Harbor Freight Tormek Clone

[-MIKE-]

Actually, I elevated the grinder to fit the Wolverine jig under the center of the wheel. The wheel spins downward on the accessible end.

To be honest, I haven't used it with the water trough. It's a slow turning wheel (only 160rpm, 180 on newer ones) and I have had any heat issues. I usually hone my gouges after sharpening, with a wet (for slurry) piece of 320-400 rolled into a curve.

As for the water trough, I think you could mount the grinder even higher to clear trough and still be fine. Since we're talking about a round wheel, you would just slide the jig in or out the get the same angle, to make up for higher or lower, right?

For what it worth, I also freehand flat chisels and such on the flat side of the wheel.

I haven't gotten real anal about sharpening, yet, and I'm not an expert on the theory by any means. But I got pretty sharp for a long time freehanding everything on a fast grinder and Arkansas Stones. When I went to the Wolverine jig and the HF slow wheel, it was like using brand new turning tools every time.

[-MIKE-]

BTW, here's the reason I bought the thing in the first place:

[TD Driver]

Got it. Got the new insert on e-bay for $20. A hunk of miter track and I'll be all set. Looked at the Tormek clone, but they wanted $105 for it at my store. Hasn't been on sale for a couple of months, according to the clerk.

-MIKE- wrote:

[J. Clarke]

You need a coupon, which, unfortunately, expired on the 10th. There should be another one along eventually--they seem to have a coupon for it fairly often.

Note that Harbor Freight has two Web sites--

for direct ordering and for the stores. The second site has an "Extra coupon savings" button that gets you to the current coupons (I'm not giving a direct link because it changes every week).

[Maxwell Lol]

For short bench chisels, you use the Tormek with the bar in the horizonal position, so the direction is away from the edge. The water trough is not in the way.

[Hoosierpopi]

For all the reported "issues" with HFT, I find them well worth having available.

I bought a 15GA finish nailer with a 15% off coupon several weeks ago only to find LOWES offering the Hitachi for 30 bucks less last week (prettier, lighter, and better features I thought). I had also purchased an air file on closeout for about ten bucks that leaked air and needed to be returned. So I bought the Hitachi (by that time they were down to $44! and took the HFT nailer and Air file and a 10" carbide saw blade and a clamp to the HFT in Charlotte yesterday.

No problems what so ever. Full credit for the nail gun on my Visa, swapped me out a new air file (this one with a box and a set of three files), swapped out the slippery clamp for a much nicer version they now carry and the saw blade as well. The new air file works fine and the three free files doesn't hurt a bit. And, I effectively got a $12 bonus credit as well. I also got a $5 off coupon at the bottom of my receipt!

If they stand by their stuff like this, why not try and buy and return if not satisfied?

Next time I have $15 off coupon, I may check this wet/dry grinder out. Liked the posts and all the links folks added - most hepfull, you betcha

[DGDevin]

power tools while standing on a concrete floor with bare feet, apparently it was a shocking experience.

[-MIKE-]

I figured I'd catch flack for splinters or dropping stuff on my feet. :-)

But electrical shock? Really? How old was the wiring in that guy's house and did it have a ground?

If he's getting shocked while operating power tools.... he needs some new tools, not shoes.

[David Merrill]

Anyone else's HF 95236, wetstone grinder arrive missing one of the two bushings

part number 11, clamp?) from the chisel/plane iron jig ? This results in the jig being a very sloppy fit on the 'tool support' rod. I'd read several comments about "poor quality" of the HF jigs and wonder if this was the cause. Otherwise, I thought that the overall fabrication quality of grinder and jigs looks pretty good.

I also noted that the user manual makes no mention of the accessory jigs shown on the packaging and, notably, no mention of the grinding wheel 'stone grader' which is necessary to condition the wheel surface for finish grinding prior to honing on the leather wheel. I thought that was the unique feature of the Tormek-type wet grinders.

David Merrill

at

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

[David Merrill]

I forgot to mention that there is another 40 percent off in-store coupon, good thru 11-24-2008, at

(scroll way down).

The local Harbor Freight store didn't stock any of the accessory items so these would apparently need to be ordered online from HF (or use Tormek, Jet or ? jigs if indeed they fit).

Stone grader and jigs

'Rough' chisel jig: 'Curved' chisel jig: chisel jig: jig: Merrill