Messages

I would respectfully disagree.  Nothing personal, but I hate snipers.  I bought my planer jig on ebay.  I knew how much I would be willing to pay.  If it went beyond that, someone else would own it.  While there are deals on ebay, I believe a lot of people use ebay as a retail store.  (One often with new new product warranty)

Tormek gear is not rare. I have had more success being patient and waiting until my local dealer has a show and/or 20% storewide sale.  My dealer occasionally has 20% bag sales.  Anything which fits in their sale bags is discounted.  The bags will just barely hold an SB or SJ-250 wheel.  That's how I bought them.

The world is not yet totally out of the woods from the pain from the sub prime mortgage/ hyper leverage mess our dear Wall Street brethren gave us.  I believe tool merchants will have to continue to offer occasional sales to stay afloat.

Ken

Rob,

If you are thinking nirvana, think Canadian.  Our brothers to the north have some amazing plane blades.

Veritas (Lee Valley) has that amazing new powder alloy.  Plus they flatten and polish their blade backs to tool and die shop tolerances.  Your only complaint might be that you don't get to spend enough sharpening time with it.

Rob Cosman does a very impressive series of  you tubes promoting his line of blades.  I'm thinking of the one where he puts one of his wunderblades in an old Stanley plane and happily goes about making .001" full length shavings in maple.

A third Canadian option is IBC. Their blades sound impressive as well.

I have no doubt you would be delighted with a Lie-Nielsen or Ron Hock blade.  Both are superb products.  I just happen to think in this case, Veritas has a slight "edge" (sorry about the pun).

By the way, if you are planning to use your Dad's plane, and you should, do it right and buy the combination of a new blade and a new chip breaker. move on past one of the chief plane gremlins. Give your Dad's old Stanley the full chance to sing.   I hope you will do this.

By the way, never put a L-N plane in a museum. Our museums are filled with lovely old musical instruments in pristine condition.  They are still in that condition because they looked great, but weren't very playable.  The real instruments became played out long ago.  No L-N plane deserves that fate. 

Herman,

Yes, the premium blades from Ron Hock, Lee Valley and Lie-Nielsen are quite amazing.

However, I have watched Ernie Conover tune and sharpen a couple very old Stanley planes with the original blades and then do some very fine planing with them.  Don't underestimate your Dad's oldies when lovingly tuned and sharpened.  (During that class I restored my grandfather's 1891 vintage Stanley Bailey jack plane.  It's a trooper and back on active duty.)

Ken

Herman,

  I hope you can restore your grading stone.  Whether you can or not, like my new collection of Torlock jigs in various sizes, we have learned something from our thoughts put into action.  Tuition for Tormek Design 101, if you will.  I believe we have something of value to show for our work.  We have pushed back the limitations of our skill level a little bit.  Enough little bits, and pretty soon, it starts to add up!

Ken

Regarding disposable carbide tooling:

I can see the advantage of disposable carbide tooling for industry.  Time is money, and it is much quicker to unscrew a carbide bit, throw it away, and begin again.

For a home shop or non production shop, I think that's a very unsatisfying option.  It assumes the tool users are incapable of learning how to sharpen their tools or too lazy.  Part of the satisfaction of using a very sharp tool is knowing we sharpened it and can resharpen it ourselves.  "Self sufficiency" is part of our culture, part of our psyche.

In my opinion, the real draw of some of the more expensive jigs, like the drill bit sharpening jig, is the satisfaction of being able to restore quality tools to working condition, top working condition.  That's very different than the throw away mentality.

I can resharpen, reshape, rewhatever high speed bits with the DBS-22.  If my skill won't permit all of it today, the jig is well designed.  It will be with me when my skill level develops.  Carbide, being so hard, is much more limited.  Minor touchups.  I believe the keywords here are light and often.  Don't let carbide get very dull.

