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Thanks, Herman.  I hope you are enjoying Ron Hock's book.  He also has an interesting blog on his website.

Ken

My gut feeling is that most of us (including me) have not practiced enough with the leather honing wheel to be proficient.  A number of us have become proficient with the 8000 grit water stones.  I believe at this point, we are comparing proficiency with lack of proficiency.  (Note to self: spend some disciplined practice time with the honing wheel.)

Ken 

Rob (and forum), below is posted a rewrite including some of the more international terms and a slight modification of my chisel recommendation. I included only the paper sharpness demonstrated by Jeff on the videos for simplicity. It was an easy copy, paste, edit and maybe took five minutes to complete the changes.  As such, it can be readily changed again if need be.

I hope more members will comment (you, too, Jeff).

Ken




Using a Tormek is like driving a manual gearbox ("stick shift" for us on this side of the pond) car.  There is a bit of a learning curve, one which thousands of users have completed successfully.  Here is our advice to develop your "clutch foot".

Spend some time becoming very familiar with the videos on the tormek.com abd sharptoolsusa.com websites.  You may have found them before even purchasing your Tormek.  Read your Tormek handbook; do not be afraid to make it your own by highlighting and flagging.  Keep it nearby.

Every Tormek user should have a permanent marker. The permanent marker, as shown in the videos and handbook, allows the user to quickly verify grinding angles.  It is an essential tool.

The first tool you should learn to sharpen is a chisel.  Regardless of what your intended use for your Tormek, if you can sharpen a chisel proficiently and fluently, you can learn other tools. A chisel is the  simplest edge to grind.  It is ground square, not angled.  The bevel angle of 25 to 30 degrees is an easy range to duplicate.  Unlike most knives, only one bevel is ground.  The full range of the Tormek is used in sharpening a chisel, initial grinding with the stone graded coarse; finer grinding with the stone graded fine; and finally, stropped with the leather honing wheel.

An excellent first chisel is the Irwin 3/4" Blue Chip chisel.  Why an Irwin 3/4" Blue Chip chisel?  During various posts on this forum, 3/4" has emerged as the most practical width chisel for learning how to use the Tormek.  The Blue Chip chisel has enough blade length to be a very usable first learning tool. The steel is good carbon steel. The sides are also ground square to the back of the blade with no rounding over (which would interfere with preparing the back for sharpening).  Irwin acquired Joseph Marples, the fine company which had made these good chisels for a very long time.  And, on a very practical level, these chisels are very reasonably priced.  At this writing they are available on Amazon for $8.51.  A set of four (1/4 to 1" is also available for about $25 for those who would like several practice chisels.  They are also working standard tools in many shops.  Your choice of chisel brand is completely up to you.  Please at least consider the Blue Chip as a starting reference guide.

Do not just sharpen this chisel once before moving on.  Blunt the edge with a hammer or file several times and restore the edge until you become proficient.  During these practice sessions you will learn a lot about machine.  Learn to listen to the sound of the grinding.  Learn to become sensitive to the feel of the  grinding.  Learn to be consistent in setting up your machine.  Learn what a truly sharp edge is, and what it can do. There are several methods of testing for sharpness.  Jeff's paper method (as shown on the sharptoolsusa.com videos is a good starting place.

Even if you do not intend to do woodworking, go through these exercises with your chisel.  And, keep the chisel nearby.  Eventually a day come when your sharpening is going badly. On that day, you can return to sharpening your chisel. This will simplify your troubleshooting.  If you can match your initial sharpening, your basic machine and wheel are functioning properly.  If not, this exercise will point you in the correct direction to solve the problem.

Getting a mindset for the grinding wheel:

All too often, new users approach the grinding wheel with a sense of reverence and feel a need to preserve it.  While proper use is important, it should be remembered that the grinding wheel is designed to be worn away during use.  Look at the wheel as you would a set of good tires or brake linings.  Good care extends their useful life, however, they are designed to be worn out.

The Tormek wheel is designed to be used as either a coarse wheel or a finer wheel, depending on how the grading stone is used.  The wheel actually has a third grading when freshly dressed with the TT-50 diamond dresser (more coarse).   Do not try to squeeze a bit more life out of your wheel or a bit of time off the sharpening operation by skipping the grading operation.  Proper use of the grader is well covered in the videos and handbook.  Follow these instructions!

Be patient and persevere.  Your Tormek skills will quickly develop.  Please feel free to participate in the forum.  We welcome you.

