Recent posts

#1

General Tormek Questions / Re: is my SJ-200 total loss?

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Yesterday at 11:59:28 PM

TBH I would not worry. Just use it as normal - it should be fine. Obviously you cannot use the corners or upper part of the face but sharpening normally should be fine.

#2

General Tormek Questions / Re: New member, old Tormek

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Yesterday at 11:56:54 PM

The bad news is I broke the stone.

If it is any comfort I did too. After I saw how badly damaged the shaft was I bought a new one off eBay. I got some good discounts shopping around.

I have put some SolvolAutosol (pumice paste) on the leather and that produces a good clean, bright finish to the edge

Clearly if you are getting good burr removal that is the bottom line

Is there anything I should use to re-condition the leather of the wheel,

Tormek use a light machine oil. I use Ballistol, either way that is good. Clean off any old compound, give it a liberal coating and clean off the excess and you are good to go.

#3

General Tormek Questions / Re: New member, old Tormek

Last post by Seapy - Yesterday at 11:37:36 PM

Hello, back again!  Thanks for the replies, observations and suggestions, much appreciated.

Good news and bad news, but hopefully a good outcome...

The bad news is I broke the stone.  Well, I don't know if I actually broke it or if it was already under so much stress from the corroded mounting on the shaft. Either way the stone came into two very clean halves.  Long story short, it's glued back together with some very high strength epoxy and trued up again. Perhaps I can offer an explanation why the newer stainless shafts from Tormek have a LH thread at the stone end.  The coefficient of friction between a 316 male thread on the shaft and a 316 nut is very low and even when tightened quite tightly it will unscrew with very little torque.  I have added a second nylock nut to the stack together with some very robust taper edge washers and some nice incompressible but deformable gasket material which sits under the taper edge washers to take up irregularities in the surface the stone, which is what I believe caused the stone to fracture with the expansion of the steel shaft assy. It was VERY tight both radially and axially.

I have reassembled the grinder and it works well, I am currently repairing an old oak Captains Chair and need to sharpen my wood lathe turning tools. So I needed to get the Tormek working.

I will examine the Tormek attachments and see if I can improvise/make the ones I need. Obviously the angle of sharpening is very important, 'off hand' grinding won't work here.  Although the angles are specific for particular blades, I think probably a consistent grind is as, if not more important than the exact angle.  I am well used to making tools and attachments for specific tasks, I have been doing that most of my life. Currently making a threading attachment to generate threads on my milling machine.

As for the honing wheel, it oscillates badly, will try to address that asap but for now it's just usable.  It appears to still have the leather belt and a face disk on the wheel, someone has badly gouged a ½" wide track in the outboard edge of the periphery of the leather, the remaining leather is a bit uneven but somehow the wheel needs truing to the axle axis, will look at that when I have a minute.

I have put some SolvolAutosol (pumice paste) on the leather and that produces a good clean, bright finish to the edge. I guess I need to get some proper honing paste.  Is there anything I should use to re-condition the leather of the wheel, bearing in mind it has probably never been used properly...

As for searching the shed, once all the gear has gone, they are going to demolish the shed and return the area to garden lawn and flowers, I will bide my time and help with the final clear out and demolition, it's possible there may be other attachment but I doubt it, we have looked in most corners and crevices already! LOL

I have tried to post a pic but the file is too large, will make some low res JPEGs to post when I get a minute...

Kind regards, Robert

#4

General Tormek Questions / is my SJ-200 total loss?

Last post by miskermans - Yesterday at 08:37:20 PM

Sorry for the painful picture but this happened after a tool that was suspended above my Tormek accidently fell down. I had this stone for about 6 months only and now there is this big chip thanks to my own fault. Only options I can think of is to true away the entire outer damaged part with the TT50, or buy new.

Who has other ideas?

#5

General Tormek Questions / Re: Tormek Supergrind 2000 (sq...

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Yesterday at 11:10:31 AM

etched, drilled, and soldered the circuit boards ourselves. We also sawed, drilled, and filed the housing. We even screen-printed the front panel

That takes me back. You don't get much of that these days. It did look like a custom job from the original picture

#6

General Tormek Questions / Re: Sharp-Nado Sharpening Stat...

Last post by tgbto - Yesterday at 08:39:52 AM

The ultimate advantage : due do the differences in heights and materials of the stones, what's left of your knife plays "Mary had a little lamb" when banging on the Sharpnado !

#7

General Tormek Questions / Re: Tormek Supergrind 2000 (sq...

Last post by andicugino - Yesterday at 08:00:01 AM

I'm glad that worked well for you. My understanding is that once you do get it down to bare metal it will immediately start to form a light rust on the bare surfaces. Normally one would apply oil to prevent that, but of course you wouldn't want to do that to a surface you're going to paint. I don't know if you should just let it rust, rub with #0000 steel wool, and then immediately apply a primer designed to bond with the rust.

After removing the rust, I sanded the Tormek with abrasive fleece and then rubbed it with acetone. So far, no new rust has formed. The painter wanted to blast it with glass beads before powder coating. So actually, I could have saved myself the trouble of removing the rust and paint.

By the way, andicugino, can you tell me what you're using for a power supply? I see it in the photograph of you performing the electrolysis. I'm interested in a good quality battery charger. I'm afraid the tiny one I have is damaging the batteries I'm charging.
 

I couldn't use my really cheap battery charger because it has a short circuit detection feature. I think any inexpensive laboratory power supply will do.

Mine is a unique handmade piece. I built the power supply almost 35 years ago during my first year of vocational training. In the vocational school we etched, drilled, and soldered the circuit boards ourselves. We also sawed, drilled, and filed the housing. We even screen-printed the front panel.

Andi

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#8

General Tormek Questions / Re: Tormek Supergrind 2000 (sq...

Last post by John Hancock Sr - Yesterday at 12:46:49 AM

now I can't find it in the stores

We have about three different brands of the stuff in our local hardware. It has various proprietary names, rust eater, rustoleum et al. They all have rust in their names.

#9

General Tormek Questions / Re: Tormek Supergrind 2000 (sq...

Last post by Herman Trivilino - April 02, 2025, 02:03:28 PM

The rust removal with electrolysis worked very well.

I'm glad that worked well for you. My understanding is that once you do get it down to bare metal it will immediately start to form a light rust on the bare surfaces. Normally one would apply oil to prevent that, but of course you wouldn't want to do that to a surface you're going to paint. I don't know if you should just let it rust, rub with #0000 steel wool, and then immediately apply a primer designed to bond with the rust. Years ago this type of primer was touted by manufacturers as all the rage, but it seems that now I can't find it in the stores. Perhaps it's been incorporated into all good metal primers.

By the way, andicugino, can you tell me what you're using for a power supply? I see it in the photograph of you performing the electrolysis. I'm interested in a good quality battery charger. I'm afraid the tiny one I have is damaging the batteries I'm charging.
 

#10

General Tormek Questions / Re: Tormek Supergrind 2000 (sq...

Last post by Herman Trivilino - April 02, 2025, 01:52:53 PM

Andi, I just painted mine flat black because I had a rattle can of that again left over from some previous project, but whatever color you choose I recommend a semi-gloss or satin finish rather than flat. On the other hand, flat paint makes the telegraphing of ridges around the old rust spots less apparent. Depends I guess on whether you want to go for easier cleaning or better looks. 

Actually, I recently realized that it's not flat black, it's probably semi-gloss. That makes for easier clean up.