Two new tools. How would you sharpen them?

[Alex Elias]

I just got a 1/2" piramid tool and a dovetail scraper. Would a diamond card be appropiate or go for the grinder? I guess the dovetail tool does not get used so much so may be it does not get to be sharpen so often.
As far as the other one being that it has 3 faces, it seems like they are better kept flat and the grinder will hollow one face concave and the adjacent face convex. I have a 8" grinder with the Wolverine attachment.
What do you guys suggest?
Thanks for the info.
Regards.
Alex

[Dennis Peacock]

Alex,

Some of the "odd shaped" tools are sharpened by just honing the flat back of the tool to "freshen" the cutting edge. I'm sure others will chime in here, but I've stayed away from some "odd" tools because I don't need another "head-scratcher" in figuring out how to sharpen them. :rolleyes: :D

[robert hainstock]

Alex, I sharpen my scrapers Hollow if you will. The important thing I was taught was to burnish the edge up. This creates an edge that is razor sharp, and will remove those nice curls and leave that nice finish. Burnishing seems to be a lost art, get your email to me and I will send you what Ernie Conover ahs to say on the subject in his book, "The Lathe Book, Tauton press, cc 1993" He explainsit better than I can. :)
Bob

[robert hainstock]

Dennis,
Scrappers are a Mystery to most, but ditto to you on my post to Alex.
Bob

[Dennis Peacock]

Dennis,
Scrappers are a Mystery to most, but ditto to you on my post to Alex.
Bob

Hey Bob.....

I use scrapers a good bit. I hollow grind them and I even have a large bowl scraper that I use that has a "negative hook-angle" to it to make it less agressive while it's in the bottom of the bowl.

[Alex Elias]

Thanks for the responses. I can see the point. As far as the dovetail scraper is concern I could use the grinder and make sure I'm gentle so I don't get rid of the tool too son or change the angle by removing to much from the top ( since it tapers down) I don't mind the hollow on those.
The question is with the piramid tool. Although I guess it is still a craper it has 3 faces and by grinding one holoow it will make one face convex and the adjacent convex. Would this affect the effectivness of the tool?
Thanks

[Reed Gray]

The best tip I heard of for a tri point tool is to use a big hex nut for the ferrule. They you can rotate it the exact amount of degrees for sharpening and have a flat surface to maintain your angles. As far as the dovetail tool, a tool I use a lot, some times I will touch it up with a hone (the coarser the better). I have never been able to turn as good of a burr by burnishing as I can with my grinder. I do sharpen both faces, and you do want the dove tail angle to match the dove tail on your chuck jaws when your handle and blade are parallel to the ways of the lathe. I keep one of the Veritas adjustable platforms on the scraper side of my grinder. It is set at about 80 degrees (I have never measured this), and never moves under penalty of death. This seems to be a good angle for my scrapers. On the flat side of the dove tail scraper, I do relieve it a little bit away from the dove tail side, rather than keeping it sqare to the shaft. If it is square, it is hard to get a good surface on a recess. I like to leave it a little convex (domed).
robo hippy

[Paul Engle]

On the dove tail, per NOVA "15 degrees" so I ground my carbide to that , did a recess and a tennon , then cut out a slice and mounted up the chuck to see the fit and it fits perfect.

http://www.teknatool.com/products/Chucks/SuperNova2/Downloads/SuperNova2%20Maunal%20full%20version%20for%20CD_10 %20May%202004.pdf

[John Shuk]

The best tip I heard of for a tri point tool is to use a big hex nut for the ferrule. They you can rotate it the exact amount of degrees for sharpening and have a flat surface to maintain your angles. As far as the dovetail tool, a tool I use a lot, some times I will touch it up with a hone (the coarser the better). I have never been able to turn as good of a burr by burnishing as I can with my grinder. I do sharpen both faces, and you do want the dove tail angle to match the dove tail on your chuck jaws when your handle and blade are parallel to the ways of the lathe. I keep one of the Veritas adjustable platforms on the scraper side of my grinder. It is set at about 80 degrees (I have never measured this), and never moves under penalty of death. This seems to be a good angle for my scrapers. On the flat side of the dove tail scraper, I do relieve it a little bit away from the dove tail side, rather than keeping it sqare to the shaft. If it is square, it is hard to get a good surface on a recess. I like to leave it a little convex (domed).
robo hippy

Works great on a tri point tool. Every other facet equals a triangle.

[Randy Privett]

Here's how I do it. If someong has a problem with this delete it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSfvJ7NEuwo

Randy

[Alex Elias]

Thans for the assistance, lots of good info from you guys.
Alex
PS: Randy that is a good idea and a nice jig you've made there. I'll wige that a try