Tips on sharpening lathe tools?

Ed Nelson

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Charlotte, NC
OK, I have the lathe and, on Don's recommendation, I have picked up the HF lathe. Any suggestions on sharpening the tools? What angle should the bevels be? I have the WC slow speed grinder with the standard wheels, 60 & 120. Do I need to take it any further like I do with my bench chisels and plane irons?

Hep me, please!
 
Ed,

I think a number of people use 80 gr. but I like the 120 myself. There is an article in one of the WW mags. in the last few months by Mike Mahoney on sharpening bowl gouges that you might find helpful. I attended a school locally that Mike taught and while I find his grind angle a bit steep (40*) his freehand sharpening method pretty much negated the Wolverine with better results. Most tools, I think, have a decent approximation of the proper angle (except gouges) and it is just a matter of matching the angle and giving it an edge. Don't get compulsive over sharpening gouges. If you do you will spend more time sharpening than turning. It's plenty good off the wheel. You might want to give it a little bit extra on the finishing cuts.
 
Like Cecil, I pretty much stick with the 120 grit wheel, and in most cases I don't go any finer. I just use the chisel straight off the grinder. I've also got a little diamond hone that I use to touch up the edge between trips to the grinder.

As for the angles, I pretty much try to keep things at about the angle they came from the factory with, although I'm not afraid to experiment and try something a bit different, especially on gouges. Part of the reason for using the HF tools to start is that you can afford to grind on 'em pretty often as you experiment with things like bevel angle.

A lot of guys get good results free-hand sharpening, and a lot of us use a sharpening jig like the Wolverine. (I use the Penn State knock-off of the Wolverine, which gets the same end results.) There have been a number of folks who made their own jig, often using the Wolverine-style jig for inspiration.
 
Interesting comments Billy. I'll have to check on the wheel situation.

Vaughn & Cecil, thanks for the info

Dario, that's an interesting set up

So much to think about...so little time!
 
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