Swedish grinder manufacturer Tormek has launched its new T3 model — the next in a line of renowned wet-stone grinders the company pioneered in 1973.
With a compact, powerful design, the T3 grinder is ideal for sharpening cabinet making hand tools, knives, scissors and wood carving tools.
Offering a 200mm (8in) stone, stainless steel shaft and an input 120W motor running at 120rpm, the T3 offers the same quality and precision as previous Tormek products.
And, usefully, it provides an economical way to access Tormek’s renowned jig system, where a large range of jigs and accessories allow you to sharpen almost anything.
Using Tormek’s grinders, tools are guided in jigs — and you remove only a minute fraction of the steel at each sharpening, which makes it fast. An extra benefit is that your tools last longer.
Even complicated shapes such as spoon carving gouges and oval skew chisels with a radiused edge are easily sharpened.
Once the shape is created, you can re-sharpen the edge in less than a minute. The water-cooled slow speed grindstone means the edge does not overheat and lose its hardness. The sharpening process is finished on a leather honing wheel, which lets you polish the edge to a razor sharpness.
No grinding dust is produced to pollute the air, and there is no fire risk as the steel particles are deposited into the water trough.
Tormek’s T3 model follows in a tradition of award-winning grinders that have inspired a raft of cheap imitators. Launched in 2007, Tormek’s T7 model — suitable for HSS turning tools and other hard materials — was described in Woodturning magazine as ”the best yet. For beginners or experienced users who want to save steel by accurate repeat grinding, this is a most worthwhile investment”.
The latest generation of edge tools are harder and contain alloys that can make them tough to grind.
Tormek’s new Blackstone Silicon SB-250 is designed for hard materials and fast shaping. It delivers fast steel removal on HSS and exotic alloys, and can also touch up tungsten carbide.
The key to removing material efficiently at low RPM is very sharp grains with high hardness and relatively fine grit size. The SB-250 is made in the same grit size as the original Tormek grindstone, and can be graded with the stone grader for fast material removal or a fine surface finish.
Its faster material removal is an advantage especially when shaping tools with a large bevel surface where the grinding pressure is limited — for example, planer blades and woodturning skews.
The new Japanese Waterstone SJ-250 delivers an extra fine surface finish, and its unique composition gives the stone an extremely long life. It excels at sharpening hand tools where a minimum of steel removal is needed and a superior surface finish is demanded.
The stone is 4000 grit and is ideal for carving tools, scissors, knives and well maintained cabinet making tools.
Tormek grinders and accessories are available exclusively from W & R Jack in New Zealand.
