Sharpening

[Roy McQuay]

I am new to turning and would like to know about sharpening my tools on a grinder. What grit wheel and what other wheels are best, like leather. My grinder is a regular 8" grinder.

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

The size is not near as important as the grit, speed, and control. Go with the finest grit you can get.. I have a 120 grit wheel, that does fine.. I don't have a variable or slow speed grinder, BUT, I can use my lathe.. Just touch the tool to the wheel, and take off enough to just get a few sparks over the top edge, don't let it get hot, and finish it up with a diamond hone by hand, or you can use a leather strop.. and they should be sharp enough.. Now if you use a jig, and a water cooled stone, you can do alot better, and not have to sharpen as often either..

[Neal Addy]

Roy, most turners prefer aluminum oxide wheels for HSS tools. Although not absolutely necessary, the AO wheels do give a good grind and are long wearing.

Norton makes an excellent AO wheel for your 8". Another alternative is your local Woodcraft. The wheels they sell for their slow-speed grinder are decent quality.

Like Kaptan said, grit makes a difference. 60 grit and below is best for reshaping a tool. Anything from 80 to 120 grit is good for honing an edge. Most turners don't bother with leather strops or such. A turning tool edge is somewhat different than a plane blade or carving tool. Fine honing doesn't keep long enough to make a difference.

[Pat Salter]

In the many conversations/posts/webpages that I've seen I've noticed that the prefered grit is anywhere from 60 to 120. :eek: I think it's more important what method you are going to use. Many sharpen by hand but I think (don't know for sure) most of us use a jig of some sort. It depends on your confidence and your ability to hold the tool steady.
Personally, I use the Wolverine system and the slow speed grinder from woodcraft. With the setup that I have I can be turning, and if I need to sharpen I can be done in 60 to 90 seconds. If I try to sharpen by hand I can screw it up MUCH faster :rolleyes: and then have to regrind the angle back using the jig..........
The AAW has a cd on grinding that you can order from them. Both the use of a jig and sharpening by hand are covered on it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Roy, I use a cheap 6" grinder with a 120 grit aluminum oxide wheel. I am sure there are lots of other variations out there that will also work but this coupled with the Wolverine system works just fine for me.