I find it interesting in this era of A2 steel and powder metal alchemy that some of the top chisel and plane blade makers are also providing blades in 01 carbon steel.  Yes, 01 requires more frequent sharpening.  It will not retain sharpness as long as the more exotic steels.  However, it is more easily sharpened AND it can be sharpened more keenly and more acutely.  This is not just chisels and plane blades.  Circular saw blades and router bits of high speed steel will cut more cleanly than carbide.  They will just not cut as long.  So, the question is quality or quantity.  In saw blades and router bits, the resounding answer is usually quantity with reasonable quality.

I have been considering upgrading some of my plane blades to the newer premium blades.  01 or A2?  Tough question.  The blade for the jack plane may end up being A2.  It has to handle rough work.  The blade for the smoother will probably be 01 and need to be sharpened more frequently. It will need to be sharper to cut cleanly.

Complicating the question is the new Veritas alloy steel.  It has the toughness of A2, and the ease of sharpening and ability to handle more acute angles of 01.  It costs about a third more.  Whatever blades I buy will someday be part of my estate, and there are not many of them, so cost is a minor factor.

Back to the original question:  John, and the others, please don't fall for the trap of carbide and steels which "never need sharpening"  (that's advertisingspeak for "never really sharp")  Buy and use good tools with good steel and become proficient at maintaining and sharpening them.  You will end up with more satisfaction.

Ken

I will probably buy one of the jigs for two reasons:

1) The Tormek is a hobby for me, as well as a practical sharpening tool.  I'm curious.

2) I think the jig ideas on this forum are certainly very workable.  No problem there.  I can see the possibility that the Ionut/Herman jigs will do a better job in many situations, and, perhaps, the Tormek idea would shine in others.  The forum jigs certainly seem faster and capable of handing more situations, I like options.

Ken

John,

The best answer will come from you.  When your edge(s) start to get dull, try just using the leather honing wheel.  See how the blade cuts then.  If it cuts as well as before, you are done.  If not, try starting with the 1000 grit of the finely graded stone.  Again, see how it cuts.  If is still doesn't cut as well, go back to the 220 and work your way through.

Your tool will give you the answer better than we can. There is value in just doing it.

Keep us posted. 

Ken

Great job, Tormek AB.  You are catching up with the forum!!!!

I think it would be very sporting, since forum members have produced several ideas for sharpening small blades, if Tormek would list a discount code on the forum for free shipping if any of us order one of the new SVM-00 jigs within sixty days.  No discount, just free shipping.  How about it AB?  After all, we are "the party faithful".

Ken

"Gummy" comes to mind with grinding or machining aluminum.  I second Ionut's comments.  While doing my unsuccessful remodeling on my Torlock plate, I needed to file down the flat surface with the threaded hole for the holding screw.  I used a multicut file, which made quick and easy work of it. my belt grinder also worked very well.  Given the choice, I can easily use a file card on the file, and belts are inexpensive compared to Tormek wheels.

Pat Warner has written a very good article on routing aluminum which is available on his website (patwarner.com) for a small fee.  Any woodworker who uses a router should investigate Pat's website and books.  He's the best.

Ken

This isn't the video I mentioned, but it is a more general drilling post by Ernie.

http://www.startwoodworking.com/post/best-practices-drilling

It has several good suggestions.

the finewoodworking video seems to be member only.

Ken

Good point, Herman.  I need to brush up on my getting pixels to page.

Ken

Good job, Herman.  One knife doesn't tell the whole story, but it certainly raises some questions about interesting possibilities.  I can see how your jig might be faster for someone sharpening  lot of knives, no resetting for each knife.

Thanks for the post.

Ken

Very good posts, Tom and Herman.  My eyes are a little more open now. I had no idea they were so expensive; it makes my Lie-Nielsen chisels seem like a bargain!

When I think about it, it does seem more logical.  A good grade of steel precision machined and ground for a relatively small market.  No wonder they are expensive.

Thanks for the info.

Ken

Herman, I am curious to know your results sharpening regular kitchen knives with your new jig.  Do keep us posted.

Ken

John, I think you are off to a very good start.  Keep at it, and keep us posted.

Ken