Tormek Planer Blade Sharpener SVH-320. The Planer/Jointer Blade Sharpening Jig That Precisely Sharpens Virtually Any Length Blade

Learning how to set this up was relatively easy. The materials and construction are very good and should last a long time. The first sets of blades that I sharpened for a customer came out really well, as confirmed a few days later when I asked him how they were doing.

I'm recalling a sharpening I performed over a month ago for this review, so I'm a little fuzzy on details. However, I remember the instructions said I'd have to move the blade in the jig to sharpen blades over 10 inches (I think it was 10). My jointer blades are 12 inches and I did not have to move the blade in the jig.I had a couple of nasty nicks in my blades. It took a number of passes per blade, with a number of resurfacing operations on the stone in between each pass. It worked.When I was done, I was worried the blades might be different weights. My postal scale only had 5 gram accuracy, so I bought a nutrition scale, American Weigh Scales AWS-600-BLK Digital Personal Nutrition Scale, with .1 gram accuracy and a calibration weight. Turned out the blades were all within less than a gram weight of each other. Pretty good.I've been using the sharpened blades for over a month now. No problems.Be aware that leveling jointer blades might take longer than sharpening. It's kind of an ordeal, but that's not this jig's fault.

The tool works well. But, it is cantilevered out over the grinding wheel by this mechanism of guides, slides, pin, and posts that all have the ability to give and bend. After all, the grinding will only take a few thousands off the blade. It becomes an art to judge the amount of force (tiny) to use to press it onto the grinding wheel so the finished blade is perfectly straight and flat. Is the blade held up by the grinding wheel and needs more grinding? Or, is it held up by the mechanism and had been fully ground? Practice makes perfect. Re-positioning long blades in the tool is remarkably consistent and yields an excellent edge.I have a Grizzly grinder. The support post would not fit. So, I simply enlarged the hole for one of the post mounts and re-positioned it. It works great.

I purchased this jig because I was tired of paying high prices to get my jointer and planer blades sharpened. I calculated the cost of the jig would be covered with just a few sharpenings. The jig works as advertised. It's a bit fussy to setup, but some of that was me struggling up the learning curve. Once I had it figured out, it worked very well and sharpening an 8 inch planer blade took about five minutes. The instructions advise that you true the wheel with the ADV-50, and once you understand how the jig works, that is really good advice. So if you don't have the wheel truing jig, you should think about getting one if your purchasing the SVH-320.

It doesn't fit my Rikon 80-100 wet sharpener, not sure if I will return it, or modify it to work.

Lets face it, if you are looking at purchasing this, you are already hip deep into your Tormek sharpening system, kinda like I am. Quit complaining about the money already.Having said that, I will say that this platform is incredibly well built. The metal is thick and sturdy, and it doesnt bend or droop. Much like everything else I have purchased for my Tormek.Did everyone else get a funny little package of band-aids when you bought your kit ?? I quickly determined that it was a starter pak. My DeWalt planer blades are double edged, and will easily cut fingers on both sides. The factory edges on these blades was never even close to what it is now. Have fun and order cut resistant gloves as well.

The jig promises to work just fine, but to my chagrin, I found there can be a significant learning curve. I ruined a set of knives/blades, which forced me to shell out over $100 for a new set. Read the directions carefully and watch any video tutorial on the jig that you can find (YouTube, etc.)! Most importantly, be sure you understand everything and then . . . take your time. Incrementalism works best in this case.

The jig works great on the tormek. The jig also did my 6" planer knives... So if someone does a lot of work with rough sawn wood like I do, then this would be the additiontion to tormek system without going out and buying new blades at $40--90 a set