How many of you hone your turning tools?

[George Farra]

Hi all

I was watching an episode of Woodturning Workshop with Tim Yodor. The episode had a guest on and they were discussing sharpening. They noted that turning tools should be honed after coming off a grinding wheel claiming honing refines the edge and strengthens the edge. They hones both the bevel and the inside of the tool.

I'm accustomed to honing my carving tools, chisels and plane irons. I never considered honing my turning tools since every video I've ever watched the user when from grinder to lathe.

So.....is it worth the extra step? Will tools stay sharper longer? When honed, can you re-hone to keep a keen edge on the tool rather than taking it back to the grinder?

Thanks

George

[Alan Trout]

I hone turning tools between sharpening. Not to strengthen the edge but to give a better edge for a little longer. Just prolongs the time between needing to go to the grinder.

[Tony De Masi]

I do the exact same thing as Alan stated above.

[Brice Rogers]

On my old lathe, I could thread on a faceplate on both sides of the headstock (one was right handed threads and the other one was left handed threads). On the left side, I mounted a disk of MDF and charged it with rouge. So when I was turning and need a quick touch up of the cutter, I would just briefly hone it. Worked pretty well and sometimes I wouldn't even bother turning the lathe off between cutting > honing > cutting.

[Steve Mellott]

I only hone the skew. Once I get the correct angle on the grinder, the hone is the tool I use to sharpen the skew - it does not see the grinder for a long time.

[Thom Sturgill]

I once watched Jimmy Clewes at a symposium and after grinding his gouge (this was before he started using Doug Thompson's I think) he pulled out a diamond card and honed. When asked, he stated he just did not want to get involved in the controversy.

Before buying a CBN wheel (I now have a 350 grit wheel) I honed because the friable wheels did not properly sharpen the V11 steel, IMHO. Now I do not hone immediately, but will often hone just before the final few passes rather than grind. Straight from the CBN wheel is fine for everything else.

I am always reminded when these discussions come up of a study I saw back when I was thinking Neander thoughts... A user conducted a test to determine edge holding of a honed edge (scary sharp) versus 'normal' sharpening. Scary sharp started sharper and took considerable time to get as dull as 'normal' sharpening, thus lasted longer before needing resharpening. I think the same thing hold true here.

[Brian Kent]

I do not bother on my gouges. On a couple of scrapers, especially an almost flat nose scraper with a gentle convex arc. It lets me get a much smoother surface. I can skip a couple of grits on the sanding and right to 180 when it works right.

[Allan Dozier]

I use a Tormek for most of my sharpeining, not just turning tools, so I hone pretty much everything.

[robert baccus]

I fell in love with 6" diamond lapidary discs 3 years ago. Mounted on a light duty HF buffing machine I have an instant choice of 80, 180, 1200 and 1600 grit discs. I sharpen on a stone or the 180 diamond and hone between shaping grinds on the finer discs. Diamond just takes a very light touch of the tool.

[robert baccus]

I fell in love with 6" diamond lapidary discs several years ago. Mounted on a light duty HF buffer and mounted back to back, I have an instant choice of 80, 180, 1200 or 1600 grit discs. I shape on a stone or the 80 grit and hone between those on the finer grits. Diamond just takes a very light touch with a tool!!!

[Reed Gray]

I never hone my gouges. I did some times before I got CBN wheels, and did my shear scraping with a gouge. The burrs on the swept back gouges seemed to need honing off to be able to do a shear scrape, but not for roughing. Since I got CBN wheels, I don't feel the need to ever hone a gouge. I do all of my finish cuts with a fresh edge off the 180 grit, very well broken in D Way wheel. All of my scraper burrs are straight off the grinder. I have been going back and forth with the burr from the 180 wheel, and the 80 wheel, and don't really notice any difference. I am also playing more with a honed burr on my scrapers for shear scrapes. I push the stone parallel to the bevel rather than from bottom of bevel to the top. I figure this hones, and burnishes at the same time. Not positive though, and I need a lot more experimenting. This type of honing does produce a burr suitable for roughing, and far more sturdy than I would have thought.

robo hippy

[Tom Giacomo]

I also have been using the 6" lapidary discs for several years. I mounted my discs on my Worksharp and using their work bar can use my fingernail sharpener. The discs are inexpensive and you can get many grits. Like Robert I use an 80 grit to shape and a 320 or 400 grit to resharpen or hone. I keep the Worksharp next to the lathe and have a 320 grit disc on it to retouch. I have had these discs for 3 years and they show no signs of wear.

[Geoff Whaling]

I once watched Jimmy Clewes.....When asked, he stated he just did not want to get involved in the controversy.

I hone most tools, but not others in particular applications. I also regularly touch up with honing plates. It is a horses for courses debate imo. I agree with Jimmy there is a time and a place for such debates - not in a demo, perhaps a brief statement on the demonstrators preferences but not a debate.

Honing offers significant benefits for fine detail spindle turning - in fact I would say it is not likely that a turner will successfully achieve fine crisp detail without honing tools. However when roughing out bowl blanks with potential inclusions there is little or no benefit in honing tools, just time wasting and only potential aggravation when damaging a nicely honed tool.

To hone or not to hone? Any decision should be based upon logic, and safety, and an evaluation of the actual / perceived benefits, less risk of catches, a better finish, less sanding, etc; balanced against the downsides such as the additional time required to achieve a well sharpened & honed tool.

For my preferred spindle projects honing gets the thumbs up and is worth the effort - so I use a Tormek for most sharpening tasks; a conventional bench grinder and honing plates / tools for others; or straight off the grinder with perhaps a quick touch up for roughing out.

Honing is simply another method at our disposal to improve the effectiveness of an edge tool. Like the old cutting tomatoes adverts using a blunt knife & then the nice "sharp" one produced with your shiny new gadget. :)

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I am not a pro turner. I hone, but I also use a Tormek. I hone to save myself a trip to the Tormek. I think I hone a couple times before going back to re-sharpen. I mostly wanted to add that I also hone the inside flute of the gouge, to polish up the inside, so the chips don't stick, (I think, just my opinion) but mostly to remove that pitch/gum stuff that we seem to have here. Lots of our local woods are oily or resinous or whatever you may want to call it...... Oh, and rust.
At first, I did go through the trouble of stropping with the Tormek both inside and out, but gave up, since it does consume a lot of time. Sometimes I do strop if I really want that shiny stropped edge for some reason.

[Justin Stephen]

Bowl gouges, no. I hone beading tools, my berdan, some scrapers, skews, and use the honing stone to re-sharpen carbide bits on the occasions that I use carbide tools.

[John RStegall]

I do the same thing Alan Trout does. I began doing this after watching several turners (on You Tube) do it. I am pleased with their performance.

[Jeramie Johnson]

I do the same thing Alan Trout does. I began doing this after watching several turners (on You Tube) do it. I am pleased with their performance.

Same here. CBN wheel used, 10V tools, but hone to reduce trips. Tools last forever, vendors unhappy.