Sharpen Your Claws On This Tiger

Once I acquired some functional chisels, and a fleet of hand planes, I needed an easy and effective method to keep a good edge on all of them. I initially bought a little jig that held the blades at a set angle and allowed me to work the blade back and forth across an abrasive surface…it worked ok but took a fair amount of time. I also bought a small Delta Utility Sharpener that didn’t work quite as well, but was a little faster. When the Scheppach Tiger 2000 went on sale for near $100 with free shipping, I couldn’t resist.

The Tiger 2000 is a wet/dry slow speed blue aluminum oxide grinding wheel type system that has an 8” x 2” wheel and a leather honing wheel. The system includes a tool rest, a blade holder, angle gauge, water tray, and a polishing compound for the leather wheel. It’s eerily similar to the Harbor Freight unit, but has a metal housing and a more palatable color scheme! ;-) This type of system is a smaller version of the Tormek and Jet 10” systems. One benefit of the grinding wheel systems is that they leave a hollow grind on the bevel which is desirable to many users.

The system is simple and intuitive to use. You flatten the back edge, mount up a plane blade or chisel in the holde, and adjust to the appropriate angle and create a bevel. Within a few minutes you’ll have a decent edge that’s actually fairly sharp, but it’s the honing wheel that turns it into a shiny razor! I’ve used it both dry and wet. The process does create some dust when dry, or messy water when using the quenching tray. A diamond dressing tool keeps the wheel true and fresh.

I’m not sure how this compares to the Tormek, Jet, Grizzly 10” systems, and have never used the Worksharp system, but it’s effective, simple, and reasonably priced.

(currently on sale at Woodcraft for $119.99 as of 3/21/09)