Tormek T-4 – Compact Water Cooled Sharpening System for Edge Tools – US Version – English Handbook

I’ve invested more than I’d like to admit in a variety of sharpeners, including wet stones, multiple variations of Work Sharp systems, and finally, the T-4 While they all have their place, if I’d started with the T-4 I’d have saved a bunch of $$, and had incredibly sharp knives, chisels and scissors a lot sooner, and with a lot less effort. What a great system! Not cheap, but totally worth it. I only wish I’d found it sooner.

It seems every spare bit of bench and shelf space in my shop holds some sort of sharpening system, stone or device. These range from an 8" grinder, to small belt sanders equipped with leather stropping belts, all the way down to diamond wet stones and Arkansas hard stones. I am, a sharpening junkie. I think a garage sale is in order though, because I've put my new Tormek T4 through its paces over the last month, and I have found my system at last! The scary sharp edges that I achieved were so impressive that I resharpened every edge tool in my shop. The Tormek system is well thought out and the components are of very high quality. Here are a few notes based on my experience: 1. The customer support is excellent, but you must register your tool using the serial number on the bottom. My T4 arrived without the SP-650 Stone Grader that was supposed to be included. As a registered owner, I emailed the company in Sweden. Within 24 hours, a representative of the US distributor in the Midwest replied, requesting my shipping information. I had the stone within 48 hours- a total of three days after I unpacked my Tormek. Excellent! 2. Based on customer reviews, i purchased three accessories to meet my sharpening needs: the SE-77 Square Edge Jig (absolutely needed for plane irons, chisels, etc.), the SVS-38 Short Tool Jig (for my carving gouges, etc.) and the LA-120 Profiled Honing Wheels (again for the carving tools.). These all met or exceeded my expectations. 3. Most important is that you watch the entire DVD that is included before you do anything else, otherwise you might wonder about the lack of set up instructions, like I did. 4. The T4 also comes with a detailed booklet on how the many accessories function. 5. You will need to keep your Tormek out of freezing spaces. The stone absorbs water and can potentially crack if it freezes. 6. The stone does not grind as quickly as you might be used to with a conventional grinder, but once you re profile your tool edges, a quick honing on the leather wheel will get them scary sharp once more. The system is expensive, which is what kept me away for quite a while. What I did was to ask for Amazon gift cards at every gift giving occasion for Christmas, my Birthday and Father's day. I saved them all, and now I have my Tormek! I plan to add a knife sharpening jig and a jig for woodturning tools next.

It runs faster than I expected, but it is smooth and effective, make sure to use very light pressure when sharpening without a jig, or it will pull you off angle quickly and easily. Speaking of, it should at least come with a knife jig, but it doesn't. As is you get the stone wheel, strop wheel + compound and treatment, truing stone, marking pen, and the jig bar, plus the manual and angle guide. You have to be fairly experienced at sharpening already to make a go of it with just that. That is the only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5. The spacing is a little cramped between the main wheel and the strop wheel, larger knifes can be a little unwieldy to properly strop. I find the angle guide it comes with to be near useless, finding the bevel by feel/eye and setting your jig is much easier. All in all, it's pricey, but if you want consistent, sharp tools quickly, this is the best cheap option I've found. I used to hate planing and sharpening chisels, and I struggled to find hand jigs for getting good edges for any tool, chisels, knives, etc, but this thing made it a breeze.

I love this thing!! I am retired Marine so I know about how keeping a edge is very important. This machine does it in seconds with accuracy and its fan-freaking-tastic! If all you need is something to sharpen a few knives then get the Lansky sharpner, its the best hand sharpening system. If you need to put a whole new edge angle on a knife and want to keep it razor sharp, then this is your guy. No sparks, no dust and the wheel turns slow so its not only easy to control you can do detailed work with it without it jumping all around. I love you can measure what angle you want on a knife. Most pocket knives are probably a 30-35 degree edge, pretty sharp but durable. I like 22.5 as I found its a good balance, although I need to touch it up more often to keep it cutting nice. I can do surgery with my knives though. I wish the honing leather gear was a bit bigger as its kinda a chore trying to maneuver a large knife in-between the two wheels, but it works. Love the water cooled, keeps the blade tempered and my hands unblistered. This is by far the longest review I've ever written and that is because this thing is awesome. I like how when you open the box one of the first things that is in it is a band aid. Very fitting considering what this thing can do. LOVE IT!!

