Tormek T-7, ideal if you need to sharpen daily :)


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We love our Tormek T-7. Since we purchased one of these from Axminster late last year, we have been blown away by its ease of use and excellent results.

 

As a Joinery company based in Chester (UK), having sharp chisels and plane irons is a must. We use these tools on a daily basis, whether it being for cutting in hinges for doors, installing locks, joining wood, or planning, we have to make sure they are all in top form for each job we undertake.

 

Up until purchase point, our preferred method was with a honing guide and wetstone. Now I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with this method, and i know that you can achieve much sharper results by hand, but for us it felt that we were spending more time sharpening than actually chiselling. As with the nature of working on site goes, especially with carrying tools around on a daily basis, they do tend to take more abuse than they would if they were working in a workshop all day. Accidently hitting a nail which shouldn’t be there could mean ½ hours of grinding away to achieve a good honed edge again.

 

So this is where the Tormek T-7 comes in. I can now sharpen a set of 6 chisels from dull to sharp in about 15 minutes. I when I say sharp, I mean sharp. So sharp in fact that by gracing the chisels on the back of your arm, these things can cut hair….. I can now see why Tormek include a pack of plasters with the kit!

 

The basic premise of the Tormek is 1 large waterstone sharpens your tool in 2 stages, firstly to a course 250 gritt for initial grinding, then to a 1000 grit for honing . This is achieved by a double sided stone grader, which when pressed against the wetstone, gives the user the two grit option. After this is completed, the second leather honing wheel is then used  for honing the chisel further.

 

The beauty about using the Tormek T-7 is the consistency. I sharpen my chisels to a 25 degree primary bevel, and my  plane irons at various angles. This can be repeated time and time again, with no hastle at all. It’s as simple as putting your chosen tool into the jig, setting the angle, and away you go. The supplied jig is easy to use, easy to set up, and the fine adjustment system means uncompromised accuracy every time.

 

There is no need to worry about overheating your tool either, as the whole stone runs in a waterbath, which again is easy to fill up, and has an extension if needed for catching every last drop of excess water if you choose to sharpen larger tools.  The magnet at the bottom of the trough is also a well thought out addition, which catches swarf.

 

To put it bluntly (sorry, had to get that in somewhere), this is a seriously well made machine, with a heavy duty motor, that is made for one purpose, and one purpose only, to sharpen.  It’s not cheap, at £500 it did make me gulp, but the time I used to spend sharpening my chisels can now be spent on my business and customers jobs.

 

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i prefer to use two bench grinders one with a normal wheel for grinding,  a white wheel for sharpening so my steel stays cooler longer, A second grinder that i reverse the motor on   a mdf or paper wheel for honing, and finaly a loose felt wheel for nocking the burr off.  i have spent a grand total 150-200 dollers in wheels, garage sale grinders and tables for the grinders.  as a turner and starting carver i have to sharpen hourly.  so the honing wheel realy comes in handy for geting my razor sharp edges back on gouges and carving knives.

 

hmmmm it also sounds like your trying to sell a tormek or represent the company :)

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Ha ha... i dont work for tormek, honestly

 

I dont normally do reviews, but i was impressed with the tormek so i thought i'd give one. In future review posts maybe i need to be a bit more critical :)

 

For me i like the fact that its all one unit, and i guess thats what your paying for. The fact that i can get chisels sharp again at the end of the day, and that fact i dont need to swap between 3 or 4 wheels is quite valuable to me. It also has a jig for my jointer blades which i like too.

 

Your set up sound's good though, its whatever works i guess. There's nothing quite like adapting or getting tools second had and refurbishing them so they suite your needs.

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Hi steve, thanks for the response, yes the planer knife jig is great, and easily pays for itself after one or two sharpening. Dont know what any of the other jigs are like, just have the chisel/ plane jig and the planer knife jig.

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I use my Tormek to establish the primary bevel and Natural Japanese Waterstones for secondary, final polishing, etc.  I really improved the performance of the Tormek by replacing the factory wheel with an aftermarket Japanese Waterstone Wheel designed for the Tormek.  These days, Tormek markets one of their own and don't know how it performs, but I do know that the aftermarket wheel (approx #4000 grit) that I got outperforms the stock wheel -- faster stock removal and higher-quality polish...

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Mark,

 

+1 on the Tormek. Had them in the workshop now for a very long time. On our second one now after wearing the other one out! Great when you are working on a wide variety of projects such as window repair (breaking chunks out of the blade) or letting in ironmongery (super sharp time). The Tormek makes it easy. 

 

For my own personal/not work set of tools I'm giving Paul Sellers diamond plate method a try.

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I've a Tormek for many years, but no longer use it for bench chisels and plane irons.

 

For straight blades, I built a simple angle setting jig and use XC-C-XF-F DMT plates, and 4000 and 8000 grit waterstones.  Normal sharpening takes seconds on the 4000 and 8000 grit stones.  If an edge is damaged, or the micro bevel gets wider than ~ 1/8", a few quick passes on the diamonds, 5 degrees lower than the micro, has me back in business in seconds.  I don't power grind them at all.  The DMT's are the best thing I've seen for backs of irons, too..

 

I absolutely LOVE the Tormek for carving and turning tools, and for all the blades I can't use in the jig above, including axes, scissors, kitchen knives, and so on...  It's a very well made tool.

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