redfishsc
Member
At the moment, I do not own a grinder (and do not want a dry grinder, I do not want sparks in house, I turn pens in a spare bedroom).
I have an el-cheapo Task force wet/dry grinder that really isn't all that useful.
I have learned to use my skew for 99.9% of my pen turning, and I use a cheap Harbor Freight diamond hone to resharpen it-- the same one for over a year now, and honestly I sharpen my skew twice as fast on it than most people do with a grinder. After every 20-50 pens I take the skew to work with me and reshape them on the grinder.
So far this has worked but I am considering the Tormek or Jet wet/dry grinders simply so I can turn more bowls and such without having to finaggle with the cruddy task force (though I can do it if needed).
The Jet is $100 cheaper. Is it $100 less machine? Do these machines really sharpen as nicely as the retailers claim them to? Do the stones last, or do they crumble like some friable wheels?
I have an el-cheapo Task force wet/dry grinder that really isn't all that useful.
I have learned to use my skew for 99.9% of my pen turning, and I use a cheap Harbor Freight diamond hone to resharpen it-- the same one for over a year now, and honestly I sharpen my skew twice as fast on it than most people do with a grinder. After every 20-50 pens I take the skew to work with me and reshape them on the grinder.
So far this has worked but I am considering the Tormek or Jet wet/dry grinders simply so I can turn more bowls and such without having to finaggle with the cruddy task force (though I can do it if needed).
The Jet is $100 cheaper. Is it $100 less machine? Do these machines really sharpen as nicely as the retailers claim them to? Do the stones last, or do they crumble like some friable wheels?
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