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I purchased the Tormek to sharpen my chisels and knives. Though a bit pricey, it has turned out to be a money maker. I bought the knife and scissor jigs. I have been asked to sharpen all kinds of knives and scissors. One woodworker asked me sharpen five planes and about fifteen chisels.
The Tormek has two wheels, one for sharpening and the other for honing. To use them, you have to pick up the machine and rotate it 180 degrees. The thing is heavy! I built a rotating base shown below by sandwiching a lazy Susan roller assembly between two pieces of 1/2" melamine. The last picture shows the Tormek turned 90 degrees. Now when I go from sharpening to honing, all I have to do is remove a clevis pin, rotate the machine 180 degrees and re-insert the pin. No lifting!!!
Though not cheap, this sharpener does a really fine job sharpening tools. It's a specialty tool and does it's job very well.
I recently bought the planner/jointer blade jig. Though this is one of most expensive jigs, I figure that since a set of jointer blades is about $45 and the planner blades are $50 a set, two or three sharpening of my blades will offset the cost.
 Tormek |
 Bottom of rotating base |
 Base moved 90 degrees |
 Tormek on base |
Last Updated: March 06, 2006