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I have been using my Tormek T-7 on a counter-height bench and keeping all of the accessories in their styrofoam containers, stuffed in a cabinet. When I sharpen anything in the top position, I end up standing on a step stool to get above the jigs so I can apply pressure effectively.

I've been meaning to get or make something shorter just for the T-7 with storage for all of the accessories and casters for moving around the shop. A few nights ago, I had an hour or so to myself in the shop after my boys went to bed early. I also had some scrap melamine-covered particle board left over from a job and quickly knocked together a rolling stand that's only about 23 inches high.

Tonight, they went to bed early again and I had another 90 minute or so in the shop, so I quickly built 4 drawers for the T-7 accessories out of some scrap 1/2" plywood that was used to crate a lathe that was delivered via freight yesterday. They still need drawer slides (I'll use full-extension ball bearing slides) and the rolling cabinet still needs to have the edges trimmed out (I'll use some scrap curly maple that's been laying around), but I'm already much happier than I have been.

Originally, I was thinking about building a larger, bi-level cabinet that would hold the slow speed bench grinder, too, but I'm glad I didn't. The grinder will continue to live on the counter, separate from the T-7.

What do you use? Does anyone use the Tormek cabinet? Any other storage tricks or tips out there?

As a semi-professional woodworker (meaning that I make about 40% of my income from woodwork), I've been sending my 20" planer and 12" jointer blades out for sharpening quite often, especially after large runs of birdseye maple and wonderful, exotic woods. I recently added the SVH-320 to my Tormek T-7 to see if it would be worth the investment in money and, most importantly, time. At about $100 to sharpen 4 20" blades professionally, the T-7 and SVH-320 would need to do them in less than an hour, including all set-up, prep, and post tasks, in order to justify doing it myself.

I'm very happy to find that I hit exactly 60 minutes on the first sharpening and, with increased experience, confidence, and familiarity, I'm now turning out 4 shaving-sharp 20" planer blades in under 45 minutes. Hurray!

In fact, I think that the SVH-320 does such a good job and is so easy to use, I'm planning to teach some of my teenage neighbors how to use it, pay them $20/hour, and continue working my own billable hours at 4 times that rate.

I know that some SVH-320 users in the forums have had issues, so I thought it might be worthwhile to share a fresh set of tips for success. Here are the keys to my success with the jig, in no particular order:

• Pull the blades and sharpen them before they're truly, woefully dull. The first sharpening with each set required a fair bit of material removal because I waited too long. Now, I pull them after about 10 to 20 hours of planer run time, depending on the wood species, and the blades really just need to be touched up on the T-7.
• Grade the stone every 60 seconds or so. Yes, it's a stone-wearing process, but trying to sharpen HSS with a glazed stone is a time sink.
• Keep even pressure on the center of the jig, both laterally and vertically. Pressing too hard on the blade edge can cause the top of the carriage to lift from the track; pressing too hard on the side of the carriage that's overhanging can cause the carriage to tip laterally. Even tiny changes in alignment can impact the edge quality, so it's critical that the carriage remain flat on the track. Even pressure centered over the wheel accomplishes that for me.
• After sharpening one 20" blade, which includes grading 5 or 6 times, the stone diameter decreases enough that I need to re-set the jig for the next blade. I've found that lowering the jig by 0.075 mm (3/4 of a number on the height collars) for each blade maintains a consistent blade depth when I'm in 'touch up' mode. If I'm really hogging off material due to a nick or very dull blades, I find that decreasing the height adjustment by 0.075 mm for every 5 gradings of the stone does the trick.
• When I have a really bad nick, I'll use my slow-speed bench grinder with the SVH-320 and the BMG-100 bench grinder tool rest. for a 20" planer blade, I have to remove the other grinder wheel for clearance and have to grind slowly and deliberately, both for the safety of my fingers and to avoid overheating my blades. Regardless, it's a much faster way to remove lots of metal and clear nicks than the T-7.
• Every 4 or 5 sharpenings, I'll use the AngleMaster to set my preferred edge angle, rather than following the SVH-320 instructions to follow the existing blade angle. If that results in a significant angle change, I'll switch to the slow-speed bench grinder to profile the angle, then come back to the T-7 for touch up.
• Continuing on the slow-speed bench grinder topic, I have a bracket that lets me hang it (and the board to which it and the BMG-100 are attached) vertically on a stand so that the SVH-320 jig is in the same position that it's in when using the top mounting holes of the T-7.
• The 20" planer blades are so long that the T-7 stone is in the way if I hone on the T-7's leather wheel. Instead, I use a piece of soft leather that's glued to a piece of scrap wood and charged with extra fine rouge. The piece of leather is about 2 inches wide by 18 inches long.
• I've numbered my jointer and planer blades to ensure that I rotate the sequence in which I sharpen them. That way, if the 0.075 mm per 5 gradings is off, I spread the error over all of the blades and don't always take extra off the same blades in the set. I just keep track and sharpen in a rolling order (i.e., blades 1-2-3-4, then 2-3-4-1, then 3-4-1-2, then 4-1-2-3, etc.).
• I follow all of the other general guidelines and tips that you'll find here: true before each SVH-320 session; use the corner of the grading stone; change the water bath frequently; put a basin outboard of the extended trough chute for really long blades; use the canting feet; blah, blah, blah.

I know that's a long list, but, in practice, it takes about an hour, total, to pull my planer blades, put the sharp reserve set in, button the planer back up, clean the old set of blades, and sharpen them on the T-7. Then they go into the drawer as the 'new' reserve set, waiting for the next time I need to switch out. Add 30 minutes to that if there's a big nick or I want to reprofile the angle on the slow speed bench grinder.

Now, I have total control over my blade schedule, don't have to wait a week to get them back from the professional sharpener, get sharper edges that last longer than I did with pro-sharpening, have absolutely consistent sharpening results, am saving money, and can experiment with new variables to get the best planer and jointer performance possible.

Just like I wouldn't dream of sending my chisels or plane irons out to be sharpened because I want them tuned to fit exactly the way I use them, I can no longer imagine sending out my jointer and planer blades.

Thanks for listening! That was quite a wordy first post...