[barbs]

Hi everyone. I'm interested in purchasing a sharpening system, but I'm a little confused by the conflicting reviews on the systems I've looked at. Any suggestions for someone who needs to occassionally sharpen knives & gouges? I've been looking at Jet vs. Tormek, but other suggestions would be welcome! Thanks!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

if you are confident in your sharpening abilities, power is ok, if you are not, suggest you do some google research on "scary sharp" sharpening.....its cheap....few sheets of sandpaper and you learn how to sharpen, holding angles etc etc......if you don't already know how...power can sure mess up some good tools! As for power......I have the Burke system and like it....altho, I got the travel model and its not as good as the regular.....am sorry I didn't buy the bigger one!

[Mitchell]

Check here:

sharpening systems

A little bit here:

Complete noob with a slew of ?'s

this (actually 'these') may a little much for you, but I'll link it anyway (Jool sharpening):

Jool Sharpening System

Abandoned my Tormex

From a couple of weeks back:

sharpening stone

Sharpening can be very subjective - similar to asking people wha the best car is......you'll get a ton of answers and none could be the best for you. To get better answers, you should ask a better question - What specifically do you want to sharpen, how often do you require sharpening, are you looking for convience, what are space and monetary constraints, etc. We can assume that you have looked at the Tormek and Jet because of some reasons, but it's not made clear.

[ChrisS]

1. Stones are not that expensive. Even if you go to a power sharpening system you will find you need stones.

2. every one is right in my opinion when they say learn how to sharpen by hand first. Patience is the essence of life. If you do not have patience to sharpen you tools you will not have the patience to carve.

3. In my former life as a tool and die maker we had to make tools by hand. We had to file and stone things too with in .005 of and inch. We had to learn how to sharpen drill bits by hand before we were even allowed to use a power sharpener. Learning to sharpen by hand will teach you things you will not learn on a machine. Time well spent.

4. I have 4 grinders with different wheels. One is a slow speed grinder and one is a VS. I have 3 buffers with buffing wheels and drum sander, 3 wire wheel buffers. One with brass wheels for restoring old brass lamps. 2 with corse and fine metal wheels and one with nylon sanding and buffing wheels. 2 drill sharpeners of which one is a commercial and the other a drill doctor for very small bits. ( don't know why I bought the doc. I do a better job by hand. Then I have a Tormex and dozens of stones. The tormex does not sharpen my planer blades very well. That attachment is a joke. The jig has to much spring it it. I have machined a different holder that fits the machine. The one I designed does not flex and I use a wide diamond wheel dresser. I made a jig to hold the dresser. It dress the wheel flat all at once. The one that comes with the machine will not get the wheel flat enough for me. I Like the Tormex for sharpening my gouges it makes a clean sweep of things. I learned to sharpen knives on the farm. We had a big stone with a foot pedal and seat. I learned at the age of 8. Yes, I have a small machine shop and can sharpen my own mill cutters on my center grinder.


5. Carving is hand work and so is sharpening our tools. I have a set of crank neck Buck Brothers gouges. They are sharpened on the inside. The only way to sharpen them is by hand. It took hours to get them in shape.

6. When you have sat and made dies by hand you will know how much time grinding, filing by hand and using emery paper on different shapes to sand by hand takes; you will realise that sharpening your tools by had is nothing.

Good luck with sharpening. I like making my tools better than I do using them. LOL

I picked up a lot of good Snap-on screwdrivers. One large one was buggered on the end. It had been abused. I could have turned it in for a new one but I took my hand stones and brought it back to a perfect shape. That was 10 years ago and I still use it. Hand stones do not over heat your tool. I would go with stones to start.

[Dennis Taylor]

Babs, I agree with hi ho on the fact if you are not good at sharpening, the power isn't the immediate answer, I just fought thru this, a club member swore the world on sharpening with a dremel tool, and he can do it to surgical sharpeness without a doubt, but in my hands, whole different world...that lead me to the scary sharp, and use it for all now....cheap, easy to setup, I happened to have some plate glass for the base, and it stays hard and flat and works nicely for me...I would recommend giving it a try before you invest a lot of money into something you are not going to be able to use well....I am lucky, I can always use the dremel!!!1

Dennis

[North Wind]

If you like sharpening as part of carving or want to be able to do it, wherever your'e going, than I would say stones and the like and practice till you learn how to use it. If your going invest in power and can do alot of stuff, but I just got the work sharp 3000 and I think it's the greatest tool I have got in years. For the same money you can get this with some xtra wheels and sandpaper, than all you have to do is buff and carve. Its very fast and clean and you dont have to use it all the time. Once you sharpen with the machine you can hone & buff for quite awhile before having to sharpen again. Just my personal thoughts, Vince