Tormek SE 77 Straight Edge Jig for Plane Irons, Crowbar

It arrives, is reassuringly heavy out of the box. The casting is good and the adjusters run smooth. The instructions are excellent with good advice about sharpening in. It runs so smooth on the support bar and is highly adjustable. It's a beautifully thought out and well built jig. I bought it because the cheap jig with my whetstone sharpener was twisting under tightening and only cut at an angle. Within 5 mins on my grinder with this jig my wonky blade was coming back to square. Buy it. Pain in the pocket but a lifetime of pleasure in the using.

Very well manufactured. I particularly like the ability to adjust the sideways angle of the tool that you are sharpening.

Fairly solid, I'm guessing in a zinc alloy - not steel, well thought out and reasonably well-made but some rough edges evident which, considering the price, should not be there. I shall, however, be keeping this as it does offer more adjustment than other jigs but at a high price. I would have liked to have seen a spare pair of the plastic bushes/inserts which would not have been extravagant from Tormek's point of view, as they must be cheap to make, yet are crucial to the performance of the jig. There are other, much more competitively priced similar jigs available, which do not have the additional adjustment capabilities needed for obtaining a spot-on 90° edge yet are much cheaper and do a reasonable job.

Together with the angle finder, this jig makes sharpening chisels and plane blades simple as long as they have a straight edge. I have sharpened all the tools I have except my mortise chisels which are too thick to fit - at least I have some to do manually still !

Never used a tormek before and was very impressed with the result. Very well made and easy to use.

Makes sharpening of chisels and plane blades easy

A good jig from Tormec. I bought it to put cambers on my plane blades. Although the block plane blade was too narrow. Maybe I could slide the jig back and forth on the bar to exaggerate the camber.

I thought I was getting a reasonable edge on my tools by hand, but the difference using the Tormek system is very apparent, even better than the tools being a little sharper is the speed this can be achieved. I take less than half the time to sharpen my chisels and plane irons.