Question Slipstones/honing

[John Saxton]

Question: wondering if any people use slipstones, or prefer to hone the inside of their gouges to arrive at a polished edge?

My training in woodturning quite some years back now was with an old turner(RIP) who advocated polishing the insides of the gouges with slipstones which he kept in soaked in a tin of Kero.

Look forward to hearing folks views.

cheers

[Pat]

I only hone the Skew. The rest get used straight from the grinder.

I think this is one of the " A billion different ways" questions

(I do turn a burr on the scrapers tho . . . )

[RETIRED]

I have always polished the flutes of gouges with a slipstone, but now I use the leather hones on the Tormek.

I very rarely hone the edge after grinding even with a Tormek.

Remember that a cutting edge is the intersection of 2 planes meeting. If one is rough it ain't sharp.

[jefferson]

Johnno,

The three best turners I know (, Ken W. and Vic Wood) all use the Tormek system. And they hone all the time with the leather honing wheels on the machine. Not all the time - but certainly when nearing that "last" cut when super-sharp is a must.

I don't know about , but neither Ken or Vic use a burr when using a scraper either. ( probably reckons his cuts are so sweet that he doesn't need to scrape)

Vic in particular has a very aggressive 45 degree or less bevel on his scrapers that is almost dangerous. It requires a very delicate touch.....

For myself, novice that I am, I hone too much and waste a lot of paste on the Tormek. And I hone all the time, every time I sharpen. No slip stones here, though I do need one. No burr on my tools either.

All I know is that if you have good steel that is sharp, you will turn better. Or so Ken W. tells me. Check out his latest article in the Australian Woodworker. It's a good read.

Over to the experts.....

[China]

Yep I use slipstones on the inside of gouges

[badgaz]

No expert here John but I can tell you after my first few tentative cuts with my new P&N supa gouge (great steel, and an excellent tool IMO), the inside surface, which is quite rough, tended to get clogged very easily. My small Hamlet 8 mm bowl gouge is silky smooth by comparison and it tends to clear better when hogging out dry hardwoods. I'm sure clogged flutes would be even more of a problem in turning green timbers, but as yet I haven't tried it.

I only use an oil stone to hone the skew, but I am considering getting a slip stone to polish the inside of the P&N gouge to prevent clogging, not to improve the cutting edge.

Hope this helps.

Gazza

[RETIRED]

No expert here John but I can tell you after my first few tentative cuts with my new P&N supa gouge (great steel, and an excellent tool IMO), the inside surface, which is quite rough, tended to get clogged very easily. My small Hamlet 8 mm bowl gouge is silky smooth by comparison and it tends to clear better when hogging out dry hardwoods. I'm sure clogged flutes would be even more of a problem in turning green timbers, but as yet I haven't tried it.

I only use an oil stone to hone the skew, but I am considering getting a slip stone to polish the inside of the P&N gouge to prevent clogging, not to improve the cutting edge.

Hope this helps.

Gazza

But you will.

[badgaz]

But you will.

Oops, that should read: "not just to improve the cutting edge".

hijack over

Gazza

[NeilS]

...my new P&N supa gouge (great steel, and an excellent tool IMO), the inside surface, which is quite rough

Yes, the flutes on the P&Ns are are too rough to use as they come. They are the only flutes that I have bothered to hone, a bit, but not so much that I can see my reflection in them...... like those of the Tormek brigade.

I've been less fussy with the flute on my P&N roughing gouge, not that it wouldn't benefit from a better finish than it currently has. This is not so much about the finish it leaves, which is not such an issue with roughing down, but the durability of the cutting edge which does improve when the milling lines have been completely honed away, and as says, it will then be 'sharp'-er, if and when I get around to it...

[jefferson]

Don't be too hard on me, Neil.

I bought my Tormek maybe 7-8 years ago, just for sharpening my planer blades and woodworking chisels.

NOT FOR WOOD TURNING!

And after I started turning, the gouges put so many hollows in the stone that I gave up. The old truing system was hopeless!

But the new truing tool works a treat and I now sharpen all the time on the Tormek. Still haven't quite got the hang of it yet. And if I get right out of whack, I use the Tormek gig on the spark grinder to correct on the 120 wheel, which works fine too.

Yes, the P & N's are a worry with all that black stuff. I try to sand then buff the coating out. Then onto the Tormek.

Then I can shave any excess body hair (not on the head though, not much left!).

At least then I know that the tools are sharp and if the tool aint 'a cutting, I'm doing something wrong. Open the flute, Little Grasshopper, and the chisel will cut instead of burnishing the wood hot on the bevel rub.

(Unlike down at Calm's place last month - he just kept handing me blunt chisels. )

Off playing again with the esc. chuck. I'm peel-scraping with a wide parting tool (super-sharp) and the finish is OK. I was supposed to be mowing all arvo, but ran the ride-on over a wire tree guard......

[Calm]

i have tried to draw the problem. (not very well i admit)

Attachment 116834

If the inside of the gouge is rough (corrugated) then how can you get a sharp edge. It is going to be a sawtooth finish so honing, polishing, whatever it takes to remove the unevenness of the inside is required to get a "sharp" finish.

If you flattened the line out imagine what sort of an edge you would have if you sharpened one side and left the other corrugated.

All tools need to be smooth both sides to get them sharp.

Hope that explains it.

BTW i have a slipsotne purchased for this purpose but have only done the 3/8 HT gouge. I figure the 1/2 inch HT i only use to rough out so not as vital as the tool used for finishing cuts.

I would go as far as to say that honing/polishing will give you a sharper tool - which means a cleaner cut - which results in less sanding - and we all like sanding dont we

Cheers

[Texian]

David, Not sure I can agree exactly. You will have a sharp edge all around. It will just be a "corrugated" sharp edge. Definitely agree that less corrugated is better, and will give a smoother (less corrugated) cut.

[John Saxton]

Thanks to all the above for their responses.I have a Tormek which I have predominately been using for plane blades(and the occassional knife & scissors for SWMBO to justify the expense)and have yet to run gouges over the honing wheel.

Must admit I have still been using the slipstones on the inside of the gouges in a vain attempt to keep a polished surface.It's been a habit I 've yet to move from.

I don't use the Tormek for grinding the bevel in fact still use a white wheel grinder set up for running the edges off.

It is interesting to hear a cross section of views on this topic as w/turning has been a strong force within the community for some time now but some folks perspective changes as they advance in technique and experience.

I wonder if I'll wear the slipstones out before the Tormek

Cheers

[Texian]

G'day John, I like your saying about photographic memory. Is it a famous quote or did you just make it up? Mine used to have film, but has run out.

[NeilS]

Don't be too hard on me, Neil.

I bought my Tormek maybe 7-8 years ago, just for sharpening my planer blades and woodworking chisels.

Just envious....