I am not aware of a good enough one to protect when those strings hit my fingers.  I have been playing for close to 50 years, and have built up the callouses needed to play effectively.  Cutting through a callous is no fun.  It means basically starting from scratch building it up again.

So, yes its a serious question.  I understand why you might think otherwise, but I am not "taking the piss".  I dont understand that phrase btw...  :-)

Joe

I am a woodworker and a guitarist. One of the problems/concerns I have with sharpening is the high liklihood of cutting the tips of your fingers.  I am careful, and I try and focus on my work as much as possible.  Dealing with these tools that we want razor sharp inevitably leads to a multitude of minor cuts.  I need to minimize the amount I am cutting myself - it is interrupting my guitar playing. 

Does anyone have a method or device that avoids these little cuts and slices that we seem to get?  Tormek provides a stock of Band Aids with many of their tool packages.  I now see why.  Are there gloves that people wear?  But if you wear a glove how do you check for burrs etc?  Should I just live with it, or is there anything I can do to minimize these cuts.  I have two currently from this past weekend. 

Sorry to be such a whiner - but its a pain - especially when the string on the guitar gets caught in the slice and rips it open again.  Anything?

Thanks in advance folks.  I appreciate any suggestions.

Joe

CBWX34 - that is a great suggestion - I will try it as soon as I can and let you know the verdict.

Ken - I apologize, I didnt mean to make it sound like I had any problem dealing with Tormek support, I work in the IT industry and I have had my7 fair share of annoyances dealing with support providers.  I am sure Tormek is a responsive lot, I just was hoping to find a quick solution.  It may be that CBWX34's reply is the needed fix.  I will lwt you know.

RickKrung - if the solution suggested by CBWX34 is at all effective I will let you know. 

Thanks to everyone for their responses.  Much appreciated.

Joe

Hey All,

First time poster, been lurking for a while.  Love me my T-8!  I am just getting diamond wheels for it - I have the DF-250 and now the DE-250.  Don't know if I will go for the "coarse" stone at this point.  It is a chunk of change and do I really need it?

So - to my question.  My water trough vibrates like crazy while I am doing anything on the T-8.  It is loud and annoying, and as I watch more and more videos featuring Tormek's, I realize how abnormal it is.  The trough vibrates a lot!  Sharpening is very meditative for me, and this vibration really disturbs the process!   I have the T-8 on the Tormeok rotating stand, and that sits on the rubber mat Tormek offers.  All of that sits on a solid steel table about knee height.  I sit while sharpening - my back isn't all that great.

So when I turn the unit on, I get the vibration almost immediately.  It occurs constantly, unless I touch the tank.  If I gently push the tank towards the wheel no more than a 16th of an inch, the vibration stops.

I would love to stop it permanently somehow.  Is it worth getting a new tank?   I know its under warranty, but the hassle of dealing with support is less than appealing.  If the tanks aren't expensive I will just buy one.  But before I do I was wondering if any of you have experienced the same problem, and if so, how you deal with it?. 

Thanks Folks - as I said in the beginning - I love this thing.  Glad to be here.  Any help is most appreciated.

Joe

Ken and Rich,

Thank you so much! 

I would like to sell the SJ-200.  Can you answer a quick question?  I dont see a "Classifieds" section on this board.  Can you tell me the policy on selling on the board? 


Thanks again for the well organized and thoughtful response.

Joe

Hey All,

2 years ago, my unbelievably generous wife bought me the T-8 ultimate package.  She got everything, including some stuff I will likely never use - and may want to sell.  However, that that is not the reason for my  post. 

I have been dabbling on Japanese WW tools for some time.  So two years ago I immediately ordered the Japanese stone for my T-8. However not sure of how/when to use it, I decided to learn to use the tool before trying the Japanese stone.  I put the unopened stone in a drawer.

Today - two years later, I decided to give the SJ stone a try.  Lo and behold - I ordered a JS-200, not a JS-250.  I tried mounting the JS-200 to my T-8, but it doesn't seem to work.  I tighten it well, but the stone just turns on the spindle - it is too large a bore it seems.  I am either doing something wrong, or what I somewhat suspect is that I may not be able to use an SJ-200 wheel on a T-8.  Is there a trick or do I own an 8" pink paperweight?

Thanks in advance folks.

Joe