WEN 8-Inch Water-Cooled Wet/Dry Sharpening System (BG4108)

The main difference between this and Tormek that I can see is that the rods to rest your work fixtures on are round with the WEN, while Tormek boasts a shaped rod that they say provides more tightening force. Can't say about that but I can say that tightening the tool holder on the WEN is just fine and it doesn't seem to need any extra force. Possibly the stone wheel is not as true as the Tormek wheels? It was a bit off at first and did take a few sharpenings for the wheel to even out. This could be addressed by forcing the work-supporting rod at a slight angle but I just let the sharpenings dress the wheel. From day 1, the WEN grinder does make a grinding gear kind of noise while rotating, which was surprising. I don't know if thats good or bad. Anyway its been working in our company for 5 months now and still working great. All in all it allowed me to jump into sharpening drill bits at a low price and I would purchase again.

Not a Tormek T7 or T8, but also didn't cost over $700. Well worth the price. Never had wood chisels that would slice paper like a Japanese sword until I got this for my birthday. Looking very forward to my turning tools and all my knives having perfect cutting edges for the rest of my lifetime. Some complain about noise or out of round stone. I have no comolaints about noise, and while the stone is slightly out of round, it is nothing that a diamond truing tool or the Tormek stone dresser won't fix perfectly. Bottom line is this: if you aren't able to achieve perfect results with this sharpener, you probably shouldn't be using sharp instruments without supervision.

Excellent sharpener. I've used this to sharpen my lathe tools and my chisels. It runs at a consistent speed and the water well keeps the tool from overheating. the only thing that I have against it is that the plastic that the body of the tool is made of could have been a little more sturdy. But at the price point that this is at it is well worth the money.

For the money this is a nice grinder, and works well. Couldn’t rate it higher because it has at least 1/2 inch out of round as the wheel rotates. Pretty annoying and requires you to control the tool being sharp by hand in order to maintain contact with the wheel. I guess you get what you pay for.

Will never have a dull knife, scissors, or chisel again. 😁

Original review with update below. First off I didn't purchase this wet grinder for fine sharpening of my tools. So I wasn't expecting a comparison to Tormek. But I wasn't expecting it to be as bad as it is. First I noticed patches on the stone wheel. They are rubber based and left small balls on the wheel. So I won't get an even edge on my tool. Next the wheel shaft is not true, causing a noticeable wobble. This could be corrected by using a diamond wheel dresser. But not on mine because of the rubber based patches. But the reason for returning it is the motor drive gear is elliptical. Wen doesn't have a replacement part for that. So Wen tech told me to send it back. They would have sent me a new wheel but what's the point. So I am giving a gold star to Wen tech department for great service. I also ordered another wet grinder. I will update after I inspect it. P.S. the Tormek accessories do work on the tool rest. Also the wheels fit but the run out wouldn't work for the diamond wheels. Update: The return was easy through Amazon. The next one is better than the first one. It still needed a lot of work to run rite. The motor gear is roughly machined. It left metal shavings after the first test running that would have damaged the nylon gear if not removed. I cleaned and sanded the gear to a smooth finish. I then applied white lithium lube. It runs quiet now. Unfortunately it is still not a good sharpener. It will reshape your tools but don't count on this wet grinder to get a sharp edge. The stone just isn't fine enough. In the instructions it is recommended to true the wheel and grade it. You will need to purchase a diamond truing tool. Tormek TT-50 ($93.00 dollars) fits the tool rest. You will also need a stone grader Tormek SP-650 ($33.95 dollars). I tried using a duel grade water stones for grading. It didn't work as well as the SP-650. To get a sharp edge you will need a finer grit stone Tormek SJ-250 ($401.00 Dollars) fits this machine. Now that I have it tuned and running well, I'm just not that satisfied with it. In order to use it I had to purchase separate items per the instructions. The tool rest is also a problem. It is difficult to adjust. When moved it looses its parallel to the stone you just trued to. The water trough is a pain to take off after sharpening. It also won't sit under the stone so I have to put a rag under it for drips. The stone will not hold its graded grit. When graded for rough work it gets finer. When graded for fine it gets rougher. The washer plates did not sit flat against the stone. I had to flatten them or risk cracking the stone. And as mentioned I had to tune the gear or have premature wear and failure. If you only use it to sharpen lawn mower blades and chisels that you hit with a hammer, you would most likely be happy. The wet grinder and items you need to use it cost about $250 dollars. My two star rating is comparing it to the tasks I would use it for. Because the tool rest accuracy is not repeatable I can not give it three stars. Yes it is a low price compared to Tormek. But it is a wet stone grinder. So it is in the same category. I am keeping this and using it as a shaping grinder.

Saves a lot of time,used for sharpening scissors.

The Wen wet stone sharpener is a great tool, it does a excellent job at sharpening my tools, and my knifes. The company that sells the Wen wet stone sharpeners, are great company to work with, I had several questions about the wet stone sharpener, and they were there, to answer me everytime, really good communication with Wen.

Motor broke 2 weeks after warranty

Sí bien la piedra no tiene la calidad de un Tormek, cuesta menos de una cuarta parte, puedes lograr muy buenos afilados de manera muy rápida y si eres exigente con el filo puedes terminar de asentar en una piedra de agua hasta reflejante en el filo, por el precio es muy buena compra

Facil de usar y muy practico para sacar filo a los cuchillos

La rueda abrasiva es muy agresiva y no sirve para afilar

Funciona bastante bien y puedes dar un buen ángulo a todo lo que afiles