Sharpening for a New Turner

[Victor Stearns]

Greetings to All.
I am seeking advice on how best to sharpen the various lathe cutting tools. I do have a method for sharpening my "other" chisels that works very well. But as I am new to the lathe, a little advise would be greatly appreciated. I currently have a slow bench grinder.
Thanks
Victor

[Ben Gastfriend]

It's all different based on what kind of grinder you have. Is it one of those with a wheel on each side and the switch in the middle... is it one of those with a big wheel cooled by water?

[Jude Kingery]

Victor, on the gouges I use a Wolverine grinding jig set up with the grinder (80 grit or 120 grit pink or white wheels), but for the skew, I just use the belt sander, also use it to clean up the tool rests. Works fine. Something to consider; hopefully you'll get a lot of responses to best determine what you'd like to do. Jude

[Gordon Seto]

Victor,

The Oneway Wolverine and Varigrind are what you want for using with the dry grinder. You can find the video here:

http://www.oneway.ca/multi-media/wolverine_videos.htm

Gordon

[Bernie Weishapl]

Another vote for the Oneway Wolverine jig and Woodcraft slow speed grinder.

[Victor Stearns]

Greetings Again. I do have the Woodcraft bench grinder with a 80 & 120 grit stones. I was leaning towards the Wolverine Jigs. Does anyone hone the edge after grinding?
Thanks
Victor

[Jon Lanier]

I was using my belt sander until a few days ago. This set up has been amazing to my tools. I have skew attachment with the Wolverine Jig, which now beats the 1 inch belt any day.

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/9443/grindertu9.jpg

[Rasmus Petersen]

im in on the wolverine jig! havent got the skew attacment do those freehand. but the varigrind this is a very handy tool a must have.

Rasmus

[Dean Thomas]

...80 & 120 grit stones. I was leaning towards the Wolverine Jigs. Does anyone hone the edge after grinding?

Nope. I rarely hone, Victor. The only time I hone the gouges is if I have a problem piece of wood that is tearing out and I can't find any other solution. Sometimes it helps, but usually not.

I do hone my skews. A couple of licks on a diamond hone and it's good to go. Keeps me away from the grinder or stones for a long time.

I almost never hone my scrapers. Honing removes the wire burr, but that's the thing that does the cutting in most cases, for traditional scrapers. Negative rake scrapers are a whole different breed, though, in my limited experience.

[Dean Matthews]

The wolverine plus the vari-grind attachment is a must imho. I am HORRIBLE at sharpening and even I cannot mess it up with the oneway system.

And if you run into problems the people over at oneway are VERY good at helping you out.

[robert hainstock]

If it has to cut, I hone. Scrapers, I burnish, as this will gfive a longer lasting cutting edge. Try always to maintain the original angle. When you are expieranced, you can change that but till then, go with the tool mfg. Pretend that he knew what he was doing. :)
Bob

[Paul Heely]

Another vote for the wolverine and varigrind. The videos are well worth watching.

[Pat Doble]

Yet one more vote for the Wolverine and Vari-Grind. And Santa's bringing the skew attachment for me so I can't use the sharpening excuse for not using/learning it.