I'm new to turning and have successfully turned my first two pieces. I have not yet sharpened any of my tools (my skew is the only thing I have really used so far, but I think it needs a tune up). I have a bench grinder from yester-year and I believe it to be 3450 RPM. I'll have to look it up to make sure. Most sites I have visted recomend a slower grinder. Two questions: Can I slow this puppy down some how, or if not, can I still use it but dip the chisel in water every few seconds?
If it's carbon steel you can dip it. If it's high speed steel you shouldn't. But you don't really need to either.
Just use a light touch and you'll be fine. I use a 3450 grinder and it works fine. I put a 120 grit white wheel on it but other than that and a Oneway Wolverine jig it's a stock setup.
Mark- you do NOT need a new grinder - the one you have will work fine, just use a lighter touch. You will want to sharpen tools often - at least once per 1/2 hour or so of use - you will learn to feel when they are dull and not cutting right. A light touch and some skill on a 3600 RPM grinder is fine.
Jigs are good, but also not essential - for a fingernail grind they are pretty helpful because it's hard to be even otherwise, other grinds are much easier to do freehand - if grinding other than a flat skew or a straight across spindle gouge grind you will usually want to remove the tool rest
If you are merely going to sharpen you skew, "scarry sharpening" will work fine and give you a sharper tool.
Scarry Sharpening is merely working your way up through the grits with silicon wet/dry paper on a hard flat surface. This does not work for gouges, but works fine for skews. Reason is simple, you are working with a flat surface, just like you are on your bench chisels.
My mistake - it is my gouge that I have been using. I'm not sure why I called it a skew, new turner?s mistake I guess. My wife said I could sell my existing grinder on craigslist and pick up a new one. Woodcraft has an 8" low rpm model for 109. Not cheap, but we can fit it into the budget. I have lots of scraps in the garage, so I'll start making the jig tonight. My wife got me the lathe about a year and a half ago and last week was the first time I fired it up when my dad asked me to turn some beer tap handles. Man is this addictive, I have only turned three beer taps so far (and they all turned out great) and I am absolutely hooked. SOOO HOOKED.
I want to do some pens for Christmas presents and eventually work my way up to some larger stuff. After hurricane Ike came through Houston, I went around and gathered up a bunch of branches and have them out back drying. There is some sweetgum, pecan, birch, elm and a few other varieties in my small stack. I think most of it is ready to use. I have gotten pretty comfortable with the gouge, but the skew will take a lot more practice. Every time I have used it, it ends up catching the wood and I go back to the gouge. The chisels I have are el-cheapos from harbor freight that I picked up over a year ago during a sale, so better tools could be on the horizon soon, but I figure these are good enough until I get a lot more time under my belt.
No one has mentioned this, but a 1" belt sander works great to sharpen turning tools. I use blue Zirconia belts from Lee Valley which last a long time. I set the angle on the table to 35 degrees (or whatever it needs to be for the tool I am sharpening) and just sweep the handle around to get the whole curve.
In my (limited admittedly) experience... the only times you'll need to be in contact with the wheel for long enough to heat the blade is when you are setting the angle or if you hit a nail or something. Honing (especially with a jig) only takes a few seconds and only a very light touch.
Don't sell your old grinder, you'll ALWAYS have a use for it.. The grinder at Woodcraft is an excellent tool.. and it's very inexpensive, when you factor in the cost of the wheels that it comes with (at least $30 each)
I find that I use the slow grinder for "sharpening".. renewing the edge on a tool..
I use the high speed grinder for "grinding" ... shaping the tool and putting the initial edge on it..
Watch for a sale on the Woodcraft grinder.. You can usually get it for $85 or $90 with free shipping..
On your fast grinder, if the wheels are ok, you can touch up tools buy holding the edge just clear of the wheel and turning the grinder of.. do your sharpening with the wheel spinning but not under power...
the real issue with the faster grinders is that, well, you can grind faster. So, use a light touch. if you find a low speed grinder for $5, by all means get it, but there is no reason to go buy one new.
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