Grizzly Wet Grinder/Sharpener

OK. I'll admit that I am a bit anal about my tools being sharp (just ask Dario - I sharpened a set of carving tools that I would probably never use, then traded them to him for some killer blanks). Up to now I have sharpened my tools using a high speed grinder and diamond sharpening stones. That being said, I'm ready to move to wet sharpening to try and refine my edges just a little more.

Has anyone seen/used the new Grizzly Wet Grinder/Sharpener?

http://www.grizzly.com/products/t10010

I would like comparisons to the Jet and Tormek.

Thanks.

I would do some checking too to see if the bar is the same diameter as the Jet and Tormek so you can use those jigs... I haven't heard anything about the Grizzly yet... I got the Jet for $167 when Amazon had that deal going... love it!

I have another style Grizzly slow-wet wheel sharpener. It is the same model as is sold under many other brand names. The big wheel is a white 220 grit also. Seems like the tool just sets there with nothing happening. IMHO, it is a huge stretch to call it a 'sharpener'. Grit is too fine, barely polishes the edge if it is already very sharp. My least used tool, probably two years since I last turned it on.

That sure looks like a doppelganger to the Sheppach Tiger
http://www.amazon.com/Scheppach-Vertical-Grinding-Sharpening-System/dp/B000BOLGE4

Yep, they are all same same,The Sheppach 2000 and 2500,
the 2500 is the Grizz,just diff. colors.. Carl

The first thing that comes to mind on this is the stone itself. The stone sold separately in the Jet and Tormek are $120 - $140. If you listen to the Jet video they talk about two years of developing the stone that comes with the Jet. Frank said the stone that comes with it is a 220 stone and too fine. Essentially to me this is nothing more than a Norton stone in a 10" x 2" size. The first thing you will need to do with the Grizzly IMHO is swap out the stone. Now you have added $120 to the price. No longer that great of a deal when you think about it. So for the cost of the Grizzly a new stone and another $10 you can buy a Jet that right now at Woodcraft comes with the two drawer base, truing jig and stone grader. It is also a variable speed which comes in handy as a stone wears.

The Jet has been one of our best purchases. Not so much price wise but because of what the tool does for us.

Mike & Linda

Or you could make a donation to the IAP donation drawing and maybe win the Jet sharpener. You have to ask yourself, Do I feel lucky?
Well do Ya?[][]

Everyone listen to Joe. He has a great idea. Put $25 in the pot. If you win great you have money for jigs. If you don't you helped a great site continue for another year.

Mike

Originally posted by MLKWoodWorking

The first thing that comes to mind on this is the stone itself. The stone sold separately in the Jet and Tormek are $120 - $140. If you listen to the Jet video they talk about two years of developing the stone that comes with the Jet. Frank said the stone that comes with it is a 220 stone and too fine. Essentially to me this is nothing more than a Norton stone in a 10" x 2" size. The first thing you will need to do with the Grizzly IMHO is swap out the stone. Now you have added $120 to the price. No longer that great of a deal when you think about it. So for the cost of the Grizzly a new stone and another $10 you can buy a Jet that right now at Woodcraft comes with the two drawer base, truing jig and stone grader. It is also a variable speed which comes in handy as a stone wears.

The Jet has been one of our best purchases. Not so much price wise but because of what the tool does for us.

Mike & Linda

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Thanks for the endorsement, Mike. But, note, I did say "IMHO". That still is my opinion, and experience. 220 just seems to sit there and do nothing for my. However, more than one high priced sharpening system on the market uses the ultra-fine 220 grit for 'sharpening'. And, the model I have has been sold under various brand names for many years. (I have had mine about 15 years) So, somebody must like them for something. What that "something" is still eludes me.

I use an ancient wet wheel with a 10"x2" 180 grit wheel. I have sharpened everything from tools toswords and knives. Once you learn how to use the wet wheel, you will never want to use a high speed grinnder to sharpen anything again.
Johnnie

Curious - has anybody worked with the Grizzly wheel using their, or any other company's stone dressing tool? Perhaps the experiences with the Griz wheels were with un-dressed wheels. Yes? No? Feedback?

The new model is a dead ringer for the Eureopen style Tormek (or so I was told by a former Tormek salesman). It will not be in to the Springfield Grizzly until the end of February. They have 7000 units coming in and as of about two weeks ago, they had back orders for 1300 of them. It is featured on the back cover of their new 2008 catalog.
Tormek jigs should fit.

