BG4270T 10-Inch Two-Direction Water Cooled Wet/Dry Sharpening System

Welcome, sharpening enthusiasts and budget-conscious woodworkers, to the review of the WEN BG4270T 10-Inch Two-Direction Water Cooled Wet/Dry Sharpening System - or as I like to call it, the "Tormek for the Rest of Us." Now, let's get one thing straight: if you're expecting me to say, "This is exactly like a Tormek but for pennies," I'm not going to do that. But what I will say is, this machine punches well above its weight class, especially when you consider the price tag. First off, this beast comes with a 10-inch 220 grit wet sharpening stone paired with an 8-inch leather stropping wheel. That's like getting the main course and dessert in one go! The slow speed of 115 RPM is just what the doctor ordered for precision sharpening without turning your beloved chisels into toast. The two-direction feature? Oh, it's like having a dance partner who can switch lead and follow. Flip a switch, and you can reverse the direction of the wheel to cater to the needs of both right and left-handed users or to tackle different sharpening tasks. It's like having two sharpeners in one, but without the extra cost or clutter. The water-cooled aspect of this system is a godsend for those of us who've seen too many tools go from sharp to scorched. It keeps things cool, ensuring your tools maintain their integrity and don't overheat. It’s like having a little spa treatment for your blades - all without the hefty price tag of a professional setup. Compatibility is another highlight. With a universal jig support, you're not locked into buying WEN-only accessories. This means you can expand your sharpening arsenal without breaking the bank or worrying about compatibility. Even Tormek jigs can get in on this action with a little adapter magic, which is like finding out your favorite shoes fit with all your outfits. Now, let's talk about the price versus performance. While the Tormek might be the golden standard, the WEN BG4270T offers a silver medal performance at a bronze medal price. You get a solid, reliable sharpening system that doesn't require selling your firstborn or taking a second mortgage. In conclusion, if you're looking to sharpen your tools without sharpening your expenses, the WEN BG4270T is your go-to. It's robust, versatile, and brings that high-quality sharpening experience into the realm of affordability. So, for those who want to keep their blades singing through wood without breaking the bank, this WEN system is not just a good choice - it's a sharp choice.

Like the value of it I know is not a high end but got the job done. Ease to use wen can go forward in reverse. The size not to big not to small guess right size. Speed is ok I would like to have a control speed on it to go faster or slow

I would have loved to get the T8 from another company, but it is not within my budget. The WEN BG4270T is within my budget and performs admirably. The attachments seem to be a bit flimsy and are difficult to achieve repeatability. I've found that Tormek holding jigs are much more repeatable and work with the WEN machine perfectly. The machine itself works great. Being able to reverse directions is a definite plus. The 10" stone wheel has a little bit of run-out, but I was able to correct with a stone truing jig. The leather has some difficultly staying attached stropping wheel (reattached with contact cement, though it seems to be a temporary fix.) It is fairly heavy and stays in place very well. It does send water over the machine and bench when sharpening plane irons and knives. It does produce great edges on every thing I've sharpend (planes, chisels, lathe tools and knives (woodcarving and kitchen). Overall, this is a great budget minded wet/dry sharpening system when used with the Tormek jigs.

I'm really impressed with this thing. I was a bit concerned with reviews that showed stones out of alignment and were a bit mixed if this is actually a high quality tool. I've sharpened several plane irons and my kitchen knives, and they are coming out razor sharp. I also ordered Wen's accessory set. The jig for planes that comes with the machine had really tight grommets that you couldn't slide back and forth on the bar, I swapped them with the grommets for the axe jig and it slides smooth now. My stone was also really close to true to the bar. I designed and 3d printed my own jig for truing up the wheel that worked well. I'll post it on makerworld if anyone wants to print it instead of spending $150 on Tormeks jig. My only real complaint is that the stroping wheel isn't really that great. But I can just use a regular strop, that isn't much of a deal breaker for me. I also might someday replace the wheel on that size with a higher grit wheel in the future, but might not be necessary from the results I saw.

Very nice, I didn’t know these existed. Mine kind of makes a weird rumbling noise (like another said) I hope it goes away, but still very happy. It’s a big wheel, bigger than I thought. Slow RPM. You can add water if you want. I have tried chiseled guides. Various stones ( including diamond stones) Ken Onion stuff, never had much luck, and process was slow. With this, I can sharpen anything, right now and it looks and works pro. I find the guide easy to use. I do a few drags with my diamond stone between the stone wheel and the strop, but probably not necessary. Feel lucky to have it.

If you need to sharpen quickly and don't want to spend the time or money on expensive stones, get this wheel. Mine arrived today and within an hour of using it I had corrected the two chisels I had mangled on cheap diamond stones. I wanted to avoid dropping $200 on a good set of stones, so I went for those diamond plate sets. They were fine for the bevel, but I made the mistake of trying to flatten the backs when they're narrower than the chisel is long. I ended up with scoring and uneven surfaces that were frustrating during use. Well this wheel, despite being the cheapest on the market, corrected the backs and the bevels of both very quickly, right out of the box. I should have done this from the start. If you need to sharpen but aren't into 'zen' sharpening, this thing is perfect. Now, the negatives. Like other reviewers saidz the wheel isn't perfect. I bought the dressing set recommended by another reviewer and it will arrive tomorrow. But even without them the wheel produced edges that easily sliced paper. The chisel jig is stamped steel and not as accurate as the high end ones, but it squared up the tips of my chisels, which had been badly screwed by a cheap whetstone chisel jig. The water container doesn't come with a magnet so I glued one to the outside of each end to replicate the competition. So far so good. The included angle finder comes with a warning that it's only accurate on a new wheel and drifts as the wheel gets smaller. So I ordered an adjustable one from the competition. All in all, I'm in for around $230, or about the cost of a good set of stones that would produce comparable results but take ten times as long. Unless sharpening is your hobby, skip the stones and get this thing.

