Basic Lathe questions

Yup. With a chisel or plane you may take off tens of feet of wood a minute. A lathe tool may take off hundreds or thousands. Don't think in terms of time when sharping, think of lineal feet of wood cut. A 14" bowl has a circumference just shy of 44". At 600 rpm you're cutting

2,200' per minute. When's the last time you planed that much wood w/o sharpening?

Most experienced turners probably hit the sharpener every few minutes. John Jordan recommends sharpening before you're acutely aware you need to. If you're noticing significant dulling you've waited too long.

I haven't tried buffing my tools between grinding. That may work well, but you'll have to be very careful not to round over the cutting edge.

Yes, that's a good spot to set it in general. It's not rocket science - doesn't have to be exact...

...Kevin

The answer to the first question is a qualified yes. You sharpen as often as the tool needs it - like any other cutting tool. That could be once or twice a bowl, or spindle project, or several times during the project. It all depends on the wood you are turning. My daughter turned a nice bowl (her first real bowl) out of Dalmation wood. The wood cut very nicely as long as the gouge was sharp. That meant she had to sharpen about every 10 minutes.

As for the tool height, yes, cutting edge at center line.

Then practice, practice, practice.

As they say, "Woodworkers/woodturners have the most interesting firewood. :-)

Deb

Without even thinking about it, you will adjust the height of the tool handle to place the cutting edge where you want it--generally at the height of the spindle axis. If this results in the handle being at an uncomfortable height. then adjust the tool rest accordingly.

Hello Rich,

You have received some good answers, but no one mentioned that the grind on a new tool is not necessarily the right grind for the job. My experience is that most of the new tools are, first not sharp, and second do not have a proper grind for the job at hand. I do not recommend buffing the tool because it is so easy to round over the edge so that it will not cut well or the edge will be thin and will then be gone the minute the tool hits the wood. If you want to touch up your tool so that you do not have to return to the grinder so often, I recommend you purchase a diamond hone, one about the size of a credit card. I believe that Woodcraft and Craft Supplies USA both sell these, Since the tool bevel will be slightly concave from the grinding wheel, you hone only the cutting edge and the back of the bevel. When you see that your hone has cleaned up the concave part of the bevel, it is time to regrind.

Fred Holder

I have one exception to that, and it may well just be a personal preference. I've found I get a lot better results with a skew chisel if I set the tool rest high for a planing cut so I'm cutting almost at the top of the piece.

Seems like I found the place where the turners live! This is different than running a router or table saw!

I think I've been using dull tools. Never realized the length of wood cut vs a plane or chisel. I have one of those little diamond credit cards and will put it to use!

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Me too...

I don't know where you are, but if you can find one, get involved with a turning club. It has been my biggest learning experience in my 14 years of turning. There is a web site for the American Assn. of Woodturners, and they list clubs and contact numbers. Sharpening is fairly simple, and you will eventually learn when you need to sharpen by feeling how the tool is cutting. I don't hone my tools, and go straight from the grinder (80 grit or 150 grit wheel) to the wood. A skew chisel can work better when honed, but not really much difference on a gouge. Honing with a card file can touch it up, but not maintain an edge.

robo hippy

If you read Alan Lacer's piece in the AAW pub (2009?) he talked about the cleaner the finish on the tool, the cleaner the finish on the wood. I used to buff all the time, now I only buff or work to get a perfect edge at the end of the project

I looked at the AAWoodturners website, and they have some good stuff. But in Montana there are few chapters. The closest involves a

100 mile trip. So I'm going to try a local guy, but he is a snowbird, so it may be a while. May also try the HS Shop teacher, as I sub for him now and then.

Again, thanks for all the good info.....

Sorry but cannot see anything here about the tools in question, ie HSS that means nothing these days, you need a make, a well known manufacturer, HSS means nothing, a bad so called HSS tool will blunt immediately you will grind forever, as they say "Pay the money and get the best" I have some cheap gouges "HSS so called" crap blunt straight away but ok for dodgy bits of wood, So I would say get a top quality gouges, grind only, dont hone, and forget a gouge for every operation, buy a good roughing 3/4 inch gouge that will do 60% of your work. The other 30% is a 1/2 inch bowl gouge and the last 10% a 1/2 inch spindle gouge. These will turn you a bowl to a goblet. Buy the best and they wont blunt and they make turning fun. So 3 good quality gouges and you are going. As for the height of the tool rest only one way to learn use your roughing out gouge and practice, get a dig in you are too high or your elbow is too high.. Take the cutting edge of the gouge and adjust the tool rest so it makes the gouge barely slide over the wood. Raise your elbow and cut on the wood. There is a definite on tool rest height but me i am small it dont work fo me. No doubt if you are 7 foot tall it wont work. Woodturning is all about experiment and practice. Good luck Col

NOTE: cutting edge of tool at center line, not tool REST at center line..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

If you learn to listen to the tool on the wood, you'll hear the difference when your tool isn't as sharp as it started.. To me that's the key, don't let it get "dull", when it's not SHARP anymore, sharpen it..

The credit card things are ok for skews and things, but I use a round, tapered diamond hone constantly.. Gets right in the flute of a bowl gouge or the fingernail grind on a roughing gouge..

I sharpen a gouge and use it right off the grinder un till it sounds like it's asking for sharpening, then use the hone on the flute and go back to turning.. I do this 2 or 3 times before it's time to go back to the grinder.. What I'm honing off is the burr.. use a gouge for a minute or two and then check for a burr by lightly running a rag down the flute, from handle to edge.. If the rag snags at all, I home the flute..

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

You don;t understand. The Harbor Freight HSS chisels are recommended so you learn how to use the grinder!

Don't practice on the good chisels...

To the OP - you will need a grinder, some people use a belt grinder. Others a slow-speed Woodcraft grinding wheel. Be prepare dto practice, and to wish for more expensive tools.

But I got by for several years using normal steel, a used grinder, and a $90 AMT lathe. You have lots to learn.

Joining a club or one on one help is best. But failing in that there are many great videos out there on basic turning skills or ones that will help with specific project areas. There are general turning, bowl turning and spindle turning videos. Also more advanced videos on specific projects. Even if you get one on one training the videos are great to watch over and over and learn specific things you may not have picked up at first. There are some great books out there as well on bowl turning, spindle turning, green wood turning etc.

Spend time learning to sharpen and it will make everything else easier.

Have fun and stick with it.