Save Wear on your Wet Wheel

glenn bradley

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11,516
Location
SoCal
I bought dad a Jet slow speed wet sharpener and some Tormek jigs for it. I only have one gouge and was enamored by the Tormek gouge jig. We both have the WorkSharp and I thought of a way to do steps that required a lot of metal removal that work for me (without a slow speed machine) and for him prior to using the slow speed machine.

Take a piece of hardwood scrap and make an opening about the shape of your tool(s). Drill a perpendicular hole and tap it. Thread in a knobbed stud (or is it studded knob?).

a-WS Gouge Jig.jpgb-WS Gouge Jig.jpg

Slip the gouge in and find the angle similar to the method used on the Tormek/Jet or what have you. Lock it down with the knob. Keeping the face of the jig against the bar, use nice smooth sweeping curves.

c-WS Gouge Jig.jpgd-WS Gouge Jig.jpge-WS Gouge Jig.jpg

Work your way through 2 or 3 grits and you end up here.

f-WS Gouge Jig.jpg

For me this is done as I use this method on my one carving gouge at about 30* IIRC. For some of you spinners (45* - 55*), its off to the slow speed sharpener to really shine her up.
 
That's a slick idea, Glenn. :thumb: It'd work great for traditional gouge profiles. For other profiles, like the "fingernail" or "Ellsworth" grind a lot of us use on bowl gouges, the tool clamp thingie would need to be elevated a bit higher, and the pivot point isolated to a single point on the tool rest bar. It's difficult to describe in writing, but if you've seen the Oneway Vari-Grind in action, you'll know what I mean.
 
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