Easy tool honing with the Tormek

[Brad Winesett]

I thought I would share the jig that I designed and built for honing on the Tormek. It might help the other 10 people in the world that still uses the Tormek for gouges Anyway, the thing that I always hated with the Tormek was that you had to remove the universal support bar (usb) after sharpening, flip it over, then adjust it with the tool setter jig in order to hone your gouges on the leather wheel. Then repeat the whole process again to go back to sharpening. It is simple to do but takes time and you don't always get the usb set perfectly in the same spot every time. So, I built the auxiliary tool bar shown in my pictures. It mounts onto the Tormek usb and can be independently adjusted and it allows the gouge to rotate fully left and right. I have been using this for over 2 years and it works great. I never have to move anything so my alignment for sharpening and honing stay perfect every time. I have a diamond stone so I never need to adjust for stone wear either.

 

[Mike Novak]

Nice! I may try to make a version of this.

 

[RichColvin]

I like this.

 

[Brad Winesett]

The round bar is made out of stainless steel which is probably a little overkill. This threads into the base which is made out of aluminum. Then I just used some threaded knobs to hold it to the Tormek usb.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

I’ve never felt the need to hone my bowl gouges. Since I equipped my Tormek with a 600 grit diamond wheel the finish is excellent the gouge seems to stay sharper longer. Can’t you use the gouge jig directly on the honng wheel. I thought that was a benefit to the Tormek setup.

I think there are more of us using The Tormek for bowl go Yes than you think. It’s fast, easy, and the result is really a high quality edge.

 

[Brad Winesett]

I’ve never felt the need to hone my bowl gouges. Since I equipped my Tormek with a 600 grit diamond wheel the finish is excellent the gouge seems to stay sharper longer. Can’t you use the gouge jig directly on the honng wheel. I thought that was a benefit to the Tormek setup.

I think there are more of us using The Tormek for bowl go Yes than you think. It’s fast, easy, and the result is really a high quality edge.

Yes, you can use the SVD-186 gouge jig directly on the honing wheel but in order to do so you have to remove the universal support bar and flip it over to be in front of the honing wheel. I use the SVD-186 with my "jig". My "jig" is an additional support bar that attaches to the Tormek bar so that you don't have to take the Tormek bar off and on every time to switch it between grinding and honing.

I have the 600 grit diamond wheel also, but for me honing it makes the tool much sharper than grinding alone. I many times will just free hand my gouges on the honing wheel if I just need to freshen them up slightly for my finish cut.

 

[Randy Heinemann]

@Brad Winesett Freehand huh. A better sharpener than I. The only way to get any consistency for me is to use a jig no matter what I’m sharpening.

 

[Michael Beswick]

Brilliant- I curse having to move the Tormec usb. What is the dimension between the position of the stainless round bar of your jig and the usb? (The height of the upstand in the aluminium)

 

[Bill Boehme]

Very nice solution. If using a diamond wheel and composite honing wheel it appears that your fixture won’t ever need to be moved. I am wondering if turning your fixture over so that the tool handle could be dropped lower would make it easier to hone a bowl gouge.

In addition to you and me, I know more than eight other Tormek users so I suspect that there are many other Tormek (and clone) users out there who haven’t yet felt the need to come out of the closet. For the record, I have been an unapologetic Tormek user for over 24 years.

This thread has been promoted to the Tutorials & Tips forum.

 

[Michael Beswick]

Just noticed yours is a T7, so probably has 250mm wheel. Mines a T4 so 200 and 150m for the honing wheel. So different dimensions!

 

[henry dalton]

What a great idea!

 

[Michael Beswick]

n addition to you and me, I know more than eight other Tormek users so I suspect that there are many other Tormek (and clone) users out there who haven’t yet felt the need to come out of the closet. For the record, I have been an unapologetic Tormek user for over 24 years.

Over this side of the pond too!

 

[Robert Santore]

Anyway, the thing that I always hated with the Tormek was

Yes!! . . . and when you consider how often you want to touch up your gouge when turning, moving the USB and back each time is a major pain.

I've tried free-hand on the honing wheel (or on a separate leather belt) just for this reason, but your solution is brilliant. Given that you've been doing this for some time I'm guessing you find it worth doing, so . . . What have you noticed as the benefit? Do you always hone or just for certain cuts? Is the relative improvement the same for cuts on the wings vs nose?

 

[Randy Heinemann]

There seems to be no reason why any Tormek user would be "in the closet". While I have found that sharpening bench chisels and plane blades is a little difficult (and have easier, at least as effective, methods for doing these), there is nothing faster, easier, and better than maintaining my turning tools on the Tormek. This is especially true with a 600 grit diamond wheel. One pass a couple of times during a bowl gives me an immediate sharp edge that lasts. I sometimes can rough out a bowl without even sharpening and then keep it more sharp while finishing it. It did take me about 15-20 years after I bought the Tormek to use it regularly but the jigs now available are better and those I would use are improved since 20 years ago.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Posted many times in this forum that I use a Griz clone. Ive used it since I started turning ~10 yrs ago. I use it for gouges, but use a bench grinder for other turning tools. I considered developing something to not have to swap over the tool bar, but after some testing I did not observe a benefit to honing any turning tools except the skew and bedan, and they are easy to freehand hone on the wheel.

I use the wet grinder to create primary bevels on 01 steel plane blades and chisels as its quicker than by hand, but the rest of sharpening/resharpening is by hand with a jig.

 

[Brad Winesett]

Bill - If you look at my pic labeled "tool-rotated", I show my gouge rotated fully to the right. I can rotate the gouge the same amount on my auxiliary bar as I can on the usb. My first design just had a straight bar that was in the same plane as the usb. That design worked but it did limit the rotation. The elevated design that I use now gives me full range of motion to hone gouges.

Michael - The vertical distance from the centerline of the auxiliary to the centerline of the usb is 1.27 inches.

Robert - I always hone my gouges every time that I sharpen them. I use the Tormek 600 grit diamond stone and I personally can tell a difference in sharpness when I hone and remove the burr after sharpening. I also have the Tormek leather profile wheels and I believe they help as much as the standard honing wheel. For the profile wheels, I just freehand the inside of the gouges.

I made the joke about being only "1 of the 10" people in the world that hone gouges on a Tormek because no one in my local turning club has even heard of a Tormek. I'll talk about sharpening with a wet stone or mention Tormek and everyone literally has no idea what I am talking about. May just be the part of Virginia that I am in but I am definitely the oddball.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Brad, thanks for the clarification. The picture is worth a thousand words.

I had a similar experience when I started turning. Everybody in my club and also online said don't use a Tormek, use a dry grinder.