Continuing tool sharpening questions...

See those soft brown and tightly curled chips piling up on my gouge? That's why I'm here.

I'm turning butternut pens this week. They smell nice, too.

Thanks, Arch ... that looked like a backhanded compliment to me and I'll treat it as such even if you deny it. :-)

Even so, making more frequent but smaller grinds helps me keep a consistent bevel too. Those 'facets' come from needing to interrupt the grind while grinding into the side of the steel. I take such shallow cuts that facets are almost never a problem. Not even in theory.

And, with just a couple months on the lathe, I'm one of the newer kids here. I think having to find ways to do things on a tight budget is a good thing for 'professional development'. It makes you think deeper. I bought HF tools knowing that they are thousands of dollars away from the best on the market. I also knew that if I waited until I had thousands of dollars to drop into something I've never done before, I wouldn't do it. So I bought HF and have recently had the local Woodcraft manager (my former Bro. in Law) appraise my slimline pens at $40-$50. He's not joking, either. They are good. I know this because I recently sold one for $35 to a guy who only makes $5.50 an hour. Guys who make that kind of money don't usually spend it on $35 pens.

Here's my procedure for sharpening. It works well for me. It may not work at all for others.

------------------------ Step back from the lathe. Turn around to face the grinder. Turn the knob on the grinder to full speed and wait 1-2 seconds. Make a single sweep of the tool over the grinder face. Inspect the result. Repeat if necessary. Turn grinder off. Turn to face lathe. Make chips.

Ten to 20 seconds most times. Seldom a whole minute.

Bill