Sharpening?

[George Summers]

Well I bought the HF lathe I mentioned in an earlier post. I will be taking a sharpening course at Woodcraft next month as well as a basic turning course. But in the meantime, while I'm futching around with an inexpensive set of HF tools, I started wondering. I don't have a 'good' grinder, just a 6"er that I used for drill bits and metal work. I know that I will have to get one at some point in time (probably soon) but in the meantime I am using something else and it seems to be working. I have one of the cheap Delta 1" belt/6" disc sanding stations. I put a fine grit belt on and have run the gouges, etc. across the belt (on the flex part, not the part with the platen behind it). It seems to give it a good edge. At least I can tell the difference between before and after I touch it up on the sander. Is there something inherently wrong with using the sanding belt?

George

[Curt Harms]

Hi George

If you look in Leonard Lee's sharpening book, he seems OK with that.:)

Curt

[Raymond Overman]

George, I use a $79 6" Delta variable speed grinder with success in sharpening my gouges. The key is repeatability and getting a single bevel on your tool. That's why the jigs that ensure you're getting the same grind everytime are so useful. While the 8" grinders are nice, I don't feel they're a necessity to get a good edge. Put a higher grit stone on one side of your grinder and either buy or make a wolverine style sharpening jig and you'll be good to go.