Thread: Help sharpening lathe tools

Happy to help with advice/instruction & gear if you don't mind the short drive up to Taree.

Some vids here:

Woodturning Videos

These are peer-reviewed through AAW.

Thanks to Gil for the link.

Just a suggestion Dorno: Get some mild steel bar and practise on that. That way you can get your angles and profiles and hand movements right. Cheaper than buggering a good tool.

Originally Posted by artme

Cheaper than buggering a good tool.

You learn faster that way!

thanks to everyone for there help and adice i shall follow up on all the tips.

cheers ian

Hey Ian,

Even though my father can sharpen drill bits to perfection on a bench grinder with his eyes closed - unfortunately (and to his disgust!) I just can't get me head around sharpening anythign freehand. Its probably more of a patience thing - not enough of it to practice!

When I took up wood turning, I discovered the Tru-Grind by Woodcut. Woodcut Tools Ltd > The Versatile, affordable Tru-Grind Sharpening System

This is beautiful. There should be a few reviews of it on here. Basically, yes - it does take a little longer than doing it freehand on the grinder, but I get an awesome edge on it every time I use it. And a consistent edge too. I find that I get a number of 'touch ups' using a small diamond files in between grinding the chisels.

They are worth a look for sure.

Nathan.

A slow grinder with 120 grit wheel and freehand will work OK with practice.
I acquired a Wolverine system in a trade and love it. Getting a sharp edge takes only seconds and saves metal on the tool.
With practice almost any technique will work however. A belt sander works and some use them exclusively.
The key is practice.

Although I learned to sharpen by hand I'm a big fan of the various sharpening jigs. They are so repeatable so I remove very little metal each time I sharpen. There is still a mild learning curve but not anywhere near what hand sharpening is. I have the Wolverine jig for my bowl gouges that I use on the Oneway sharpening system.
You can easily find plans to build one of these if you have any woodworking skills.

I never could get the hang of grinding tools on a grinder. When it finally gave up the ghost I finally an excuse to buy a linisher. I find it a lot easier to grind lathe tools on it. I can even do a perfect fingernail grind freehand. I don't know why that is.

Moreover, the belt pulls so much air with it that the tool seems to stay so much cooler. That's my theory anyway.

My sharpening system for my turning tools is fairly basic. I made a jig for my gouge that I copied from the first one that Stu in Tokyo made. I also welded up some guides and fixed them to the bench along side the grinder.

Here are some pics of the set up.

I made a jig similar to the one in your second pic Barry but mine is made out of wood. Does a goo job too. I have marks along the track for the different lengths of the tools I want to grind, so if I want to sharpen my bowl gouge, I just slide the rail out until the index mark on the rail lines up with the "bowl gouge" mark on the track.and grind away. simple but effective.

Originally Posted by markharrison

Moreover, the belt pulls so much air with it that the tool seems to stay so much cooler. That's my theory anyway.

Belts are also slower.

.....

Ian, here are some pics of the jig I made. No plans just made it as I went along but the pics give you the idea how I did it. . I have put the pics in the wrong order, You should look at the last picture first and work backwards. sorry about that.
The great thing about working with this jig is if you are using a spindle gouge for instance, you can leave the jig set to the spindle gouge index marks and touch up the chisel easily when it needs to be sharpened during use. Hope this helps.

That is brilliant John, I may borrow your ideas and try one myself before commiting to a commercially available jig.