I know this is about the Grizzly sharpener of which I have not used so I cannot comment on that particular brand. I own the Jet and I will say that the customer service by them and Woodcraft whom I bought it from has been top notch! Eight months after owning the sharpener it just stopped, I did all of the checks in the manual to no avail. I called Woodcraft (on line) told customer service of the problem. I had already called Jet and they said to call Woodcraft first. Three days later I have a new machine and an order for Ups to pick-up the non-working machine. No charge and no hassles with absolutely superb customer service. It works great! I will never go back to a high speed, tool burning, grinder again!

Which leaves me with only one question. Actually, just one big one and lots of little ones. How is Grizzly putting a $120 stone on this $169 machine if the wheel is a euro tormek 'dead ringer'? Do people expect this to work just as well as a tormek or jet? Does anyone know if Griz has updated their grinding wheel for the new machine?

Originally posted by pbarter

Which leaves me with only one question. Actually, just one big one and lots of little ones. How is Grizzly putting a $120 stone on this $169 machine if the wheel is a euro tormek 'dead ringer'? Do people expect this to work just as well as a tormek or jet? Does anyone know if Griz has updated their grinding wheel for the new machine?

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You asked a couple very abstract questions there. e.g. "How is Grizzly putting a $120 stone on this $169 machine if the wheel is a euro tormek 'dead ringer'?" You would have to ask the Grizzly engineers and bean counters to get the answer to that question.
Also: "Do people expect this to work just as well as a tormek or jet?" What "people" are you talking about? They guarantee their products. So, I would surmise the answer is 'yes'. And: "Does anyone know if Griz has updated their grinding wheel for the new machine?" I am sure the people at Grizzly know the answer to that question. Have you asked them? I have found they are very good at responding to customer inquiries about their products.

I bought a Griz T10010 wet sharpener. It should be here between Friday and Tuesday, and I'll give a full report. I also bought the Tormek-brand jig for knives and a tormek stone dressing tool so I didn't have to buy both Grizzly kits, though they will sell parts individually from kits in about a month according to a sales rep.

Both stones appear to be aluminum-oxide based and with the dressing tool, I hope the grizzly will work just as well as the higher-priced Tormek.

I haven't made this purchase yet, so I am looking forward to your review.

Freddie I was in Springfield Grizzly sat and they had them in stock and were playing with one in the demo area. They said all of the Tormek jigs will work on it also. They showed me a chisel they shappened with it and it was VERY sharp. The one jig they had to hold lathe tools would not do a gouge though. I am going to try one when I get some funds again it looked every bit as good as the Tormek that I looked at at Ballews the other day.
Jay

Jay,
Thanks for the heads up! I'll drop by Grizzly my next trip to Springfield.

The machine is quite good. The stone cuts fairly fast out of the box. I used a Tormek stone dresser to try the 1000 grit cut and it did slow the process of cutting new bevels on a dull knife. I would highly recommend going with the Tormek jigs individually since they work so well. I can't comment on the Griz jigs, since I've never used them. This machine does come with a chisel jig now, even though it may not say so anywhere pre-ordering. It splashes a bit more than the Tormek I've seen because it rotates a bit faster with a fresh 10" stone.

That's it for now

Trying to follow this string a bit...looks to me as though you now have the new Grizzly in your possession and like it. Perhaps I'm just not understanding your comment above, but will the Tormek and/or Jet jigs fit the Grizzly? I know the jigs (Tormek and Jet) are interchangeable with the mounts for each other, and your recommendation to use Tormek jigs is sound from what I've read elsewhere, but I wasn't sure if the mounting bars/yoke whatever they're called were the same size on the Grizzly. Thanks very much.

Rob

Indeed, the tormek jigs will fit on the Griz machine. They work very well, in fact. What I'd love to know is weather or not the Tormek universal support with that micro-adjust knob will fit, that is, weather or not the posts are the same distance apart. The support rod diameter is the same as the Tormek. I know that because the scissor jig fits like a glove.

Thanks very much for the info. May make me consider moving toward the Grizzly versus Jet. I've been real happy with other Grizzly tools. This machine and the Tormek woodturners package of jigs and other goodies may well be worth a closer look. Thanks again.

Rob

I have the Grizzly machine and the Harbor Freight machine, too. The biggest differences are that the HF machine uses an 8" wheel, has a plastic body shell, and runs at 150RPM; whereas the Grizzly uses a 10" wheel, has a metal shell, and runs at 90RPM. The diameter and spacing of the main support rod are virtually the same and are interchangeable.

