All Reviews for ToolShed Wet Grinder/Sharpener

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  • Karl 20-08-2023

    wet stone grinder ,, decent but not quite there

    I picked one up on Friday after work and had a good play over the weekend
    the build quality of the machine is way better than the other copies I have seen wheels run straight and true and the grinding wheel had no wobbles or left right or up/down , the wheel was very square on the edges, The support rest had a dint in it stopping the tool holding sliding smoothly ( wet n dry soon fixed it) .
    the universal frame was pretty sturdy but not perfectly flat, a bit of distortion where the threaded stub welds to to smooth bar , making the barlift slightly towards the end .
    The play in the holes where the universal frames slides into are a fair bit larger than the bar , once in place before with one knob tightened there is about a 7mm lift up/down at the guide end due to the hole sizes . the same for the horizontal holes . speaking of these, weird the frame will not slide all the way in when the rest is at the grindstone , but flip it over to the Honing wheel and it does , I checked another display model and it was the same.
    sharpening a 40mm chisel .
    I had a 40mm Marples battle worn bevel chisel that i had pre ground on my bench grinder ( nope it didn't get hot)
    I clamped it in the chisel Jig supplied . which clamps the opposite way to the Tormek one . the fixed point holds the top of the bevel where the moving clamp sits on the flat of the blade . which is wrong way round to me and the Tormek
    added water as directed and set the angle with the supplied jig .
    turned on and off I went , the removal rate of material is quite quick and I know the hardness of the 45 year old marples chisels is up there .
    The first thing i noticed the grind was not 90 degrees some 2mm off to one side no matter what i tried it really didn't improve much better than 1mm , the grind was quite rough but as the machine isn't supplied with a grading tool . i was going to try an old wetstone on it but thought i better not ! I tried to work out what was at fault , I cleaned the thick layer of paint off the jig clamps and adjusted everything i could which is not a lot . as much as i wanted this machine to work for me it it didnt produce a square chisel , but it was sharp !,
    My intention was for it to dress up battle damaged chisels then use my oil stones , scarry board etc to finish them off .
    I didn't try the leather honing wheel as I didn't have any paste , but it oiled up well and was smooth when i used my finger to apply the oil . if i was sharpening axes and knives etc and not caring if my chisels were square and just sharp . which it did do , then i would keep it..
    save my pennies as they say and buy a Tormek ! just hoping that they sharpen chisels square too
    thanks Karl
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