Turning Chisels Follow up

There are a lot of folks on this group that know more than I do, but I always thought any brand required sharpening, with the exception of the carbide tooling. Am I wrong?

And the term should probably be "honing", not "sharpening".

A bowl gouge :-). Or one of the aforesaid carbide roughers. Or a scraper. Or a spindle gouge. Just *don't* use a roughing gouge. You stand a good chance of snapping it off at the tang - DAMHIKT.

If you don't have a way to sharpen and hone your lathe tools you are going to become very frustrated, very quickly. I recommend you delay purchasing ANY turning chisels until you are able to perform this necessary part of turning on your own.

Hello Jim,

You've made a good decision to skip the cheap tools, because they do not generally hold their edge for very long. However, you are missing one thing, basically none of the tool are more than ground to shape. They are not sharp when you purchase them. Secondly, tools require resharpening often, so you need your own sharpening system. I've been using the inexpensive 8 inch grinders from Woodcraft that come with white wheels. The grinder is generally around $100.00, sometimes less when on sale. For my Christmas present in 1999, I purchased the Woodcraft eight grinder and the OneWay Sharpening jig. I've never been sorry. The grinder is as much of a turning tool as the lathe and the chisels.

If you happen to have a belt sander that will swing up vertical, you can use it to sharpen tools. I did this for several years before purchasing the Woodcraft slow speed grinder. It does work, but the grinder with jigs is better.

Fred Holder

Not sure its 100% wise to discount all Chinese tools. Harbor Freight makes an 8 piece HSS set for spindle work. The High Speed Steel part is the key. It has a 3/4" roughing gouge, couple scrapers, couple skew chisels, and a spindle gouge. Two of the tools you want are in this set. Plus scrapers are good for bowls. For starting up and learning how to grind tools, its a fine set. Add a big bowl gouge and you are pretty set. Big bowl gouge does both the inside and outside of bowls. Scraper I guess could also do both inside and outside.

As others mentioned, you need a sharpening system as soon as you get tools. 8 inch slow speed grinder with white friable wheels is good.

I actually purchased a HF 1" vertical belt sander that I use on my old tools. I probably can get away with it for a while. I also have a 8" bench grinder but it turns at 3450rpm. Jim

1. you need a grinder. no tool will be sharp when purchased. If sharpened for you, it will be dull within 5 minutes of turning so it is of no value. You can sharpen by hand with a stone but it is very slow and frustrating. You can hone to restore an edge 2 or 3 times but then it's back to the grinder. A used grinder can be had for to , you can make a sharpening jig for free
2. You can turn a whole bowl with a single tool, a bowl gouge with swept back wings - I do it frequently. If I had only enough money for one tool and a grinder, I'd get a 1/2 inch bowl gouge and grind it with Raffan style swept back wings. If I could afford a second tool, I'd get a parting tool. If I could afford a third tool, I'd buy sandpaper. I'd make a Jerry Glaser style sharpening jig - a 2X2 about 4 ft long with an an adjustable bracket on the end to hold the tool, and a point that you stick on the floor - if that costs you a dollar to make, you aren't scrounging very well.
3. don't waste your time on the thread-loc - just grab an old branch or a broom stick and make handles - if the shape is uncomfortable, break it off and make a new one. You can use scraps of copper pipe or EMT for ferrules, or you can wrap the end with turns of bailing wire to make a ferrule.

If you put the white wheels on it it'll work fine.

Woodcraft has the 8" slow speed grinder with white wheels on sale for

89.99 thru Jan. 27th. Or they sell the white wheels individually for $ 44.50 each. Which means that you get the grinder for .99. Not a bad deal.

Don't worry about the 3450 RPM, it will be fine, just use a very light touch - the slow speed grinder just takes off metal more slowly (and hence heats chisels less) - with a light touch you will be fine with your current grinder. And don't bother with special wheels if money is an issue, the standard gray wheels will work fine - get a scrap of carbide from somewhere (like a broken carbide tool bit) so you can square off the wheel if it gets a groove in it.

Jerry Glaser, who as you know was one of the foremost turning tool makers, used a 3600 RPM grinder to form his tools. I have a slow speed grinder, but I got it cheaply - what is more important is to make one of the sharpening tools so you get a uniform shape - it's particularly hard if you don't have a lot of experience, to freehand a fingernail grind, so that's where the sharpening jig is really helpful.

try to avoid "turner's disease", in which you have to get all sorts of tools - you will see that the professionals that are any good can make a beautiful piece with just one or two tools, you don't need a room full.

P&N's are good quality and mine retain an edge for a reasonable time considering that I am mostly turning Jarrah, which is quite abrasive. Do not buy the P&N handle, I found them to be too short and uncomfortable. Make your own and mark them for type, eg bowl, spindle, parting etc. All mine fit in a carousel and only the handle is visible so I rely on the colour code and position.

One of your best investments will be an 8" or preferably 10" grinder with 80 & 120 grit white wheels ( some people prefer 60 & 100 grit ). I also have an inexpensive Tormek clone with a cloth wheel at the high speed end for honing.

A good investment is a cheap set to learn to sharpen on, much better to grind away a $3 chisel than a $40+ one while learning. Strangely, I often use one of the cheapies when making pens or other small spindle stuff.

Alan

Thanks for the info on the P&N tools. I've been giving them some serious thought. I've narrowed my choices down to either a Croum or Hamlet 1 1/4" roughing gouge, Crown or Hamlet 1/2" spindle gouge, possibly a P&N gouge and either a Crown or Hamlet 1/2" bowl gouge and maybe a P&N 3/8" bowl gouge. I'm going to purchase one of Woodcraft's low speed grinders just before they go off sale. I have a 8" high speed grinder right now. We have a local store here. I just finished building a sharpening jig that is a Oneway Wolverine clone. I will have to purchase the Oneway's Fingernail/Side Grinding Jig because it's a little more complicated. I used to be a welder and metal worker. I'm considering making aluminium handles that will interchange that way I can adjust the weight as needed. I have the knowielge and skills plus most of the equipment. I can practice sharpening on my old tools. Jim

No need to get a slower grinder. It's nicer perhaps, but once you get your tools to the correct shape and start using a jig you only have to lightly touch up the edge which shouldn't heat up the tool very much. HSS steel can also take more heat than carbon tools w/o losing it's temper.

I've been using a 8" high speed grinder for years - it works fine. You'll be well served to put decent wheels on it if you haven't already though.

FWIW, Grizzly is having a sale on a Tormek grinder knockoff for $80 this week.

Slow speed, water stone grinder. Caveat emptor, etc.

...Kevin

The main reason that I'm getting another grind is that one lives my welding shop and the other one will live in the woodworking shop. Jim in ID

Note, that is the 8 inch version, not the 10 inch

My Grizzly long-shaft is in the barn, with the forge, etc. The other two (wet and dry, Delta and Jet) are in the shop, with the lathe

I have a real Tormek - they are great if you want a really nice edge - for example when you are trying to shape rotten wood (which I do because the colors are so pretty) - soft spongy wood needs really sharp tools and the Tormek will give you that amazing edge - but it does it very slowly - so I use it only when I really need a sharp edge - otherwise I just use a grinder with a blue wheel