Using the Tormek
The system really excels at establishing and maintaining consistent angles.  The grind angle is controlled by the amount of projection from the holding jig and its height above the wheel. The height is controlled by how far the universal support projects into the machine base. Both of these aspects are very easy to control, the support height is the feature that is used for adjustment most often. Because there is very little material removed from the wheel, this system works quite well for holding a grind angle. If all you want to do is match an existing angle, one can simply sight the grind angle by eye. If you want to set a specific angle a little more effort is required. Supplied with the jig is an angle tool; using this tool while setting the height of the rod one is able to dial in whatever grind angle is desired. It does take a little effort to accomplish all this, a third hand would be helpful in holding the angle tool, the universal support, and to turn its locking knobs.

It is not absolutely required that the wheel be true except for certain types of sharpening. Mine was out of true on the horizontal surface by about 0.010", the wheel was out of true vertically by about the same amount. I did sharpen a couple of tools when the wheel was in this condition but since I had the truing tool I did use it before doing much more. My assessment is that the system is useable without the truing tool but that a true wheel is MOST desirable.

With the proper angle is set, the wheel graded as desired, and the water reservoir is filled, one can begin; sharpening a tool could hardly be any easier. You simply slide the tool across the wheel until you feel a burr or "wire edge" on the tip of the tool all the way across. Once this is done, you may re-grade the stone to the fine grit if you wish and grind for a little more, the size of the burr will probably be reduced but should still be there. After this, inspect the surface to make sure there are no irregularities.

To hone the edge you use the leather honing wheel. A special paste that comes with the machine is applied to the wheel and this is what really makes the steel shine. To do that you carefully apply the edge to the wheel, a few seconds for each side until the burr goes away. If properly done you will now have an extremely sharp edge.

You can also use the sides of the wheel, this is most useful for flattening edges prior to sharpening. I've used the side successfully to flatten small chisels and even the sole of a rabbet plane. I think I get a better surface using sandpaper for medium to large chisels as well as plane irons and soles. Some tools actually require a face-grind to sharpen them, depending upon the specific tool, the flat side of the wheel may work for this.

Performance
If you are anything like me, once you discover how easy it is to sharpen tools using the Tormek, you'll want to use it to sharpen everything you can get your hands on. This will undoubtedly get you well acquainted with the performance of the system in fairly short order. Starting with a trued stone will undoubtedly make everything better, the wheel tends to stay true especially if you sharpen long edges like jointer knives every so often.

If you need to remove a lot of material it will take considerable time to establish a proper angle using the Tormek. The system really excels at establishing proper and consistent angles on your tools. Being able to switch from 220 grit to 1000 while maintaining the proper angle along with the ability to inspect the ground edge at any time eliminates a faceted edge you may have found yourself making previously.

It only takes a couple of minutes to touch up an edge. It takes longer to correct improper grind angles; for instance, it takes me about 6 minutes to do a chisel, about 11 to do a plane iron or jointer knife. It took 45 minutes to do three 13" planer knives but I decreased the grind angle in that particular case. These times would not take into account any prep of the back of the iron if you needed to do that.

Wear of the stone is hard to estimate. When you first get the machine you'll probably true the wheel and sharpen all your tools. This will of course wear the stone quite a bit at first. I wore the stone by 5.4mm (dia) in the first month of use sharpening the equivalent of about 70 chisels. A replacement stone is about $130.  The leather honing wheel should last a long time, a replacement is $50 should it be required.

The Accessories
In addition to the straight jig, there are several optional ones available for sharpening scissors, cutlery, gouges, lathe scrapers, lathe insert cutters, small chisels, jointer knives as well a small profile honing wheel and a couple other jigs. The jigs are made of die cast metal parts with some machining. I have never had any problem when putting a tool into any jig. As long as it is set right, it will grind a correct edge either straight or equally curved on both sides as required by the specific jig/tool combination. I'll admit that I never did get the hang of the scissors jig though.

My favorite jig is the jointer knife jig. This jig will accept blades up to 13" long but supposedly longer blades can be done in sections by shifting them. I was particularly interested to see just how well this jig would work compared to the a horizontal grinder I normally use. In essence, it works a lot better and it is much faster. This jig is the gem of the entire lot. This jig has the potential to be used for other sharpening tasks as well.

Tips
I don't have many tips to pass along that aren't already in the instruction book but here are a few:

• I put a light coat of oil or dry lube on the universal support rod, this makes the jigs slide back and forth a little smoother.
• It is possible to "twist" an edge when you place a small chisel in the straight jig. This will create an angled grind instead of a straight one. You can check for this before any real grinding is done and it is easily corrected by adjusting both knobs. You need to ensure that the plates are parallel (assuming that the chisel is uniform in thickness).
• The Tormek is a bit messier than one might think. To control the spread of water, I place the unit on a large inverted lid from a cheap plastic storage container; this keeps the water off the bench and makes cleanup easier.
• You may discover that some of your (now very sharp) tools are more easily nicked, if so, consider decreasing the sharpening angle.

Summary
The beauty of the Tormek system lies in its design as an integrated system. With it you will be able to grind a proper angle on nearly any tool you have and do it with repeatable precision. The icing on the cake is that it is so easy to get this level of performance. The Tormek is expensive but it is the most complete "out of the box" system I have ever used.

Details:

There are two nuts that are used to set the height of the threaded rods holding the jig very precisely.  On the back of the jig is another knob that controls the angle of the jig.  On top of the jig are two collars that are used to set the left and right movement of the jig.

In this case I have a plane iron that has tapered sides (hidden by the jig here).  In cases where you cannot use the jig to reference off of the tool you can simply draw a square line across the stone and align the tool in the holder to that.

In the interest of full disclosure, Tormek  provided this product to facilitate this review.