Folks, Just in case anyone was thinking of a Tormek, I just bought a new unit.
Pros
1) Well built 2) Super book on how to use it 3) Simple to use 4) Following their guidelines will restore even the severely damaged knife easily. 5) The final edge is good, not great , but better than almost any normal household knife would have 6) The system lets you grind the edge either with the wheel moving away or towards the edge. Book explains the advantage of both approaches 7) No matter how aggressive you push the blade into the stone, the blade will not over heatCons
1) The method for "grading" the wheel does not truly make the wheel fine enough in grit 2) The water tray is almost impossible to lower and empty without making a mess 3) Setting the angle is very much a "art" the knife angle guide is useless on kitchen knives to set the jig angle up " This might be rectified if different instruction videos were provided" 4) If you try to restore a knife with a really worn edge, you must regrade the stone first. This process wears the stone down faster.Redesign ideas.
1) The jig they sell for sharping joiner blades would be a better approach to straight knives such as carving knives. needs some rework to do this 2) Redo the water cooling tray mechanism. This needs to be easily removable without causing floods. Something a Jr designer engineer could do. 3) Create a video that shows CLOSE up how to set the proper angle for a kitchen knife. The very thin area that a kitchen knives has for the angle simply does not work well with the jig. 4) Include a light that is LED based (real bright, they exist) on a goose neck. This will solve the "being around water issue with a hot light" Without a really good source of light, you simply can not see what you are doing.I really do not sharpen much else than mentioned. No lathe knives etc. so I can not offer a opinion.
Would I buy it again. Unlikely, There are other systems that work by keeping the knife fixed and moving the stone. This will allow you to use almost any grade stone, and is easier to set the angle to the blade. Hope this helps
Paul