I have no problem with including other terms (eg. manual gearbox). Why not use both?  "Permanent marker" is fine for the brand name Sharpie.

I do have a problem with omitting the chisel information.  The reason for my specific recommendation is to steer beginners away from  chisels which have very short blades; over polished chisels where the intersection of the back and sides is rounded; and poorly manufactured chisels.  I chose the Irwin successor to Marples because I believe it should be available in most areas (through Amazon, if not locally) and is not expensive.

I would suggest narrowing the choice of sharpness tests to one or two at most.  My suggestion would be the plastic pen test and the paper test Jeff demonstrates on the videos.

I would like to see the version which remains in the sticky as concise and cleaned up as possible.  No need to put my name with it.

Ken

Jeff, your suggestion to just cut the table area and not the mounting area is just the ticket!  It's too late for one of my SVD-110s, but I am looking at the other one and the bandsaw!. 

It would work better than my configuration, as it utilizes the longer part of the table.  It works fine with the standard Tormek plastic head bolt.  That also makes it very easy to adjust. place or remove.

Good job, Jeff.

Ken

ps The aluminum was easy to cut with the bandsaw blade.

Thanks, Jeff;

Ken

Good thought, Jeff.  However, with the short version there is no overhang on either side.

Ken

A not so macho alternative to the thumbnail would be a plastic pen.  (Not orginal with me; I forget the source.)

Ken

I wish I could help you, Mike.  I'm not very good with the honing wheel, either.  Have you tried the finest diamond paste on a wood block?

Wow! A Lie-Nielsen Shoot board plane!  That's a serious tool.  The closest I've come to one is my (unused) old Lion Trimmer.  The 51 seems just the ticket for crisp fitting miters. I can see where you would want that blade (at the very least) razor sharp. Please post your thoughts after using it.

Ken

According to the scholars at the local Irish pub, it was St. Patrick who discovered our country.

And, we didn't steel the inch.  We won it fair and square in a poker game with the First Earl of Grantham.

Ken

Older texts (before hardened teeth) routinely show bandsaw sharpening procedures.  Hardened teeth might necessitate a change to a harder tool. 

This seems like a task to  be begun when not in a hurry or distracted (and with a 3 tpi blade!).  With a 3tpi blade, even if you only start with sharpening 24 teeth and taking a break, you are 10% of the way done........

Ken

Good thought, Mark.  However, I think we can do all that in house.  My thought would be to start with a submitted document (or documents) and have forum members post thoughts, other suggestions, changes, etc.  With things like copy/paste and bold/italics, it would be easy to note suggested changes, additions or deletions.

Once we arrive at a document we are happy with, Jeff, as moderator, could copy paste it to the newly created sticky. 

Should suggested changes pop up at a later date, using the same cut/copy/paste method would not be a major project for the moderator.

I'm for keeping the whole thing as simple and direct as possible.

Ken

Thanks for the comments, Elden and Mark.  I like the Getting Started Manual idea.

Ken

Elden,

I'm not too slick with links.  Here's a low tech copy paste:


Ken S
Hero Member

Posts: 559
 

inspired by Ionut and Herman
« on: Yesterday at 10:15:54 pm »
QuoteModify
Back during the time period when Ionut made his small knife blade jig, I posted a couple ideas.  One was for a wooden jig, similar to Ionut's.  The other was essentially sawing an SVD-110 in half.  That would allow a small blade to be held on either side of the wheel, as the table would be about the same width as the wheel.

I purchased a second SVD-110 at the time, and never got around to finish the jig. 

Herman inspired me with his jig.

this afternoon I got out the SVD-110s.  one had two holes for holding screws.  I measured off a line about 1 7/8" from one side and headed toward the bandsaw.  My 1/2" 3 tpi blade made short work of the cut through the extruded aluminum.  Surprisingly, the cut was almost as smooth as the factory cut.

I knew I would need to turn the jig around to get close enough to the wheel.  I had purchased a regular 6mm short bolt to substitute for the Tormek knob.

Alas, the bolt was still too long.  I ground down the bolt on the belt grinder.  Still too long.  I filed down the threaded surface on the jig.  Still too long.  At this point I am unable to get close enough for a 20 degree bevel.

I have not given up.  I will attach something, either wood or metal on top of the jig.  It will work in time.  For now, I have an SVD-110, an SVD-70 and an SVD-45.  (wow!)

still plugging along.....

Ken

Poor Jeff.  He must have thought the Tormek world went to hell in a hand basket while his computer was down.