The spacing of the fork on the main support arms, for want of a better term, is about 4" C/L to C/L. The Jet support arm does NOT fit either of these machines as it is about 3&1/2" C/L to C/L. I know because I bought one to test hoping it would......DRAT! I also got the add-on shaped leather wheel for the Jet. No Joy! The axle shaft extension does not fit either machine. I will attempt to find another adapter as soon as I measure the size and thread on the shaft.

Now we need to find out from someone who has a real Tormek what the spacing of those forks are!!!!!!! Everything else (jigs, etc.) with the exception of the support bars and the shaped leather wheels seem to work fine with both these machines.

Actually, the little HF machine works quite well at a faster speed with the smaller wheel, in my opinion.

As you may have noted the wet wheel grinders are now available at the Grizzly store in Muncy. The employees there said, last month, that they did not expect to get them in stock till the end of February.

Get'em now! They're movin' fast!

I've always used the dry type high speed grinders for tool sharpening. These wet wheel, slow speed, and fine grit machines do take some investment in time and learning; but they do an impressive job after you've applied yourself a bit. Well worth the investment, I think.

P.S. [B)] Anybody want to make me an offer on an extra Jet support arm with the fine adjust and an arm extension that makes the arm reach both wheels at once? Cheapest list price you can prove and flat rate shipping, original packing. Tnx.

Thought I'd provide a bit of a limited update on this topic. I decided to order the new Grizzly 10 inch machine. I also ordered the Tormek woodturners jig accessory pack. For what it might be worth, the Grizzly machine seems very well made and very sturdy. It now comes with a jig that can be used for chisels as mentioned by PBarter. All of the Tormek jigs fit without any problem, however as Bob mentioned above, looks like the support bars for the Jet and Tormek are a different size. The diameter of the support rod is the same for all, but the mounting brackets are different widths for the Grizzly. Seems to work very well, but at theis point the only sharpening that I got done was with some scrapers. The stone left a flawless finish on all of the scrapers I cleaned up. Scrapers may well be one of the easiest things we put on a grinder and since I have all of mine set with the same degree of bevel, it only took a few minutes to re-surface about a half dozen of various sizes and shapes. But they are sharp, and with the jig, the bevel was repeatable and quick.

Also, as Bob mentioned, the threaded stud used to attach the leather honing wheel is a different size than the add-on honing wheels that come with the Tormek jig set. The Grizzly threads are 8mm and the Tormek (and presumably Jet) are 12mm. Need to find a source for a threaded coupler that is female 8mm thread on one end and female 12mm thread on the other. I know we have some machinist types here on the IAP and I'd be interested in talking with one of them that might have some idea as to where I could procur such a coupler. My first thoughts were a simple version of two 8mm nuts threaded on to a bolt and welded together, then do the same thing with two 12 mm nuts and then weld those together in line. But it would have to be pretty accurate so that it didn't wobble like crazy. Guess it could be done easy enough with a long enough 12mm bolt that was ground down to fit inside the 8mm nuts to keep it lined up for welding. I think I have the concept, but don't have the tools (welder, etc) to do metal work. But for those of you that do, I'd like to talk.

I'm not one to spend money foolishly (except for this addiction) but with the cost of the Grizzly machine added to the cost of the Tormek woodturners jig set, I figured that I've spent under $400.00 for a system that will give me scary sharp turning tools, plus the benefit of sharper kitchen knives, etc. I have no horse in the Tormek or Jet race, but the extra $230 to $150 I saved will buy a lot of wood. If I can answer any questions about this grinder or help anyone else contemplating this sort of configuration, let me know.

Rob said:

Thought I'd provide a bit of a limited update on this topic. I decided to order the new Grizzly 10 inch machine. I also ordered the Tormek woodturners jig accessory pack. For what it might be worth, the Grizzly machine seems very well made and very sturdy. It now comes with a jig that can be used for chisels as mentioned by PBarter. All of the Tormek jigs fit without any problem, however as Bob mentioned above, looks like the support bars for the Jet and Tormek are a different size. The diameter of the support rod is the same for all, but the mounting brackets are different widths for the Grizzly. Seems to work very well, but at theis point the only sharpening that I got done was with some scrapers. The stone left a flawless finish on all of the scrapers I cleaned up. Scrapers may well be one of the easiest things we put on a grinder and since I have all of mine set with the same degree of bevel, it only took a few minutes to re-surface about a half dozen of various sizes and shapes. But they are sharp, and with the jig, the bevel was repeatable and quick.

