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#1

General Tormek Questions / Re: Review of the Tormek TS-74...

Last post by Hoonigan - Today at 09:02:18 AM

OP bought his Sharpening Station for $699 back in Dec, 2015. Less than 11 years later and on the Tormek website it costs $1069. That's about a 53% increase. Who's salary has gone up by 53% in the past 11 years?

Thank you America for the forever wars no one voted for. Thank you for causing inflation by printing money and going into trillions of dollars of debt; the hidden tax on the middle and lower class no one voted for. Thank you for destroying the global oil and gas markets.

In summary, buy as many Tormek TS-740 Sharpening Stations as you can. They'll probably cost over $2,000 by 2035. It's a good hedge against the stock market, crypto, and gold.

please note first and second amendments at the bottom of this post.

Before I get into this review, I would like to mention two things which effect anyone purchasing a Tormek TS-740 Sharpening Station:

First: The TS-740 is the only Tormek product I know of where it can pay to do comparison shopping with several authorized dealers. The problem is the present consumer craze for "free shipping". At the time of this writing, the official retail price for the TS-740 is $699. This price does not include shipping, and the shipping weight is 93 pounds. Living in Ohio, I found shipping costs ranging from $38 to $74 US. I have found dealer prices as high as $849 with "free shipping". I suggest getting several prices with and without "free shipping". As always, my first choice would be my local Tormek dealer.

Second: The TS-740 is shipped in a double box with some styrofoam padding. Under normal shipping conditions, this is probably adequate. In my case, I happened to order during the height of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday insanity. I noticed one side of the bottom of the box was slightly crunched. When I opened the box in my basement, I noticed that one corner of the top was slightly dented in. Three minutes work with a pry bar, hammer and round metal tool straightened the situation, leaving only slightly damaged paint. For me, this was not enough of a problem to warrant the hassle of returning it. However, if you are more particular, do not accept a damaged shipping box.

Now, for my impressions of the Sharpening Station. Be sure to watch Alan Holtham's video review. I found Alan's review well done. I like the size of the Sharpening Station. It is large enough to get the job done and at the same time does have a very small footprint. It fits very nicely in a corner of my workshop near my bench. My original plan was to place the TS-740 far enough out to allow me to work on all four sides. For the present, I altered that plan by placing the TS-740 nearer the wall and relying on the Rotating Base. Time will tell which arrangement I prefer.

I believe the storage size is a good compromise. I have a lot of Tormek "stuff", including several grinding wheels. Included are several duplicate jigs as well as jigs and set up tools I have made. Not all of my stuff fits in the six drawers of the TS-740. This would not be a problem for most users. In fact, it is not a problem for me. There is plenty of storage for both the things I use regularly and the things I use only occasionally.

The planer jig, which I have never used, did not make the cut. I keep it on a nearby shelf.

At first, I did not like the idea of storing the grinding wheels "outboard". This preference changed when I began using the extra grinding wheels more. The problem is that the grinding wheels stay damp for several days. The hooks work well for allowing the damp wheels to dry.

I have not decided if I will store the wheels on the hooks once dry, or whether I will continue to keep them in their boxes on the same shelf as the planer jig.

My unit came with the Rubber Work Mat instead of the Composite Surface. I don't know which is now standard. (my unit also came with a Tormek hat, so it may have originally been part of a promotion). I already have a Tormek rubber mat, which I like very much, so I have no complaints about receiving the rubber mat instead of the composite surface. The Sharpening Station and Rubber Work Mat are nicely sized together. As I stated earlier, the combination is large enough to get the job done, but has a minimal footprint.

I think incorporating the foam tool holder inserts is a clever design feature. I will begin working with them in place. In my case, I suspect at some point I will probably remove them. This reflects my personal work preferences rather than being a comment about the foam inserts.

I like the combination of having the two top drawers shallower and the four lower drawers deeper. That seems like practical design to me. Following the "foam plan", the second shallow drawer holds the basic (included with the T7) Tormek jigs and accessories. This leaves the very important top drawer for my necessities (bevel and regular markers; metric Allen wrenches; ¾" (19mm) wrench; kenjigs and other set up tools, and a lot of etc.

