Oneway Vari-grind 2? Decent Instructions?

[Richard Coers]

This is indeed true. Many many of the modern ones are extremely sub par. But, I still read them. And - I really appreciate when a company puts some effort into a clear manual.
Well, I'm still not sure if I should keep this or return it for the Vari-grind 1.

As a FYI, the #1 won't have instructions that make you happy either.

[David Bassett]

... Well, I'm still not sure if I should keep this or return it for the Vari-grind 1.

I'm more a "you got it, might as well use it" type, but for this I'm thinking the exchange makes sense.

Note I'm a sporadic turner, but have lurked on the fringes of the community for decades now. As I recall the Vari-grind 2 solved a problem no one ever seemed to actually have and caused many of the most capable turners problems with some of the nuanced grinds they used. I would always recommend the Vari-grind 1 because I've noticed 90+% of the instruction materials reference it. (I know many of the very top turners use other systems, e.g. free hand or Robo-Hippie's rest, but the basic class materials, community shops, etc. all seem to use the Vari-grind 1. It seems to be something you'd want for reference even if you move to other means later.)

[Richard Coers]

I'm more a "you got it, might as well use it" type, but for this I'm thinking the exchange makes sense.

Note I'm a sporadic turner, but have lurked on the fringes of the community for decades now. As I recall the Vari-grind 2 solved a problem no one ever seemed to actually have and caused many of the most capable turners problems with some of the nuanced grinds they used. I would always recommend the Vari-grind 1 because I've noticed 90+% of the instruction materials reference it. (I know many of the very top turners use other systems, e.g. free hand or Robo-Hippie's rest, but the basic class materials, community shops, etc. all seem to use the Vari-grind 1. It seems to be something you'd want for reference even if you move to other means later.)

I've taught sharpening classes at Woodcraft, and done a lot of sharpening demos for clubs and regional turning events. People have told me they dropped the gouge off the side of the wheel while sharpening with the #1 version. For those folks, Oneway came up with the 2nd version.