I love the tormek t4, gets my knives really sharp, it’s a little pricey but works great, it’s built with quality materials, very durable, I must say I’m impressed, the accuracy is a given depending on how well you are at sharpening knives, the vibration is very low with just enough speed to sharpen a good knife with out heating the steal

Oh, my gosh! This tool is the most outstanding tool we own. I was a little hesitant to dive in and try it, but now I find every chance I can to sharpen our lathe chisels. It is awesome. We bought the wood turners jig set along with it, and they are great! We had bought the Work Sharp system because it showed we could attach the Tormek jigs to it, but they discontinued the part needed to attach them. What a waste of money!!! They pack bandaids in with the system I think as a joke, but seriously, the tools really get sharp enough to cut you! Well spent money!!!!

Difficult to use. Going from one setting to another for different gouges is complicated. It may be easy for the inventor, but for me, it is an expensive disappointment. I could have bought a cheap one and got the same results. Save your money and buy a Grizzly.

Machine de très haute qualité, très silencieuse et sans vibrations accessoires très bien conçus un peu cher mais vaut son prix !!!!

Die Tormek habe ich mir nach einigem ueberlegen als Alternative zu Nasschleifsteinen besorgt. Hauptnachteil dieses haendischen Schleifens war fuer mich, dass es eben sehr lange dauern kann bis mal ein Grundschliff da ist wenn das Messer komplett stumpf ist. Auch unterschiedliche Winkel lassen sich zwar realisieren auf Nassschleifsteinen aber diese auch korrekt ueber die komplette Schneide hinzubekommen erfordert ebenfalls einiges an Uebung und Geschick. Bei der Tormek ist dies einfacher: Messer einspannen, Winkel mit der Winkelschablone einstellen und los gehts. Der mitgelieferte Stein laesst sich auf 200 Grit und 1000 Grit abrichten. Damit kann man schnell die Schneide richten und bekommt sie auch relativ schoen fein geschliffen. Klar ist das Ergebnis nicht dasselbe wie mit einem 4000 Grit Japanstein. Die Messer werden aber mindestens so scharf, dass man den Papiertest problemlos besteht; und zwar mit jedem Messer! Das sollte fuer alle gewoehnlichen Beduerfnisse ausreichen. Mit der Lederscheibe kann man den letzten Grad entfernen was nochmal deutlich an Schaerfe bringt. Die Verarbeitung ist tadellos. Das Zubehoer ist zwar nicht gerade guenstig aber wertig und massiv. Sicherlich kann man auch mit einer guenstigeren Maschine gute Ergebnisse produzieren aber ich finde Preis-Leistung fuer diese Maschine in Ordnung. Besonders angenehm: die enorme Laufruhe dank der niedrigen Drehzahl. Da hat der Schleifprozess fast die gleiche meditative Entspannungswirkung wie das Schleifen von Hand. Einiges Manko: das Lederrad ist kleiner als das Schleifrad. Wenn man per Hand abzieht, ist das kein Problem. Moechte man das Messer allerdings auch im gleichen Winkel abziehen benoetigt man ein etwas groesseres Rad. Das kann man aber leicht selbst bauen oder sich bestellen. Sehr gut ist auch die Dokumentation: es liegt ein ordentliches Handbuch bei sowie eine DVD mit diversen Videoanleitungen. Heutzutage gibt es das auch alles auf Youtube. Die Maschine und die Ergebnisse machen Spass. Uneingeschraenkte Kaufempfehlung.

This is a great professional and home system. It can sharpen your knife to below 100 BESS and when you get experienced enough - even razor sharp at 50 BESS. It saves a lot of time - compared to the water stones, which are like ancient history. However getting better on this system takes time and watching a lot of utube. So do a LOT of training on cheap knives before you proceed on sharpening your expensive knives. You should train on at least 20 blades, before doing any expensive knife. Also I highly recommend taking the 4000 grit japanese water stone. It is a GAME CHANGER!! Without it - I'm able to reach min 200 BESS, while with the japanese water stone - I can go below 100 BESS. The water stone can be purchased from fine-tools (dot) com / Tormek.html

Estuve a punto de no poder recibir el pedido debido a que no pusieron mi número de teléfono en la dirección y no podía comunicarse conmigo el repartidor. Me parece escandaloso que las instrucciones principales vengan exclusivamente en alemán. Siempre pensé después de ver la publicidad que las instrucciones vendrían correctamente traducidas al español. Asimismo el DVD viene expresado en cuatro idiomas pero no en español. No devolví el producto para evitarme la molestia,pero mi dinero ( y mucho por cierto, ya que es muy caro) no sabe de idiomas y si es pedido desde España, tiene que traer las instrucciones correctamente traducidas al español. Por último la distribuidora UPS no goza de buena fama en cuanto a la distribución.

Excelente