Woodwork Post

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/.


--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
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/.
>
>
Great pictures John. I don't think I have ever been that up close and
personal with a chisel before. :)

That looks like a pretty good unit for the price.

What camera, etc. did you use to take those pictures?

And, what I really want to know is, how did you grind that chisel and take
those close up photos at the same time? And extra arm maybe? :)

"J. Clarke" writes:

> 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 Tormek is the same.

I'm 99% sure some of the Tormek attachments are patented.
They also have some slick features.
But I assume one can use Tormek's add-ons on the HF clone.

On Nov 12, 7:46 pm, "J. Clarke" wrote:

> I put some pictures of of it in operation and of the results athttp://www.flickr.com/photos/39383723@N00/sets/72157608992163168/.

Nice review, John. Thanks for taking the time to take the pics and
post them.

I have wondered about that machine, but never had nerve/dough/interest/
need all intersect at the the same time.

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.

Like you, I am thinking "for $67, how bad could it be?" If it's not
bad at all, sounds like a winner to me. Even the "cheap" Tormek is
now $350 - $360 or so at Woodcraft these days. And I but
don't but I do believe I had heard from a WC employee that the
Tormek accessories do work this machine, as well as some of the Jet
stuff from their slow speed sharpener.

Did it come with any polishing compound? And just as a note of
interest, can you tell where the actual grinding wheel was made?

Robert

"J. Clarke" wrote in message
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/.
>

There's a pretty good discussion of this unit on this forum. You all might
want to check it out - good reviews and a few tips on tuning it.
http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=41589

On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:46:08 -0500, "J. Clarke" wrote:

>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/.
>
>
>--
Good review, John..

It appears to have the honing wheel also, is that true?
If so, how did it work?

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..

Thanks for taking the time & effort to review it and post some really good
shots..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

> 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).


--

-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

"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.

> 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.


--

-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:
>> 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.

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
and a curved chisel jig
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95332
that don't come with it.

Also the Tormek Universal Gouge Jig and the Jet Gouge Jig will in
principle work with it.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)