Also, as Bob mentioned, the threaded stud used to attach the leather honing wheel is a different size than the add-on honing wheels that come with the Tormek jig set. The Grizzly threads are 8mm and the Tormek (and presumably Jet) are 12mm. Need to find a source for a threaded coupler that is female 8mm thread on one end and female 12mm thread on the other. I know we have some machinist types here on the IAP and I'd be interested in talking with one of them that might have some idea as to where I could procur such a coupler. My first thoughts were a simple version of two 8mm nuts threaded on to a bolt and welded together, then do the same thing with two 12 mm nuts and then weld those together in line. But it would have to be pretty accurate so that it didn't wobble like crazy. Guess it could be done easy enough with a long enough 12mm bolt that was ground down to fit inside the 8mm nuts to keep it lined up for welding. I think I have the concept, but don't have the tools (welder, etc) to do metal work. But for those of you that do, I'd like to talk.

I'm not one to spend money foolishly (except for this addiction) but with the cost of the Grizzly machine added to the cost of the Tormek woodturners jig set, I figured that I've spent under $400.00 for a system that will give me scary sharp turning tools, plus the benefit of sharper kitchen knives, etc. I have no horse in the Tormek or Jet race, but the extra $230 to $150 I saved will buy a lot of wood. If I can answer any questions about this grinder or help anyone else contemplating this sort of configuration, let me know.

Click to expand...

I saw this old thread and had something to add. I have the 10" Grizzly wet grinder and almost all my jigs are Tormek. You can't use the Tormek planer jig because the adjustable support rods on the Tormek jig don't fit the Grizzly. Grizzly has a good similarly priced planer jig so it isn't necessary to drill to relocate the support rod mounts to fit the adjustable support rods of the Tormek.

TGhe leather profiling wheels are a different story because the 8mm Grizzly male simply won't fit the 12mm Tormek female. Soooo... not wanting to lose those profiling wheels I brought the Tormek profiling wheel shaft over to my gunsmith and asked him to duplicate it with 8mm female and male ends instead of 12mm. And he did it quite easily.

I mounted the new profiling wheel shaft on the Grizzly and it now has two Tormek Leather Profiling Wheels and works like a charm.

The cost???

One Kingwood Cigar Pen for the gunsmith who was thrilled to get his new pen! He talks about it to all his friends like all he had to do was mill this little part to get this cool custom made fat pen!! LOL!

I have saved hundreds of dollars by getting the Grizzly yet I have Tormek quality on all the key jigs plus the leather wheels. And it sharpens tools BEE-U-TEEFULLY!!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Bree said:

I saw this old thread and had something to add. I have the 10" Grizzly wet grinder and almost all my jigs are Tormek. You can't use the Tormek planer jig because the adjustable support rods on the Tormek jig don't fit the Grizzly. Grizzly has a good similarly priced planer jig so it isn't necessary to drill to relocate the support rod mounts to fit the adjustable support rods of the Tormek.

TGhe leather profiling wheels are a different story because the 8mm Grizzly male simply won't fit the 12mm Tormek female. Soooo... not wanting to lose those profiling wheels I brought the Tormek profiling wheel shaft over to my gunsmith and asked him to duplicate it with 8mm female and male ends instead of 12mm. And he did it quite easily.

I mounted the new profiling wheel shaft on the Grizzly and it now has two Tormek Leather Profiling Wheels and works like a charm.

The cost???

One Kingwood Cigar Pen for the gunsmith who was thrilled to get his new pen! He talks about it to all his friends like all he had to do was mill this little part to get this cool custom made fat pen!! LOL!

I have saved hundreds of dollars by getting the Grizzly yet I have Tormek quality on all the key jigs plus the leather wheels. And it sharpens tools BEE-U-TEEFULLY!!
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

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Thanks for the info. I've been eying this sharpener for a while now.

jleiwig said:

Thanks for the info. I've been eying this sharpener for a while now.

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BTW... The Grizzly T10010 is really made by Scheppach if I am not mistaken. They sell the Tiger 2500 overseas and that is what the Grizzly appears to be based on. I sent them a message today asking if the Scheppach 320 jointer-planer jig was compatible with the Grizzly T10010. I should get a reply soon. It should be since they are the same machine methinks.
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

I have received an email from Scheppach in Germany which says...

Yes you are right. The accessory jig 320 will fit to the TiGer 2000 as well to the T10010 from Grizzly which is the identical to our model TiGer 2500.

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100% confirmation that the Grizzly T10010 10" Wet Sharpener is the same machine as the Scheppach Tiger 2500 as many people had surmised. And Scheppach Jigs, of course, fit the Grizzly wet sharpener.
:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: