need advice on grit

[John Sheets]

I need to reshape the length of the short edge of a skew to a circular profile and chamfer the long edge ala Alan Lacer. The advice is to do this on the belt sander for better control and blending of the contour. Sounds good to me.
But my question is what grit would be best. I don't want to leave it so rough that it won't easily slide along the tool rest by using a grit that's too coarse, but don't want it to take forever and generate a log of heat by using a grit that's too fine. I'm also trying to avoid buying three new belts and the annoyance of changing them to allow going through a grit "sequence".
Anyone who has done some minor reshaping with one grit, I'd appreciate your experience and input.
Thanks, John

[Bernie Weishapl]

John I used 100 grit to rough it and then changed the belt to 220 grit. Then I buffed my with yellow rouge to smooth it out. I have buffing wheels for my clock shop for polishing steel so that is why I used the rouge on it. The 220 will leave a pretty good finish. If I didn't have the buffing wheel I probably would have maybe went up one more grit to 320.

[Wilbur Pan]

I can't speak to what to do on a belt sander, since I don't have one. But I have tuned up a skew chisel a la Lacer, and what I did was roughly shape the profile using a friend's grinder, then smoothed it out with a 10" mill file. The mill file will give you a very smooth edge.

[Gordon Seto]

then smoothed it out with a 10" mill file. The mill file will give you a very smooth edge.

Is HSS normally harder than mill files? When the file skates, we know the steel is hard enough.

Gordon

[Jim Becker]

Gordon, the file should be much harder than the HHS as far as I know...

[Gordon Seto]

Jim,

I have early production of the Thompson gouges. (current production has shank milled down to size before heat treating). The shank is over sized to fit my metal handles. They are just a tad over size, mill files won't help. I ended up enlarging the hole of my handle.

My file is not dull; it does fine job of smoothing the tool rest.

I think the issue is what kind of steel, how it was heat treated. I have some high speed steel tools that only the tips were heat treated. The grub screw would leave marks on the shank. Some tools like the Thompson and Oneway Mastercut that the same screw won't even scratch.

The gouges in picture clearly marked as HSS, but I think I would have no problem shaping them with a mill file.

Gordon

[Wilbur Pan]

Is HSS normally harder than mill files? When the file skates, we know the steel is hard enough.

Gordon

I'm not sure about the hardness numbers, but I was able to file out the rough grinding wheel marks on the HSS skew with a Nicholson mill file.

[Mike A. Smith]

need advice on grit


Techincally, you should only use the term as a plural as in "grits". You can have them anytime but they're best for breakfast and a purist would only use butter and salt for seasoning.

Please let me know if you need anymore help! :D

[Andy Blackwell]

Down in NC when I was growing up when one referred to Grits they respectfully ment "Girls Raised In The South".:D

Can't help with the shaping of your skew. Mine has a UPS grind.

[John Sheets]

Thanks for the helpful replies, guys. I'll give the 100 grit a shot and then try smoothing it more with mill file. JS