Sharpening.

Wayne,

I'm sure you'll gets lots of advice. But I'm a big fan of the Wolverine system and can very quickly do a gouge with very consistent results. I would also highly recommend the sharpening video put out by AAW. There are four turners showing the correct way of sharpening each of the major turning tools. John Jordan does the gouges and uses a Wolverine system. I had trouble as well but after viewing the JJ portion of this video, all was revealed and it works like a dream very time. I've got mine mounted under a high speed grinder with 6 inch Norton wheels.

Hope this helps

-- George L. Tanty Santa Fe, NM

Wayne,

Go to Darrell Feltmate's home page

and checkout his section on sharpening. He has built the equivalent of the OnewayWolverine system with their Varigrind jig. Ultra simple but well thoughtout. You should be able to make copies of his jigs for less that $20 (myestimate) and repeatably sharpening that bowl gouge in no time. It is agreat site. Hope this helps,

Harry

The jig and fixture shown are very good. Maybe I should have a setup similar to the one shown. However after talking to many experienced turners who own a Oneway Wolverine system of its equivalent I soon learned that they do not use it all the time. When turning a 10" bowl blank I have to sharpen my gouge 2-4 times. The overall length of the tools to be sharpened are not always the same and the system requires adjustments to maintain the desired angle. What I made is an adjustable stand as shown in Brian Clifford notes. One side of the grinder is set at 45 degrees for the gouges and the other side is set for the scrapper angle. I hold the tool parallel to the angle guide and perpendicular to the grinder wheel then I rotate the gouge as required. I takes me about 10-20 seconds. For the scapers I do the same thing but rotate the tool from left to right. Some parting tools may require different settings on the adjustable platform. Last week I visited an 84 years old woodturner. He uses 12 inches wheel without any guiding devises.

My advise to anyone who has spent money buying a gouge with a speciality-grind is to either take close-up photos or careful drawings of it before you use it or take it to the grinder. Even with a sharpening jig, it may not be very long before the edge of the tool bears little resemblance to how it was when bought. One of the fundamental skills involved in sharpening is knowing the exact shape you are aiming for.

The only supplier I know of who has done this right is Melvyn Firmager. He supplies a set of pewter models of the custom grinds he sells for natural edge and hollow vessel work.

One of the first things I explain to students who ask about purchasing bowl gouges is that what you are really buying is the flute, rather than any fancy grind the manufacturer has applied. It really annoys me that so few catalogs show the cross section of the flute but make such a big deal about the grind.

I am an old woodworker but have been turning less than one year. From what I have seen from this group, I am not alone in realizing that gouge sharpening is a difficult skill that has to be mastered. I have not.

I visited Turn about wood

in Kansas City a several weeks ago and asked about sharpening aids. Dan Moreno took me back to their classroom/demo shop, handed me a couple of dull gouges and talked me through sharpening them myself using the Wolverine system. The first time I touched the system produced very nice results. My wife watched and I suspect the birthday fairy is going to drop a system off in a few weeks.

By the way, Darrell Feltmate's shop made jig

like it incorporates the same geometry lesson as the Wolverine.

You've gotten good advise for the Wolverine system. This'll work great since you've already got a bench grinder. But there's also another route.

First, a disclaimer. I am not affiliated with any toolmaker or seller of any kind. I'm only a satisfied user.

I use the Tormek system. With the appropriate jigs, it'll reliably sharpen the same profile time after time. If you want, it'll also reshape the profile to something else, and then be repeatable to that new profile. The Tormek's problem is that it's expensive. I got over that a long time ago. This isn't to say it's perfect, but for turning tools, I don't think there's any better.

You can get one online at

There's otherplaces too, like Woodcraft.

Wayne,

I'm a newbie turner also and had suffered through 6 months of trying to sharpen my tools by hand. Whew. The result was dull tools with multiple edges on the bevel. My brother-n-law can take a gouge, put it on the grinder free hand and get a perfect grind with very sharp edge. However, I am the opposite extreme and could not master that free hand technique so I just recently purchased the Wolverine Grinding jig. Now that it's mounted under my grinder, I can produce a perfect grind with very sharp edge. It was amazing to me how easy it was on the first attempt. You can get this from Woodcraft at the following URL:

had also looked at Darrell Feltmate's homeade jig shown on his web page It works basically like theWolverine. I just preferred to spend my time turning instead of building ajig, so I opted to purchase one. The Wolverine fit the bill. Not tooexpensive but produces great results. Either way.....build orbuy.....you'll benefit greatly a jig.It's truly amazing how much better my turnings look and how much easier itis to turn with sharp tools! Probably safer too! Get a jig. Happy turning, Walker

I took the plunge on a Tormek as well. IMHO, it is invaluable for a beginner, because I can spend my time learning to turn, rather than learning to sharpen. I have found some limitations to the system, but very few. Once I become a competent turner, perhaps I'll learn to free-hand grind my tools. Until then, I love my Tormek.

What sort of limitations have you found? In my case, I think the hollow grind it produces on a chisel leaves a weaker cutting edge, so I'll take it over to a high grit waterstone for a few laps. That seems to put enough flat on it to keep the edge from dulling quite as fast. This could apply to a plane iron too, but those don't get exactly the same use as a chisel.

For turning tools, those are sharpened way more frequently anyway, and the grind is not so easy to do without a jig.

BTW, it's my opinion that if one uses a jig, they'll never acquire the skill to hand hold the tool for sharpening. I don't see a problem there, after all, that's what a Tormek (or Wolverine) is all about.

I don't see a problem with the hollow grind, it's less 'hollow' than the grind from other wheels anyway. The limitations I find are mostly with short tools. I have a few that I got second hand that are too short to use the appropriate jig. Plus I have tried to sharpen pocket knives and such with it that wouldn't fit the knife jig because they were too small in one dimension or another. Another thing you might call a limitation is how long it takes the change a profile on a tool. Of course, grinding slowly also means your tools might last a bit longer, since you're taking off less material for each sharpening. I don't think there are any jigs for some of the specialty tools available either. Like the beading tools that some people were recommending to me in another thread, I don't know how you would sharpen them. It won't do double-bit axes, naturally that's the only axe I have. Or ring tools, or some hollowing tools... I love my Tormek, and would buy it again, but it isn't the end-all sharpening solution.

Ah, I see. I simply haven't run into those situations. Some of my chisels are sorta short, but I'm managing to get them in a holder (just barely) for sharpening.

I hadn't considered beading tools. They could be a problem.

I have changed a profile on a bowl gouge, to me it didn't seem to take too long. But maybe my change wasn't so severe.

You're right. When you think about it, it won't cover *every* situation.

I noticed a remark considering the tool length for use in the jig. The Woodcut Tru-grind has a much shorter body then the Canadian system and can be used with shorter tools. It also can hold chisels up to 1 1/2" across which neither of the other systems can do.

Ken Port Tool designer