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Good job, Bill.

It would have been fun to have had a cup of coffee with you and enjoyed your pleasure at returning your tools to active duty status. I had a set of Marples chisels for years. I gave them to my nephew to help get him started. Hold on to yours; the Irwin "Marples chisels" aren't the same.

Keep on sharpening and keep on posting.

Ken

ps I've had several carpenter friends over the years. They always did good work, however, I suspect your newly sharpened chisels would put you toward the head of the pack!

Thanks Ken,

I had a rare opportunity back in the 80s to apprentice as a ships carpenter and sparmaker on the Elissa Project down in Galveston TX.  I learned most of my fine carpentry skills then.  However, I also learned a great deal from my dad; he pretty much single handedly built the two houses we lived in when I was growing up.

I definitely prize the Marples.  They are the old English steel, boxwood handled firmer chisels.  Works of art in themselves.  My winter project is to repair the bottom of the 16 foot wooden dory-skiff that I built about 30 years ago.  So, I'll need good sharp tools to do a proper job.

the leap all the way up to $665, without having first purchased and returned the $399 machine, would certainly have been more difficult. 

Many potential customers are turned off by the price of an item. That statement is so obvious that it goes without saying, but it lies at the heart of marketing strategy. I was turned off by the price of a Tormek for many years. I wanted one, but had difficulty rationalizing the price.

Herman, I think that part of it is that we've been habituated to cheap products through, for lack of a better term, the 'Walmartization' of the product market.  I teach finance now and I'm continually amazed at how frequently consumers go for the cheap up front cost and fail to factor in the total cost of a product or service (or more frequent replacement).

--  Bill

Ken,

More informed salespeople would have helped and a display or the chance to try out the machines side-by-side would certainly have helped as well.  At my local store neither model were on display and they only had one of each model in the box.  Luckily, they accepted the T4 return without any hassle whatsoever.  At least I didn't have to deal with shipping (I just moved from an area where the nearest woodworkers shop was at least 4 hours away, so having a shop that is only 15 minutes away is great).

I agree that the difference in the hollow grind is small, though I was speaking at the margin.  I originally learned to sharpen my tools using a bench grinder and stones, so the ability to quickly touch up the edge with a stone kept the work moving and was something that I valued.  At that time, having a set of mortising chisels with a larger angle did take care of the weaker edge caused by hollow grind.  Certainly with sharpeners like the Tormek, it may be less important.

I've already sharpened my set of Marples chisels, a bench plane blade, a rabbit plane blade, a couple of kitchen knives, and an old Buck knife.  I'm very happy with the outcome and how little time was required.  A great addition to my little workshop.  I now look forward to sharpening rather than dreading it.

Yes, I did return the T4 and go with the T7.  I think I see what you're saying Herman: the leap all the way up to $665, without having first purchased and returned the $399 machine, would certainly have been more difficult.  That's an interesting marketing strategy, it seems to have worked in my case.

Certainly, I can see that someone who only needs to sharpen knives might be better served by the T4.  However, for the average woodworker, even non-pros, I think it's a tougher decision.

One thing that I've learned as I've gotten older (and as my income has increased) is that I'm usually much happier to have purchased the higher quality item.  This appears to apply for the Tormek as well.

This thread is right on the money.  It has summed up my recent experience with the Tormek system.  I used to do woodworking for a living, but that was years ago.  I still have some beautiful chisels and planes, that haven't been as sharp as they should be for many years.  This past Saturday, after an old colleague noticed the terrible condition of my tools, I was embarrassed and decided to look for a better way to restore and sharpen my tools.

At first I purchased the T4, thinking that as a non-professional, I would never need the heavier duty T7.  However, it wasn't until I got it home that I realized that the T4 doesn't come with any jigs whatsoever (the sales guy at my local Woodcraft store didn't know that either, because he told me it did have the square edge jig).  Without question, I knew I needed the square edge jig for the chisels and plane blades, and I suspected that I'd need the truing and dressing jig at some point to keep the wheel square and flat.  Together, those added up to half the difference in price between the T4 and T7.  That only left about a difference of $130.  Further, when I turned on the T4 (never sharpened anything on it though), it seemed alright, but not well balanced (maybe that was just the copy that I had).  Then I started to rationalize that the wheel on the T7 was significantly bigger (and that would also leave a slightly less hollow grind, making the edge a bit stronger), had a better, stronger motor, and also had the longer catch tray (I have a DeWalt 12" planer, and figured that I could sharpen those blades in the future, as well as long kitchen knives) as well as a longer guarantee.

I strongly recommend that anyone that is considering the T4, more than likely, unless money is a huge issue, you should go with the T7.  The T7 is definitely the value model.

I can't imagine that Tormek will have very good sales numbers on the T4.