Coming to this late, sorry. I got my Tormek 2000 used for about half the new price, which I couldn’t have afforded at the time. The previous owner (deceased) had a very disorganized shop, so whatever jigs he had I didn’t get, with the exception of one knife clamp that I spotted on a nearby table. I convinced his son that the clamp went with the machine by using it to sharpen his pocketknife. Fortunately, it had the lower horizontal bar already installed (I later added an upper one).
So there I was, a newb Tormek owner with only one jig, and insufficient funds to purchase more. I went to freehanding on it and found it good for some tools.
Fortunately I already owned a Belsaw scissor grinder and a Makita 9820 for jointer/planer knives, so I didn’t have to use the Tormek for those. I did have a pile of edge damaged hatchets and axes, which I reground enough that I could file them symmetrical. Then I went through my chisel box, then all my buddies’ chisels on the jobsite. Then I progressed to skew and lathe chisels on the side of the stone, then roughing gouges on the face. Woohoo!
Anyway, what Munckmm says about the friction heat is probably true except for thin paring and fillet knives if you apply too much pressure. That said, I almost always run mine wet. It washes off some of the swarf, and for some tools I find the water gives me feedback on how parallel to the face I am before steel actually touches the stone.
One thing I hate about it is the stone grading paste, tried it once and never again. I just use the 225-ish grit of the standard stone, gives a toothy working edge on most of my knives. Chisels get kissed on the 1000 grit Makita.
I loaned it to a woodturning acquaintance for a week when he got tired of bench grinding his lathe chisels, he gave it back and bought one brand new. He periodically thanks me for that when I run into him.
Overall, I’ve gotten good value out of it. I haven’t really needed all the jigs, I have attached a couple shaft collars as stops occasionally, made some angle gauges to help in setting the bar height. I empty the reservoir after every session in the winter, so it doesn’t freeze in my unheated shed.
If your work is like mine, you’ll find it useful.
Parker