Woodwork Post

Scritch wrote:
> "J. Clarke" wrote in
> news:gfg1ne0f3d@news7.newsguy.com:
>
>> I had a coupon in my pocket and they had one left in stock, for 67
>> bucks how bad could it be?
>>
>> Turns out it's not bad at all. Sure, it's cheap and chintzy and you
>> have to be careful with setup, but it cranked up and ran fine out of
>> the box and can produce a decent edge fairly quickly. Not a superb
>> edge mind you, but one that a few passes on a hard arkansas stone can
>> finish up nicely.
>>
>> The stone holds a lot of water--I put a small nalgene bottle full in
>> the tray and the stone emptied it in about 30 seconds (note--I don't
>> mean it splashed it out, I mean it soaked it up). The second bottle
>> full filled it to the mark and the level pretty much stayed there.
>>
>> Overheating the tool is _not_ an issue--the edge is completely
>> immersed in water the whole time that sharpening is going on.
>>
>> I put some pictures of of it in operation and of the results at
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/39383723@N00/sets/72157608992163168/.
>>
>>
>
> So, if you need to make a few passes on your hard Arkansas stone anyway,
> why not get a good grinder with a fairly fine wheel to put a pretty good
> edge on your tools, then make the final passes on the Arkansas stone?
> You already stated that you need to be careful with the setup, so why
> not just be careful when grinding? The dry grinder will be so much more
> versatile because you can put on different stones, and won't cost any
> more than the Tormek clone.
>

Because there's little danger of overheating the steel with a wet grinder?

Greg M

I took a look at this thing at my local H-F, a few hours ago.
I suggest being very discerning if you decide to buy this thing.
The display model was falling apart.... which is par for the course at
H-F. :-)
Just check out the box and all the parts and make sure it's all ok.

I've noticed at H-F, that there can be a significant in quality for the
same item from box to box, part to part.
The original poster surely did this or else he got a "good apple."


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com/
mike@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:16:57 -0500, "J. Clarke" wrote:


>Out of the box it wouldn't do so well for bowl gouges.
>
>There's a lathe chisel jig
>http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95329

Thanks, John...
For $30 plus shipping, I think I'll make the jig..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

On Thu, 13 Nov 2008 12:12:00 -0600, -MIKE-
wrote:

>> Any idea how it would work for turning tools such as bowl gouges?
>> I will probably get one just for skews, but it wood/would be nice to freshen the
>> edge of bowl gouges on it if practical..
>>
>>
>> mac
>>
>
>I have a version of this:
>http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35098
>I use it with the Wolverine Grinding Jigs and it does a great job.


I bought one of those HF wet grinders. Which Wolverine Grinding Jigs
do you have and how do you position it to work with the wet grinding
wheel?

>> I have a version of this:
>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35098
>> I use it with the Wolverine Grinding Jigs and it does a great job.
>
>
> I bought one of those HF wet grinders. Which Wolverine Grinding Jigs
> do you have and how do you position it to work with the wet grinding
> wheel?

This one:
http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/grind_jig.htm
with the skew:
http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/skew.htm
It was all in a prepack from Woodcraft.

You just * it down to the bench that the grinder is on.
In the case of that particular HF grinder with the slow-down worm gear,
you would mount the grinder sideways so the wet wheel is perpendicular
to the front of the bench.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com/
mike@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

-MIKE- wrote:
>> I have heard a lot of buzz about that sharpener, but no one really
>> wants to own up much to proudly using a Harbor Freight item to do
>> anything.
>>
>> Robert
>
>
> Harbor Freight is kind of like Radio Shack.
> 80 percent of their stuff is pure crap.
> 10 percent is decent, but needs some modifications to get it great.
> 10 percent is actually great quality.
>
> One example of an item that falls in between those 10 percent
> categories, is their router fence.
> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97385
> I bought it for 40 bucks, just for giggles to try on my new table. I
> was looking for some decent L-angle and some slotted aluminum to build
> my own and ran across this thing by accident.
>
> It's actually really nice and functions very well out of the box (after
> a little wax on the sliding stop rods).
>
>
A bit of serendipity here as I'm just about ready to junk my Sears
router table in favor of a shop-built table. What's the fence made of?
How substantial is the base and is the 90 degree angle true? TIA

