Grinding incannel gouges

[Harlan Barnhart]

I bought several incannel gouges off ebay. Two need new bevels ground due to sever chipping. How do ya'll do this? I assume I need some narrow grinding wheels. How narrow?

Peace,
Harlan

[george wilson]

I use 1/4" wide wheels with edges rounded for in cannel gouges. Victor Machinery Exchange is in Brooklyn. I've done a lot of business with them. Look them up and give them a call. See if they sell the narrow wheels. Many of these wheels are for use on surface grinders,and may have larger holes in them. Do you have the means to turn out bushings for them? Get 60 or 36 grit white aluminum oxide wheels.

[Jim Koepke]

I am sure others will offer their methods for doing this, so this is just one way to skin the proverbial cat.

Sharpening the inside of a gouge is one place where scary sharp seems to shine above all others.

First cut a piece of hard wood to approximate the width of the gouge. Then using hand planes and any other tools you have shape the piece to match the inside of the gouge to be sharpened. Lay some 100 grit or the grit of your choice over the piece and check the fit. When you have a good match, you have a custom form for sharpening one gouge. Each gouge will need their own form.

Once the tough work is done, fine slip stones will come in handy. Though if you use fine abrasive papers found in an automotive supply store that carries finishing supplies, you may be able to forgo the slip stones.

For the finishing touch, you can charge the surface of a dowel with honing compound to strop the inside of the gouges.

jim

[David Weaver]

I use the corner of a tormek wheel when i have to grind them, but I generally don't sharpen or grind the gouges any more than I have to because they're a pain and mine are crank neck, which makes the task a little more annoying.

I finish the bevel with slips and a round carver tool strop on the tormek. I sharpen them until they work reasonably well, but don't go over the top like everyone does now (me included) with chisels and smoothers.

FTR, the ones I got, I got not that long ago, and whoever had them used them heavily and didn't worry that much about the geometry of the primary bevel - it appears they just kept after them maybe with a slip and strops, and they worked OK even as is for what I use them for.

[Jonathan McCullough]

For basic shaping you might be able to put a cone-shaped abrasive in a drill press. I've got one to sharpen too, so let us know how you make out.

[David Keller NC]

I bought several incannel gouges off ebay. Two need new bevels ground due to sever chipping. How do ya'll do this? I assume I need some narrow grinding wheels. How narrow?

Peace,
Harlan

If you've a bench grinder, Joel Moskowitz at Tools for Working Wood sells very thin Norton grinding wheels, 6" diameter, 1/2" boore in either 1/8" thick or 1/4" thick.

The way I do this for my in-cannel gouges is with diamond Hones. DMT makes 3 sizes (they're tapered cones). They are very quick unless you need to remove a tremendous amount of metal.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Thanks for the ideas. Jim, I like the sandpaper idea for general maintenance but this chip is nearly 3/16" which will take some serious grinding.

[george wilson]

Another thing I do to get a very accurate,clean grind with no facets in it is this: Grind the end of the gouge square to get rid of all irregularities. Then,I determine the angle I want to grind the gouge to. To repeatedly replace the gouge on the tool rest and get exactly the same angle on the wheel each time,I put a c clamp on the blade that contacts the outside edge of the tool rest each time I place the gouge on it. You can also clamp a short dowel onto the gouge with a C clamp to rest on the tool rest.

I like the tool rests on my old,flat fronted Craftsman bench grinders. The tool rests have 2 parts. These particular tool rests can be really extended out to contact the bolster at the end of the handle in many cases,for gouges and chisels of standard(or less) lengths.

If you can find one of these old flat fronted grinders,get it. Most grinders have tool rests that have only 1 part. The WORST ones are those that only try to let you contact the wheel head on at a 90º angle. the idiots that design those haven't a real idea of the needs of the operator.

Do you like the little degree mark?(º). To make it,hold down the option key,and press the zero(0) key. It's cool!! There are many symbols you can make by holding down the option key:¡™£¢∞§¶•ªº. Those are just the 1 to 0 keys.

[harry strasil]

I use the little sanding drums you chuck in a drill. At times I will even clamp the drill in a vise lightly. They give a nice even bevel.
And I make the degree symbol, ° , by holding the Alt button down and typing 0176, 0162 is the ¢ sign,

[Walter Plummer]

I did mine with a cone shaped stone in the drill press. Raise or lower the table till you can get the angle you want then clamp a block behind the gouge handle to aid in putting it back on the table in the same place each time you quench the blade. I sanded mine off square and straight like George said and it takes a lot to get back to the edge. Patience, some music, and a beverage come in handy.

[george wilson]

I have a Mac,Harry. You must have something else. A Dell?

I forgot to mention that while grinding,keep an eye on the width of the flat edge. I get mine ground down to where there is a very fine "line of light" along the flat front edge(maybe it is 1/100" wide),then finally stone it down to a sharp edge.

[harry strasil]

FWIW Dpt, Norton Abrasives makes a product called Absolute Force in discs and cones etc, that is probably the fastest cutting wheel on the market, its a member of their Industrial line up. Made for cleaning foundry castings and for grinding welds and such.
They cut really fast, last at least 3or4 times longer than regular grinding wheels and as they cut so fast and are self sharpening that the heat build up/generated is much less than other wheels. They are a very coarse wheel, but are excellent for removing a lot of material with a minimum of effort and time. I used them for grinding welds and such in my blacksmith shop and they are superior to anything else I was able to obtain, but be warned they create big hairy sparks.

[harry strasil]

George , not sure what I have, but I use windows XP, and the characters I use are part of the standard ACHRS Code or something like that, can't remember.

[Sandy Stanford]

I bought several incannel gouges off ebay. Two need new bevels ground due to sever chipping. How do ya'll do this? I assume I need some narrow grinding wheels. How narrow?

Peace,
Harlan

With a gouge cone for a grinder.