Anyone use Jet or Tormek slow speed sharpeners?

[Bolster]

Does anyone use either the Jet or Tormek slow speed sharpeners to sharpen or reprofile their Spydies (or other knives)? Do you think either of these machines would do a decent job of reprofiling an edge? I am casually toying with the idea of putting an electric engine behind my sharpening efforts.

See article here for a comparison of the two machines.

[amen74]

I wish I could afford either one. You could do some serious sharpening with those.

Impressive machines.

[RIOT]

call me anal but doesnt sharpening take away from the blade after time ? ive seriously never had a serrated spyderco ever lose my respect from being some what old, so called dull or not new

[Peter1960]

Tormek user here; as I wrote in different other threads I like it a lot for reprofilling edges - fast & reliable. Only one disadvantage ... the price

Edit to add:
I recommend the big Tormek over the small Tormek.

[Manix Guy 2]

Best friend has a Tormek , so most of my knives when needed or wanting to try a different angle goes to Rick . He has offset the cost by sharpening knives for other people . MG2

[mrappraisit]

If you are looking for a bunch of opinions or first hand experiences I would look for a woodworking or woodcarving forum and ask there. There would probably be way more owners/users of that machine on those kinds of forums. Hope that helps, they both look sweet BTW.

[MountainManJim]

Riot,

Your reply seems to say you don't sharpen your knives. Is that true? If you don't sharpen, you don't know what you are missing. As I have learned from this group, sharpen early, sharpen often.

Jim

[kwakster]

In my previous job i have used the older, green Tormek extensively, and in my current job i use the newer blue Tormek T7.
I use it to sharpen all kinds of customers knives, from little pocketknives to machetes, and also various kinds of scissors.

Next to this i sharpen completely new knives from certain well known brands that don't have an edge in the first place.
One of the biggest advantages of the machine is that you can create the exact factory edge using one of the knifejigs and a magic marker.
You can't even see that the knife has been sharpened.
Never needed to sharpen a new Spyderco by the way

I find the Tormek a wonderful machine to work with and one day i want one for myself.

[Bolster]

If you are looking for a bunch of opinions or first hand experiences I would look for a woodworking or woodcarving forum and ask there. There would probably be way more owners/users of that machine on those kinds of forums. Hope that helps, they both look sweet BTW.

No, I already know woodworkers swear by them...but woodworkers don't necessarily use them for knives. I'm looking for opinions on how they might work for sharpening fine cutlery, like Spydercos. I find cutting the backbevels very tedious to do by hand. I also know Spyderco makes their factory edges on a machine. Seems like they'd work well in theory, but I thought perhaps someone would post a "you idiot don't try it" message regarding some aspect I had not thought of.

[bladese97]

Does anyone use either the Jet or Tormek slow speed sharpeners to sharpen or reprofile their Spydies (or other knives)? Do you think either of these machines would do a decent job of reprofiling an edge? I am casually toying with the idea of putting an electric engine behind my sharpening efforts.

See article here for a comparison of the two machines.

:spyder: :spyder: :cool: :spyder: :spyder:Never heard of them; Thanks for sharing :)

[mrappraisit]

No, I already know woodworkers swear by them...but woodworkers don't necessarily use them for knives. I'm looking for opinions on how they might work for sharpening fine cutlery, like Spydercos. I find cutting the backbevels very tedious to do by hand. I also know Spyderco makes their factory edges on a machine. Seems like they'd work well in theory, but I thought perhaps someone would post a "you idiot don't try it" message regarding some aspect I had not thought of.

Cool :) If you end up with one let us know how it works.

[Cliff Stamp]

Buy a belt sander for $50, use 50 grit belts, much faster than a Tormek for shaping.

-Cliff

[GarageBoy]

Hows the tru hone?

[Bolster]

Buy a belt sander for $50, use 50 grit belts, much faster than a Tormek for shaping.
-Cliff

I have a 4" Bosch belt sander fitted to a Veritas grinder tool rest which I use for axes, machetes, and such...but I never considered using it for fine cutlery because I was uncertain of how much heat it generated. The belt sander does not have variable speed.

Do you think it would be safe to set the back bevel with this setup, or would the blade get too hot? That's my big concern.

[Big footed nick]

It really shouldn't over heat the blade if you do it right, after each pass dip the blade in water, And repeat after every pass.

[Caly E]

It really shouldn't over heat the blade if you do it right, after each pass dip the blade in water, And repeat after every pass.

yeah what he said :)

[Huck]

Do a search on Steve Bottorf the author of Sharpening Made Easy. He has a Tormek along with a bunch of others & can put a seriously sharp blade on a knife in a short time with a $30 Harbor Freight belt sander & a $40 Harbor Freight buffer with paper wheels. Or Utube with J Neilson just using a belt sander.