HF vs. Tormek $79.99

[glenns5900]

Just found this in an email.... check it out..
This is not an endorsement, I just noticed it in the MORE COUPONS section.
Regular price $99.99
$20 off coupon
Now $79.99

There is a link on the page that has a .PDF of the manual. It looks like it comes with a couple of tool holders. One for knife blades and another for plane blades.

It is the good old Central Machinery Orange color. I don't know how good it is or have any specs on it.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...o?itemid=95236

[jonmulzer]

Odd, on the other Harbor Freight site it appears that it has went up $10 to $109.99.

[JR]

Odd,

Odd, yes, but not unusual. I have seen a tool with two different prices in the same HF catalog or flier.

JR

[Gary Ratajczak]

HF Wet Sharpener

I bought one of these lat year. It was $99, and a 10% coupon brought it down another 10 bucks.

The guides that come with it are pretty useless. The unit is pretty well built. One thing I did not care for is the guide rail is held in plastic holes in the case - other (read more $$) are all metal in those areas.

I did invest in a number of true Tormek guides, as well as the stone truing jig.

Once I trued up the stone, and used a good guide, it worked terrific.

I could not yet justify the high $$ of the Tormek, so I decided to give this one a try. I am very happy with the results, and that's why I invested in the Tormek guides. If I ever find a good deal on a used Tromek, I might pick it up.

I also purchased the extended warranty, which the sales Manager said would cover anything. I asked about a worn stone - he said to just bring in the unit for anything, and pick up a new one.

The motor has plenty of power, and works very similar to all the other units. There is a rub wheel on the motor shaft that actually turns the wheels. Even putting a good amount of pressure on the wheels, I can't slow down.

My first test was on an old pocket knife that I pulled from teh bottom of the drawer. Could not cut butter. After about six minutes, it proceeded to cut my finger just fine!!

After a bandaid, I worked on an old chissel that I carry in my repair bucket - a few minutes, and you can shave hair from your arm.

So far - A++ on this HF tool.

[ironhat]

Gary, why don't you do a review under the Articles-> Tool Review section? If nothing else just a copy/ paste. Personal experiences with products get lost in the threads.

Oh yea, WELCOME ABOARD !!

[dl2000]

Looks like it is time to buy that HF sharpener. Thanks for the tip.

[Dr. Freud]

Where did you find a $20 OFF coupon? I get all their stuff, but don't recall this savings. Please advise, I want to go get one soon. Thanks much.

[foneman]

Where did you find a $20 OFF coupon? I get all their stuff, but don't recall this savings. Please advise, I want to go get one soon. Thanks much.

Try this link for the coupon:http://www.harborfreightusa.com/html...a_cpnsave.html

[glenns5900]

Here is the updated link to the coupon good through July 27.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/html.../images/38.gif

BTW... I bought this grinder Saturday as the coupon was expiring on July 20and purchased the 2 year extended warranty for $11.99. I figured it would come in handy considering the quality of some of their tools.

After getting the grinder home I had to mount the wheel to the grinder. I found that whoever packed this apparently dropped the wheel onto something hard and a 1/4" chip was missing on one edge of the wheel. I figured that it wouldn't matter much but found that it did.

After sharpening a couple of knives I found that where the chip was missing was creating a thump when that part of the wheel came in contact with the knife blade.

After mounting the wheel I also found that the hole in the center of the wheel was drilled crooked. The wheel wobbled at least 1/4" from true.

Needless to say I took it back and asked if they wanted to just exchange the grinding wheel it would be ok with me... They said they would rather give me a whole new grinder. Good customer service. Needless to say, I opened the box in the store and inspected the new wheel as it was right on top. No chips in this one. I'll have to mount it on the motor to see if it runs true.

I haven't tried it yet but will give you a report when I do. The box indicates that there are other jigs that can be purchased, but the store didn't have any of them. I'll have to check their website or spend the $$ and get some Tormek jigs.

Note: They didn't have any of them on display, but had them in the back room.

Glenn

Update 7-24-08: Just mounted the wheel to the shaft on the new grinder and found that it too was slightly out of true and wobbled. I loosened the nut that holds the wheel and turned the wheel on the shaft 1/8 turn. Then turned the motor on and checked to see if it ran straigter. Repeated the process and found a sweet spot where it ran relatively true. Then tightened the nut. I will check it by sharpening another knife tomorrow.

[MikeMcCoy]

Glenn --- even my Tormek wheel had to be trued out of the box so that's not surprising that the HF might be a little out of round.

[Gary Ratajczak]

HF Wheel Tips

I found the same wobble on my unit as well. Did the loosen and reposition a few times until it was the best I could get it.

I picked up the Tormek wheel dresser (not the stone grader - the jig to true the wheel). After truing the face, it worked smooth as can be. That is one jig I would put at the top of the list.

TIP - The jig arm on mine was about an 1/8" out of square out of the box. Check it with a steel square, and bend as needed until you have a square 90 arm. Do that adjustment before you true the stone so that everything is in line.

HF does have a few other jigs - shown on the web. In my opinion, they were all stamped sheet metal, and not worth the price. I spent a few dollars and bought the Tormek jigs. They are all very well made.

GR

[Uncle Cracker]

I'd have to say that this is another example of the lengths that HF will go to in order to make a product look like the "real McCoy", without much regard for whether it actually works like it. Caveat Emptor to the n-th degree...

[Gary Ratajczak]

HF Comments

I would agree with Uncle Cracker on the jigs - very low quality "look alikes." Like everyone has always said, HF has some good deals, and HF has some not so good deals - know what you are buying.

I will say that I am happy with the sharpener itself. For a motor, a rub pulley, a stone and a leather strap, I think I got my moneys worth.

I do like the Tormek, but I am not a full time carver or professional turner. I have invested in the Tormek jigs so that I do have quality on that side, but again, a motor turns a wheel and the tools were pretty sharp after a few minutes on the HF Sharpener.

If this units fails, the walk in warranty will get me another few years.

The way I look at it, the up front $$ saved on the machine got me the full set of Tormek jigs.

GR

[Uncle Cracker]

I guess... But that's kinda like putting Bentley rims on your Yugo...

[glenns5900]

Gary - Thanks for the tip on the jig arm being out of square. I too had to adjust mine a bit. I found that since the plastic on the housing has a bit of give you can adjust one arm of the jig holder up or down a bit to square it up before tightening the lock screws. I'm sure that putting a level on top would also help.

I checked the Tormek site and found that this arm now has one of the posts threaded with a finger nut on it to allow fine adjustments. I wonder if it would be possible to thread one of the arms on the HF one the same way.


Glenn