Did you find the Tormek T8 packaging lacking?

[Ken S]

HM,

A couple memories from long ago come to mind: When our pulling boat at the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School (off the coast of Maine) was being blown onto a rocky shore, we threw out the sea anchor to slow things down. I suggest you throw out the sea anchor when sharpening knives. Grade your SG-250 really fine. Set your jig in the horizontal, trailing edge position. On a ship's telegraph, this might be "dead slow".

You can also try resting your wrists on the support bar. This should work in either the horizontal or horizontal position. There is a Tormek video of a knife sharpener/ demonstrator at the Atlanta knife show. He has a severe tremor. I believe he has an assistant load his jigs. Once loaded, he has sharpened thousands of knives for several years.

With practice at a slower pace, you will overcome your initial unsteady hand.

The other ancient memory is learning to drive stick shift with an early VW beetle, truly one of my high school highlights. I stalled numerous times. You are in the stalling out phase of sharpening your chisels. Just as I soon became proficient with stick shift, you will soon become proficient sharpening chisels. If your chisels are sharp, you are halfway there. I think a small, accurate square is a must. I'm sure the inexpensive Lee Valley engineer's square is plenty accurate. Mark your bevel with a black or red marker. Then touch the chisel to the grinding wheel for just a couple seconds. Examine the bevel, paying attention to the shiny metal where the marker has been removed. If this area does not look square, try adjusting the two knobs slightly.

This process involves some trial and error. However, once you get the two knobs set and tightened, you should be good to go. The trick with grinding square is to adjust before you grind too much. Practice makes perfect.

Ricko,

Most of the used Tormeks I see for sale are very senior SuperGrinds, averaging perhaps fifteen years old. These are not purchases where the owners quickly changed their minds. I suspect many of these machines have outlasted their original owners. I often get pizza for my grandchildren. The store supposedly (but rarely) has pizza already to go. I usually have to wait around five minutes for fresh, hot pizza. I am surprised with how many people will leave rather than wait five minutes. I suspect that many of the newer Tormeks for sale are from people who would not wait five minutes for pizza or spend the relatively short amount of time to master the Tormek. If there were not plenty of Tormek buyers, the prices of used units, even very old units, would not be so high. Back when I only had one Tormek, I would have jumped at the opportunity to purchase a second unit at a good price. That rarely works because too many people are willing to pay almost new for an older machine.

HM makes a very good point about the Tormek working environment. One reason I have not rushed to add a dry grinder adapted to Tormek jigs is that I like the very cool, dust and spark free safe Tormek environment.

This kind of dialogue is important. Purchasing a Tormek should be an informed decision, not a spur of the moment impulse buy.

Ken