I have recycled the box which originally held my spare 105 Universal Support Bar into "Tormek parts". This box holds the two spare micro adjust rings I purchased for an idea which did not prove successful. The original nut for the T4 leather honing wheel is here. I replaced it with a T7 wrenchless nut. I made up several spacer pieces of plastic pipe to hold the shaft in place while transporting a Tormek with the grinding wheel removed. They reside here. The smaller shaped leather honing rings are here, also.Either the parts box or the planer jig was the last thing to make the cut. I chose the parts box.

In front of the parts box I keep some very rarely used jigs. I purchased an earlier version of the square edge jig for mortise chisels. I have a spare TT-50 and a spare scissors jig (a someday project to become one of Herman's HK-50 jigs).

The bottom drawer holds the DBS-22 drill bit jig in the back. In the front is my original water trough. The trough presently holds my compounds: spare Tormek honing compound; valve grinding compound; and lithium grease.

In general, I have been quite satisfied with the design and build quality of the Sharpening Station. If I were assigning a star rating to it, I would give a solid four stars, perhaps four and a half stars. Having a slightly dented corner (which I repaired) from inadequate packaging caused me to deduct some points. Also, one of the screw in feet would only screw in halfway before jamming. The screw in feet look solid and well made. The problem appears to be in the female thread. This was only an annoyance for me, as I am five feet ten inches tall and did not need the lowest range of the height adjustment.

I would purchase this unit again, however, I would watch the package condition closely. I unloaded and set it up myself, with the help of an appliance dolly.  Ideally, I would recommend it be a two person job.

I will update this post from time to time as I settle in to using the TS-740 Sharpening Station.

Ken

First amendment: Following a suggestion from Stig, I found that the obstruction of the one foot screw thread was just a minor blockage. (maybe just some paint or plastic) In fact, if I had used a wrench and some force, I might have broken through it. I initially used just my fingers. Instead, I ran a 5/8" NC thread tap through it which quite easily dislodged the blockage. The blockage is still unTormeklike in my opinion, but I have downgraded it to a minor nuisance.

Second amendment: Having to repair the thread turned out to be a positive learning experience. I was surprised how easy working with the Sharpening Station turned out to be. Removing everything from the drawers took only a couple minutes. I locked the empty drawers and tipped the chest on to the front. The original cardboard box protected the paint. For a heavy object, it is not clumsy to work with.

I noticed that the drawers have ball bearings to help absorb the load. Kennedy chests have these, too, but only in the premium chests. The ball bearings are a bit of overkill in the Tormek chest, however, they are indicative of not skipping on quality. My 4.8 star rating has become 4.8. The 5/8" thread is also a nice bit of over kill.

Another nice feature, not fully expounded in Alan Hotham's review is the drawer liners. There is a full pack of six included, not just three. Nice touch, Tormek.

#2

General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...

Last post by av8r - Yesterday at 08:08:46 PM

If you are sharpening customer's knives I would recommend against altering the bolster unless you have shown them what it will look like and have written authorization. Some knives also have a hollow bolster that you could grind into. The other thing I do to prevent scratching is to use painter's tape beneath the clamping area.

No customers, just our knives and those from friends/family.  No charge, ever. 
"Never make your hobby your work" or something like that.

#3

General Tormek Questions / Re: test

Last post by John_B - Yesterday at 07:10:33 PM

One thing that's helped me is making small adjustments and testing the edge after each pass instead of trying to correct everything at once. It makes it much easier to dial in the setup and avoid removing more material than necessary.

I think you posted in the wrong thread

#4

General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...

Last post by John_B - Yesterday at 07:08:52 PM

If you are sharpening customer's knives I would recommend against altering the bolster unless you have shown them what it will look like and have written authorization. Some knives also have a hollow bolster that you could grind into. The other thing I do to prevent scratching is to use painter's tape beneath the clamping area.

#5

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by kwakster - Yesterday at 06:50:36 PM

Spyderco Southard with CTS-204P blade, which has been in use for a few years now with a Dutch scout leader.
It has already been sharpened several times by him on stones, plus two times by me on Paper Wheels (once up to 6 micron diamond compound, and once up to 15 micron diamond, the latter performing noticeably longer for the owner)

This time the knife was reprofiled from about 30 degrees inclusive to 25 degrees inclusive with a standard Paper Wheel with 220 grit SiC, then deburred with a second Paper Wheel with 0.25 micron diamond compound.

