Colin62
17th July 2013, 02:04 AM
For a while I’ve been aware that my system for sharpening my turning chisels is neither fast nor efficient enough for any serious turning. I have been using diamond plates, and sharpening by hand, but it’s pretty slow and if you’re not careful you can end up messing the edge up by not keeping the bevels correct. I also means that I’m far too tempted to try get just another session out of the chisel before I sharpen it, meaning I’m using more sandpaper than I want, and also wasting wood with tear outs and poor finish.
Sorby Pro-Edge
I did some research and some reading and decided I like the Sorby Pro-Edge system – good jigs for repeatability, and the flexibility of many different grits available at a reasonable price. The downsides are that the belts are consumables and costs can mount, and that the joint on the belt seems to give some problems. I decided to go ahead and get one, and contacted the local Sorby agents, who told me that they don’t import the Pro-Edge, so I looked at importing one directly. The first three or four websites I tried don’t ship to South Africa, and coupled with the fact that shipping, duties and the hassle of owning something with no local support whatsoever was quite a risk, I decided to look at alternatives.
Tormek
I got some pricing on the Tormek system, and was again quite close to being ready to place an order (in spite of the high price – I just got a decent bonus and it was burning a hole in my pocket). I asked a few guys I know who have Tormeks and it seems that many people buy them, and stop using them after a while – the time taken to remove material is a factor, and there seems to be a bit of a learning curve on using the jig system which some never quite mastered or just find frustrating. Also it became apparent that the T3 was probably just the first step, and that the T7 was needed, and that is even more expensive.
Wolverine Jigs
A few posts I read indicated that there were a few people out there who far preferred the Wolverine Jigs from One-Way in Canada to the ones from Tormek. I know some people with similar (often home-made) jigs, and their Tormeks stand idle while they sharpen using Wolverine style jigs with Alox wheels in standard grinders. I did some pricing, and it was cheaper to import the jigs from the UK. Shipping from Canada and Germany (One-Way’s European base) is more expensive than the UK. I found a supplier and made enquiries.
Sorby Jigs
At this point I realised that the Sorby Jigs for use with regular grinders are a bit cheaper than the Wolverine ones, and that the local agents actually seem to import some of the range. So I thought I’d get a set of Sorby Jigs (from the very helpful UK supplier who I’d got prices on the Wolverine Jigs from). I asked Peter (the owner of The ToolPost) what his thoughts were, and he personally much prefers the Wolverine Jigs – very robust and dead easy to use.
So, in the end I got the Wolverine Jigs, imported from the UK. The hidden costs of importing were a little frustrating – I was expecting to have to pay some duty, but then having to pay the equivalent of $40 for an admin fee to the courier company (over and above the cost of the actual shipping) was a little more than I thought was reasonable. They arrived this morning, and do indeed appear to be very well made and simple to use once setup.
The Grinding Wheel
Of course the jigs are no use without a grinder. I have an old 4” grinder and started looking at wheels and grinders. I fairly quickly found very enthusiastic support for CBN wheels (Cubic Boron Nitride – a synthetic substance almost as hard as diamond, and especially developed for grinding high speed steel). The default supplier (for turners) seems to be D-way Tools in the US, and Dave is at least as friendly and helpful as Peter from the ToolPost. I’m going for the 8” 180 grit CBN wheel. One of the big advantages to the CBN wheel is that it doesn’t wear down and need dressing, and this also means a lot less dust and far fewer sparks.
The Bench Grinder
So I did some frustrating research into grinders. No-one seems to list how long the shaft is nor what the diameter of it is. So on Saturday morning it was into the car and off on a tour. Most hardware shops locally don’t bother with 8” grinders so after four or so, I hit the local specialist tools shop and after a little dithering bought a no-name brand Chinese 8” grinder with a decently long shaft to hold the wheel. The weekend was busy fetching kids from the airport and dropping them off at boarding school, so by the time I got a chance to play with the grinder it was Sunday evening. First problem was that while the threaded portion of the shaft (which I measured in the shop) was a standard 16mm, the actual shaft is 18mm. Not standard at all, and it meant that every time I change wheel, I’m looking at have a bush made. Then I powered it up (after removing the wheels). It made quite a lot of noise, and after five minutes was quite warm. It’s rated to run for 30 minutes, so I let it. And when I came back to see how it was doing, I saw all the smoke that powers such devices was escaping. So back to the drawing board. I’m currently waiting for feedback on the shaft dimensions of a Martlet and a Bosch, and which ever is the better deal assuming that the wheel will fit, will be my choice.
Apologies to anyone who thought this length of post should reach a definite conclusion, but unfortunately I’m still stuck without anything to sharpen on, even though I have spent a fair bit on the jigs. Yes, I know you can sharpen freehand, and you can make your own jigs. But my attempts to sharpen freehand are merely a waste of good (and some not so good) chisels, and I just don’t have the time or energy (mostly the energy) to fiddle with making my own jigs from scratch, and would rather spend some money now so that I can spend the time I do get in the workshop doing what I love and that is tuning.
