Record Power WG250-PK/A 10" Wet Stone Sharpening System Package Deal

I am an enthusiastic, but very much still learning amateur wood turner, and have been on a couple of courses and learnt from friends, One thing I have learnt quickly though is the key to good wood-turning is keep your tools sharp and in good order. So one of my first purchases was a sharpener, but which one?? I was advised that a wet stone sharpener would do the best job, but as I looked around shows and on-line there wasn't many wet stone sharpeners that fell into my price bracket. It even crossed my mind would I even get the value out of this one on. I read several reviews on various machines and finally opted for the Record Power WG250, and I am pleased I did. It's a great machine, with a 5 year warranty, it came very well packaged, complete with a DVD on how to set it up and get the best use out of it. I have had to watch the DVD a few times because the guy presenting it has one of those voices that sends you to sleep, however it is a very good, and very informative DVD, and I am pleased it came with the product. It is very well made, heavy and sturdy like you would expect from a good reputable company, and not plastic'y like some I have seen. It has a spring loaded drawer compartment too to put all your bits and bobs in, which I have to say is handy, keeping everything together. It is also not too big either and sits on my bench perfectly. The stone runs very smoothly and does exactly what it says it does. I have sharpened my wood-turning chisels, various knives , gardening tools etc and it's great, in fact I find it quite therapeutic. It has a variable speed, a leather honing wheel, the stone is also held on by left hand thread to stop the wheel from unwinding. It came complete with a straight edged jig, a Diamond trueing tool, a support arm, a stone grader, an angle setting gauge and a angle finder. It is not a tool you use everyday but it sure makes sharpening just about anything simple. Time will tell if this is a reliable machine, however it feels as though it will be, but so far so good and I am more than satisfied with this product. Record Power look like they do a good selection of spare parts, and there are a lot more jigs and gadgets to purchase to add to what came in the original package. (I did not purchase this product from Amazon, however I read reviews on the product on-line before I did purchase it, and noticed there are none on Amazon, so I decided to write this review) in my opinion it is a good product.

I bought this two years ago as I wanted a decent wet stone grinder that didn't cost the earth. This machine and accessories are indeed cheaper than the top of the range rival and it does show. What I don't like: - The water trough is very fiddly to put on. - The so called 'straight edge jig' has put a skew on all of my chisels. This is because various bits of the machine are not plumb. I've followed the tutorial DVD to the letter and I still can't produce a square edge on my chisels. - The truing tool is a total faff to use and tends to leave trenches in my stone. (This turned out to be a faulty truing tool which Record Power replaced after a few weeks of complaint.) -Out of the box, the wheel was not true so I had to spend a lot of time truing it before I could sharpen anything. -The rubber on the axe jig split and came off very quickly. What I do like: -It's very sold, heavy and does not move around. -It doesn't splash very much. -After two years, it's still going strong. I've sharpened chisels, kitchen knives, axes and billhooks. -The jigs and accessories are generally cheaper than the blue rival. All in all, I don't hate this machine but I do wish I had spent the extra cash on the more accurately built Tormek T7.