[mdallensr]

Someone was looking for a gauge to check carving tool edge angles. Veritas has one in their current catalog for $3.95. It starts at 15 degrees and goes to 45. I suspect you can buy Tormek's without buying the machine, and it's a lot more sophisticated. Probably costs about $20.

mdallensr,
I will look for the Veritas gauge. I tried the Tormek gauge at a Industrial Woodworking Show and found it difficult to use. I could not see if I was flat on the bevel of the gouge. It was at the show, not in the quiet of my garage workbench, so maybe it was not a fair test but I intended to buy one if they had it seperate from the machine and I took my money home. Usually I will risk $15 on a tool even if I pretty sure it won't work for me.
Ah Chip

[mdallensr]

Ah-chip, I got the angle gauge with my Tormek, and I use it to set up the tools to achieve the correct angle. Without getting into that, you can use the measured angles to check your tools. I didn't think about it at first, but there's a big difference between a 15 and 20 degree angle. We all need a reliable way to check those angles. When I first commented on my Tormek, I found a lot of posters didn't see the need to change tool angles, and thus didn't see the need to grind tools. As many have noted, we can damage an edge many ways, and most tools, other than Pfeil, often aren't ready-to-use off the shelf. I just re-ground several palm gouges after struggling to sharpen them. A good, close view through my magnifier showed I was wasting my time, since the bevels weren't true and the edges were rounded. Now I have a new 'favorite' tool, which, coincidently, always seems to be my sharpest tool. Aslo, my Tormek has the large leather wheel for power stropping, and I got the add-on, profiled leather wheel which gets the inside of gouges, veiners and V-tools.