Wednesday 15 March 2017

Elec-Trickery in the Shop

Beside of the telling-bone, the elec-trickery find its way into the shop.

I'm a hand tool woodworker from conviction.
But it's time to get rid of time killers.







One of my time killers is grinding!
As I like to overhaul the one or other wooden plane it always comes to the point of grinding the recovered iron.
Of course, you can do that by hand. I've tried different methods. Using a very coarse diamond stone. Using 60 or 80 grit sandpaper. Filing. You name it.
Sometimes it went well and a nice shaped bevel came out ready to sharpen and hone. The other time it doesn't went well and I even was not able to produce a nice tip.
No matter how the iron came out it did cost a lot of time (and elbow grease). And I was tired of wasting my time with tasks I don't really like.
So I came to the conclusion that I will need a grinder.
I had a look in the past already. It was clear for me that a normal bench grinder is not ideal in the wood shop because of the flying sparks. Especially in a very small shop. On the other hand, honestly, a Tormek is much to expensive for my purpose.
To make it short I have bought a Scheppach Tiger 2000 wet grinder.


Grinding a blade on the new grinder


It has not the best criticism in the world. But I found that for my purposes it has a good value for money ratio. I can live with the plastic cover what seemingly bothers a lot of potential buyers.
The stone is running balanced as far as I can judge it from eyeballing. And the dimensions are similar if not the same to the other systems on the market. So if I will need accessories I can buy it from different manufacturers.

This week I received my order. And what can I say? I'm satisfied. My first object to sharpen was the iron of my bevel up jack. The iron is (was) sharp, but I wanted to reestablish the 25° primary bevel. Forget about doing it on the stones. I've done that once and then never again. And due to this, the primary bevel meanwhile was 30° and the secondary bevel became steeper. Not ideal for shooting end grain.
It took me five minutes to grind it back to 25°. Thanks to elec-trickery.
Then I took it back to the stones and sharpened it free hand, established a new micro bevel a little steeper than 25° and job was good.

The problem now is to find a good place for it, so that I have access to it whenever needed.
That said I spent some time this weekend with some clearance work. At least I have a space to store the new elec-trickery beast temporarily.

I have left me two years to make this decision. But spending hours with grinding is not what I want.
All pride does not help. I would like to do hand tool woodworking and not metal work.
Finally I don't regret that I have waited to buy a grinder. That way I have learned some very basic skills and I do not want to miss it.

Now then, nuff said. New projects are in the pipe.
Stay tuned!

Stefan

13 comments:

  1. Good decision, purist be damn :-)
    As much as i embrace hand tools, i will keep my table saw, bandsaw and drill press...
    Oh, and my grinders :-)

    Bob, the practical woodworker

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. and don't forget Ralph's jointer.......

      Mike

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    2. Hi Bob,
      yeah, I think if I would have the space I would have a bandsaw too. Or a thickness planer. That is the other task which is often time consuming - bringing stock to desired thickness.
      But no way in my actual environment.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Delete
  2. I am fortunate in that I am at my dad's often enough where I just use his grinder if I need one for similar kinds of things to what you use it for.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      lucky guy. :-)
      Unfortunately I hadn't that option. So, now I have one and will save some time.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Delete
  3. Shame on you Stefan! :D :D
    You should get a hand cranked one! Because the hand power ones give you 2 things... A sharp blade and very smelly arm pit! LOL

    Ate least mine does!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi António,
      yeah. Not an easy decision. And I felt bad about it for a while.
      Frankly spoken, I have the third hand cranked grinder now. Everyone has got an issue. And for the mechanical best one I'm not able to get a new wheel because it is a small one (only 100mm).
      If nothing makes you sweat but grinding.... :-)

      Cheers,
      Stefan

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  4. Hi Stefan
    I'll be interested to see how the Tiger works out for you. I'm sure the Tormek is a great machine but I to can't justify the cost.
    A hollow grind would make things so much easier but like you, I don't want sparks in my wood shop.
    I use hand tools as my first choice but I have no problem using my power tools to do the mule work, and to me preparing a much used iron or a chisel is most certainly mule work!
    Hopefully you'll post your thoughts on the Tiger after you have used it a while.
    Regards
    Stephen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Stephen,
      thanks for your thoughts.
      Of course I will do an update after I have used it a while.
      Actually there is not much to say - it's grinding. Other buyers were complaining that the wheel is not running balanced. But mine is okay.
      If there are specific questions then let me know.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

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  5. Stefan,

    It's a short slippery slope, just saying. :-)

    Good on you, there are some things where power helps and doesn't bring more problems than it fixes....Grinding bevels is one of them.

    My 20" planer would go by by long before the bandsaw. Ripping with a bandsaw is another one of those times power helps more than hinders.

    ken

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ken,
      I'll be careful. But before I do not move there is no option to store a bandsaw or a planer.
      Should check the real estate offers :-)

      Cheers,
      Stefan

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  6. I'm so happy I got my hand crank grinder. Having grinding capacity, whether it be hand powered or cord powered, has really helped me in my sharpening. I found same as you that my bevels had gotten steeper over time. And grinding on sandpaper to re-establish the correct bevel was no fun at all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Matt,
      you are so right. Grinding by hand was really no fun. Unfortunately I had no luck with my hand cranked grinders.
      And now I can focus on more important things.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

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