Very good product for the money. The holders do need some work if you want to sharpen a lesser degree angle 12 to 15°. I used a piece of paper when I installed the stone to take up the extra shaft to Stone clearance. I was very impressed as to the stones run out great right out of the box. I made a couple of extra parts with my 3D printer will try to include pictures. The biggest modification is on the knife holders the thumb wheels are too tall and the whole closest to the blade needs to be recessed. I used a 3/4-in in Mill and recessed it approximately .200 thousands. As far as sharpening knives I mainly use this for my first initial roughing in and then finish up with two finer stones by hand. All in all I'm very happy with this and would buy it again.

This product is one of those that frustrates me because it could be a very good product with a few minimal engineering changes. Positives : It is fraction of the cost of the well known competition. The wheel direction is reversible. Negatives : The accessory mount bar is low quality. There is too much play in the mechanism. When trying to tighten the bar in place, the bar tends to get out of parallel with the wheel. You have to hold the bar just right and tighten very carefully to keep it parallel. If you do not pay attention to this, flat blades like chisels can easily be sharpened so that they are not square. The bar is also too short by several inches. This makes using the jigs problematic in some cases as the jigs tend to slide off the end of the bar if trying to use all of the grinding wheel. The chisel jig is also very difficult to use. On a standard size chisel, you can not use the stops that are supposed to keep the chisel square to the wheel. There are two problems. The first is that the stops are on one end of the jig. If the chisel is in this position, you can not move the chisel across the entire width of the grinding wheel without the jig coming off the end of the accessory bar. The second problem is that a standard length chisel is too short for the jig to work properly. Only an extra long chisel will allow you to get the standard 25-30 deg chisel angle. Both of these could be easily fixed with some small engineering changes which is what makes this kind of product frustrating. I was able to work around this limitation by moving the chisel to the center of the jig and using a square to make sure it was square, but I should not have to do that. The motor is a little under-powered. For most cases, it works ok, but for larger tools like hatchets, you can actually slow the wheel to a stop if you push hard enough. I expect this for the price so it is not a big negative.

Compre esta máquina de segunda mano gestionado por Amazon, el cual ponía estado bueno, pues bien, la máquina llego con cortocircuitos con plástico quemados y derretidos, ni siquiera pruebe a ver si funcionaba, pues olía a motor quemado, la piedra con una fisura de consideración, un estado lamentable no acto para su venta. Luego tras hacer devolución no me ofrecen cambio por otro aunque sea nuevo, solo devolución cheque regalo para obtener dinero lo más pronto posible, cuál es mi sorpresa que casi después de una semana no recibo devolución, llamo y me dicen que espere 7 días que el sistema ha decidido otro método. Total me siento engañado y estafado por esta empresa Amazon. Tened cuidado y no fiarse de estos tipos de productos, ya que se ve que no lo revisan ni nada.

Das Gerät funktioniert sehr gut, benötig ein Vorschaltgerät ( 230 V/ 110V)

Revive, corrige y optimiza los filos de tus herramientas de manera fácil y sin tanto esfuerzo, este sistema de afilado es Justo lo que necesitaba, la calidad se ve bien sin embargo la piedra venía rota de una esquina pero eso no impide que trabaje de manera óptima. Afila muy rápido y gracias al sistema de enfriado no quema el acero de la cuclillas o cinceles. Hay que ver un par de tutoríales en YouTube para poder usarlo al 100% pues lo difícil es colocar a 90 grados el objeto a afilar pero una vez resuelto eso la herramienta trabaja por sí sola. He probado formones, cuchillos, navajas y cuchillas de cepillos de carpintería y todo lo deja como nuevo. Y si, al final corta papel como navaja es increíble.

Super easy to set up. I took a battered old chisel that was in poor condition and had it slicing through paper in about 10 minutes (video attached). The wheel drags up a fair bit of water that lubricates the stone well, and also keeps the chisel cool. The wheel wobbles a bit, and it's obviously not as good as the $1,600 kit from Sweden, but it got my chisel scary sharp on the first try with no effort at all. I recommend deburring the flat side of chisels on a separate sharpening stone, I found it quite awkward to do this part on the machine. You also need to be careful to tighten both sides of the blade holder equally or the blade will be rotated slightly and won't sharpen square on the end. Now I feel that I wasted money on flat stones, diamond stones and jigs. These things are all way too much effort and much less good results. The Wen is quick, easy and produces perfect results.

Fonctionne très bien pour tour bois. J'enlève 1 etoile car la pierre est fragile et surtout instable (vibration). Kit tormek tour a bois tiens dessus meme si pas parfaitement. Convient pour budget de départ. Je recommande sans hesiter si le budget n'est pas la pour tormek.