This produces a polished semi-coarse edge with an aggressive bite, as the knife is going to be used to cut a lot of 10 mm polyprop rope in the coming weeks.





The owner just informed me how the edge on his Southard is doing so far.
He had used the tip of the knife to cut open about 50 dusty/dirty cardboard boxes filled with porcelain mugs, and this resulted in blunting that tip to a point that it could only barely cut copy paper.
But according to the owner this was most likely due to the fact that the tip hit the mugs every now & then.

After all 50 boxes were opened & emptied the Southard was used to cut down each box, which he measured to be a total of about 80 meters or 262 feet of cardboard.
Afterwards the edge was still able to easily shave the hair from his legs (except about 15 mm of the tip), and the owner feels that the knife isn't due for a touch-up yet.
He also noticed that the CTS-204P steel holds this edge noticeably longer than the S30V steel in his Spyderco Sage, which he had sharpened himself and used earlier for the same job

#6

General Tormek Questions / Re: test

Last post by KaithyHong - Yesterday at 11:43:53 AM

One thing that's helped me is making small adjustments and testing the edge after each pass instead of trying to correct everything at once. It makes it much easier to dial in the setup and avoid removing more material than necessary.

#7

General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...

Last post by av8r - Yesterday at 04:38:16 AM

Yes, bolstered knives and yes I have been working one side too much before moving to the other.  I suspected this was the issue or part of it so I'm glad for the confirmation.  Stone is true/square so it is my technique causing the recurve or smile. 

Thank you

By dishing do you mean à slight recurve or as I call it a smile?
Is this happening on all knives or particularly those with bolsters?
If it's a general occurrence I would suggest alternating your passes each time, don't work one side of the blade until you get a burr and then go to the other side. Work each side of the blade one pass, heel to tip then flip. Heel to tip on the other side then flip, one pass etc.
If it's bolstered knives in particular then you are over grinding at the heel due to the bolster getting in your way. Consider grinding down that bolster unit it is no longer impacting the process.
I don't think it's your stone causing this unless it's very much out of true. At the very least re square it to eliminate this variable.
I had a similar problem to start with but the practice of continually flipping the blade after each pass largely put paid to this problem. You will find a way with your technique to stop this happening.

#8

General Tormek Questions / Re: T8 user, starting to get b...

Last post by Sir Amwell - Yesterday at 01:04:04 AM

By dishing do you mean à slight recurve or as I call it a smile?
Is this happening on all knives or particularly those with bolsters?
If it's a general occurrence I would suggest alternating your passes each time, don't work one side of the blade until you get a burr and then go to the other side. Work each side of the blade one pass, heel to tip then flip. Heel to tip on the other side then flip, one pass etc.
If it's bolstered knives in particular then you are over grinding at the heel due to the bolster getting in your way. Consider grinding down that bolster unit it is no longer impacting the process.
I don't think it's your stone causing this unless it's very much out of true. At the very least re square it to eliminate this variable.
I had a similar problem to start with but the practice of continually flipping the blade after each pass largely put paid to this problem. You will find a way with your technique to stop this happening.

#9

General Tormek Questions / T8 user, starting to get blade...

Last post by av8r - July 22, 2026, 01:42:18 PM

I've been using my T8 with the supplied stone wheel for a few years.  This weekend I sharpened about 40 knives for family/friends and some ended up with some "dishing" (may not be the correct word) near the heel of the blade.  I check the true of my wheel before every session and don't apply heavy pressure (I think) when sharpening.  2 of the knives are my own kitchen knives and I've not noticed this happening before.  Any suggestions on what to look for or change in my technique?

#10

Knife Sharpening / Re: Paper Wheels

Last post by kwakster - July 21, 2026, 06:22:02 PM

Recovered some pictures from an old harddisk.
Several years ago i got sent these two user Emerson folders from neighboring country Belgium; a Commander model with a Krein regrind and a CQC7 model.
The owner was unable to get them sharp again with only his Sharpmaker, and the request was also to give the new edges a bit of bling.

As they came in:






After sharpening/polishing.









On the CQC7 i made the asymmetric bevel a bit wider to remove all different scratch patterns, and just touched up the existing mini-bevel on the other side.







Both knives could now be easily touched up on the Sharpmaker again and the owner was happy, :-)