I’ll give feedback one the final choice of grinder, and once I am able to get the CBN wheel, I’ll be sure to brag about that too, but for now, I think I’ve rambled on long enough.
Sorby Pro-Edge
I did some research and some reading and decided I like the Sorby Pro-Edge system – good jigs for repeatability, and the flexibility of many different grits available at a reasonable price. The downsides are that the belts are consumables and costs can mount, and that the joint on the belt seems to give some problems. I decided to go ahead and get one, and contacted the local Sorby agents, who told me that they don’t import the Pro-Edge, so I looked at importing one directly. The first three or four websites I tried don’t ship to South Africa, and coupled with the fact that shipping, duties and the hassle of owning something with no local support whatsoever was quite a risk, I decided to look at alternatives.
Tormek
I got some pricing on the Tormek system, and was again quite close to being ready to place an order (in spite of the high price – I just got a decent bonus and it was burning a hole in my pocket). I asked a few guys I know who have Tormeks and it seems that many people buy them, and stop using them after a while – the time taken to remove material is a factor, and there seems to be a bit of a learning curve on using the jig system which some never quite mastered or just find frustrating. Also it became apparent that the T3 was probably just the first step, and that the T7 was needed, and that is even more expensive.
Wolverine Jigs
A few posts I read indicated that there were a few people out there who far preferred the Wolverine Jigs from One-Way in Canada to the ones from Tormek. I know some people with similar (often home-made) jigs, and their Tormeks stand idle while they sharpen using Wolverine style jigs with Alox wheels in standard grinders. I did some pricing, and it was cheaper to import the jigs from the UK. Shipping from Canada and Germany (One-Way’s European base) is more expensive than the UK. I found a supplier and made enquiries.
Sorby Jigs
At this point I realised that the Sorby Jigs for use with regular grinders are a bit cheaper than the Wolverine ones, and that the local agents actually seem to import some of the range. So I thought I’d get a set of Sorby Jigs (from the very helpful UK supplier who I’d got prices on the Wolverine Jigs from). I asked Peter (the owner of The ToolPost) what his thoughts were, and he personally much prefers the Wolverine Jigs – very robust and dead easy to use.
So, in the end I got the Wolverine Jigs, imported from the UK. The hidden costs of importing were a little frustrating – I was expecting to have to pay some duty, but then having to pay the equivalent of $40 for an admin fee to the courier company (over and above the cost of the actual shipping) was a little more than I thought was reasonable. They arrived this morning, and do indeed appear to be very well made and simple to use once setup.
The Grinding Wheel
Of course the jigs are no use without a grinder. I have an old 4” grinder and started looking at wheels and grinders. I fairly quickly found very enthusiastic support for CBN wheels (Cubic Boron Nitride – a synthetic substance almost as hard as diamond, and especially developed for grinding high speed steel). The default supplier (for turners) seems to be D-way Tools in the US, and Dave is at least as friendly and helpful as Peter from the ToolPost. I’m going for the 8” 180 grit CBN wheel. One of the big advantages to the CBN wheel is that it doesn’t wear down and need dressing, and this also means a lot less dust and far fewer sparks.
The Bench Grinder
So I did some frustrating research into grinders. No-one seems to list how long the shaft is nor what the diameter of it is. So on Saturday morning it was into the car and off on a tour. Most hardware shops locally don’t bother with 8” grinders so after four or so, I hit the local specialist tools shop and after a little dithering bought a no-name brand Chinese 8” grinder with a decently long shaft to hold the wheel. The weekend was busy fetching kids from the airport and dropping them off at boarding school, so by the time I got a chance to play with the grinder it was Sunday evening. First problem was that while the threaded portion of the shaft (which I measured in the shop) was a standard 16mm, the actual shaft is 18mm. Not standard at all, and it meant that every time I change wheel, I’m looking at have a bush made. Then I powered it up (after removing the wheels). It made quite a lot of noise, and after five minutes was quite warm. It’s rated to run for 30 minutes, so I let it. And when I came back to see how it was doing, I saw all the smoke that powers such devices was escaping. So back to the drawing board. I’m currently waiting for feedback on the shaft dimensions of a Martlet and a Bosch, and which ever is the better deal assuming that the wheel will fit, will be my choice.
Apologies to anyone who thought this length of post should reach a definite conclusion, but unfortunately I’m still stuck without anything to sharpen on, even though I have spent a fair bit on the jigs. Yes, I know you can sharpen freehand, and you can make your own jigs. But my attempts to sharpen freehand are merely a waste of good (and some not so good) chisels, and I just don’t have the time or energy (mostly the energy) to fiddle with making my own jigs from scratch, and would rather spend some money now so that I can spend the time I do get in the workshop doing what I love and that is tuning.
I’ll give feedback one the final choice of grinder, and once I am able to get the CBN wheel, I’ll be sure to brag about that too, but for now, I think I’ve rambled on long enough.