Larry

>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97385
>> I bought it for 40 bucks, just for giggles to try on my new table. I
>> was looking for some decent L-angle and some slotted aluminum to build
>> my own and ran across this thing by accident.
>>
>> It's actually really nice and functions very well out of the box
>> (after a little wax on the sliding stop rods).
>>
>>
> A bit of serendipity here as I'm just about ready to junk my Sears
> router table in favor of a shop-built table. What's the fence made of?
> How substantial is the base and is the 90 degree angle true? TIA
>
> Larry


The L-angle part is 3/32" steel. The extension rods are solid steel.
The t-tracks sections and stop block are aluminum.
Mine is perfectly square, as checked with my engineering square.
I added a couple mods. I added UHMW plastic fences to the front of the
aluminum fences, because I like plastic ones and to move the fence back
to accommodate big-* bits.
I also added a long piece of aluminum channel (scarfed from a 4ft,
clamp) to the L-angle, so I could clamp it at the ends of my 36" wide
table. If you're going to put t-track in your table to clamp the fence
down, it will work fine with no mods.

So far, I'm very please with its quality and performance.
I noticed that there is no view of the L-angle portion on the website.
I'll see if I can take some pics of mine and post them.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com/
mike@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

-MIKE- wrote:
>>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=97385
>>> I bought it for 40 bucks, just for giggles to try on my new table. I
>>> was looking for some decent L-angle and some slotted aluminum to
>>> build my own and ran across this thing by accident.
>>>
>>> It's actually really nice and functions very well out of the box
>>> (after a little wax on the sliding stop rods).
>>>
>>>
>> A bit of serendipity here as I'm just about ready to junk my Sears
>> router table in favor of a shop-built table. What's the fence made
>> of? How substantial is the base and is the 90 degree angle true? TIA
>>
>> Larry
>
>
> The L-angle part is 3/32" steel. The extension rods are solid steel. The
> t-tracks sections and stop block are aluminum.
> Mine is perfectly square, as checked with my engineering square.
> I added a couple mods. I added UHMW plastic fences to the front of the
> aluminum fences, because I like plastic ones and to move the fence back
> to accommodate big-* bits.
> I also added a long piece of aluminum channel (scarfed from a 4ft,
> clamp) to the L-angle, so I could clamp it at the ends of my 36" wide
> table. If you're going to put t-track in your table to clamp the fence
> down, it will work fine with no mods.
>
> So far, I'm very please with its quality and performance.
> I noticed that there is no view of the L-angle portion on the website.
> I'll see if I can take some pics of mine and post them.
>
>
Thanks, Mike. I'm off to the local HF to see if they have one in stock.

On Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:18:09 -0600, -MIKE-
wrote:

>>> I have a version of this:
>>> http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=35098
>>> I use it with the Wolverine Grinding Jigs and it does a great job.
>>
>>
>> I bought one of those HF wet grinders. Which Wolverine Grinding Jigs
>> do you have and how do you position it to work with the wet grinding
>> wheel?
>
>This one:
>http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/grind_jig.htm
>with the skew:
>http://www.oneway.ca/sharpening/skew.htm
>It was all in a prepack from Woodcraft.
>
>You just * it down to the bench that the grinder is on.
>In the case of that particular HF grinder with the slow-down worm gear,
>you would mount the grinder sideways so the wet wheel is perpendicular
>to the front of the bench.

Thank You. The pictures shows it being used on long lathe chisels. My
question is since the wheel on this model sits higher than normal
grinders do you have to elevate the jig in order to clear the water
trough? Can you use this jig to sharpen short bench chisels? My
grinder is packed away. I could be mistaken but I thought the
direction of rotation was wrong for using the end of the grinder that
is easily accessible?

>>
>>
> Thanks, Mike. I'm off to the local HF to see if they have one in stock.


Then you won't see this until you get back. :-)

Check under the display shelves. My store didn't have them anywhere in
sight. It was under the display for those horrible little tile saws and
whatnot.

Either way, buy it and check it out. They have a very liberal return
policy. Besides...if you do return it, the next guy who looks at it will
be thankful that someone who's actually used a tool before, had put it
together. :-)


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com/
mike@mikedrumsDOT.com
---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply