Messages

ohn, those drums are beautiful. You must be very proud.

I certainly am. They look as good in person as they do in the pictures.

Your son's outstanding work speaks very well of both him and his inspiring coach. Well done!

When he was starting out we had long discussions on tools and techniques but I am the one asking him now.

A couple of years ago he decided to make a work bench using only hand tools. He used a very hard very dense Australian hard wood called Iron Wood (for very good reason). That was a really good introduction to hand tools.

Having said that he uses a lot of custom jigs in his drum making. Being a trained welder comes in very handy for jig making.

I am curious. Why would one want to sharpen a knife with a total angle less than 16°?

Leather skiving knife is about 15 deg.

PS I trust your son is doing well with his T7 and veteran coach.

He is loving it. He only has a very small shed so his setup is extremely tight to say the least. TBH he surpassed me in his skill levels quite some time ago.

You can see some of his work here
https://www.facebook.com/p/JHancock-Drums-100046953531754/

Is Tormek giving a 250ml bottle with any Diamond Wheel?

Yes. They supply one bottle with each wheel. I ended up with four but gave one to my son.

I am a hobbyist and now mostly use the D wheels and went through one bottle in maybe six months. If you are a professional then I would image that you would chew through it quite fast. I don't filter but decant but that wastes very little and keeps the Tormek juice pretty clean.

I bought a 5L of coolant, but you need to be careful which one you buy. Make sure you read the MSDS first. This makes it very much cheaper and I am sure does pretty much the same job. There are also other "sharpening lubricant" products  some of which may be cheaper.

I think at the beginning when he used the term HSS he meant carbon steel. Other than that good overview.

I think it is worth asking Tormek about the warranty

I think that actually asking the company would get you an answer.

Interesting video. I have two EDC a regular size and a tiny one. Would be really great to see a harder steel for the blade but it only takes a few seconds to sharpen so not a big deal for me.

i am considering getting more diamond stones the course and medium

I got the DC, DF  and DE because of my frustration with HSS. Drills were problematic, especially larger drill bits, and the planner blades were extremely frustrating.

The only reason I would get the SJ would be for plane blades and chisels and I am finding I can get a nice secondary bevel on my Shapton 5,000 grit freehand.

The SVD-110 is pretty much it for anything tormek jiggy. I sharpened mine this way and it is certainly serviceable but not ideal. What is really needed is something with a pivot point that is one radius away from the edge. Some sort of custom jig I am thinking.

In any case the scrub plane is all brute force an ignorance as they say in the classics, so it does not need to be really super sharp or pretty.

Right, ordered a can off Amazon, arrives tomorrow with a bit of luck. I'll report results in due course.

The spray stuff has a lot of "carrier" so can be messy. You should not need much. Place a rag or paper towel under the wheel, set the machine running, shake the can and spray a little on the wheel. Wipe off the excess and you should be good to go. If it does not work first time (tbh one application should do the trick) then re-apply.

Interesting. Does that make the rubber sort of "sticky" then?  More apt to allow friction between the drive shaft and itself?

Yes. I believe it may have tar in it - at least the tin of never slip I bought back in the 80s seemed tar based.

Also, that brand, are we talking UK or US?

The spray can I bought was CRC This stuff https://crcindustries.com.au/crc-belt-grip-400g-3081/

You should be able to get it anywhere world wide under any number of brands.

my T7 does keep having torque challenges where pressure applied to the grindstone tends to halt the wheel. I've taken the advice and "roughed up" the drive wheel with sandpaper and it mildly improved but didn't really fix the problem.

Not entirely convinced by the sandpaper approach. I had an old T7 which had persistent slipping and I used belt grip compound. It is available from automotive parts suppliers. Sometimes referred to as "never slip". It comes under different brand names and meant for Vee belts but works a treat on the Tormek drive wheel. I keep a spray can handy for my various machines.

Based on the last promotion, you actually only need to submit a picture.

From the page announcing the promotion

"Should your SG-250 grindstone wear down to a diameter of 7" (178mm) or your SG-200 grindstone wear down to 6" (150mm), simply send your worn stone to Tormek. Include a copy of your purchase receipt with your shipment."

In countries where the shipping would be exorbitant they may accept your word for it (ie photo) but that is what it says there.

Free as in there is no such thing as a free lunch? This really is false advertising tbh. You have to ship back the old wheel then it is only three.

If you use the BESS method only for yourself, then how only to apply and interpret your own measurement protocol properly.

If you look at standard tests then they are repeatable objective and remove any possibility of human error. The BESS tester is advertised as an "industrial" tester, which is false advertising. It is not repeatable, objective and certainly does not comply with the ISO standard ISO 8442-5:2004.

Having said that, the BESS testers are a useful indicator of approximate sharpness for your own satisfaction.