Shaping sharpening skills

*Noob alert*
I'm new to lathe tool sharpening{all sharpening to be honest}, & I'm curious if I'm headed in the right direction...this is my larger spindle gouge, not sure if it's 5/8" or 3/4" as I haven't given it much thought :eek: anyways, here's the edge/profile or whatever it's referred to as, that I put on it today...I've read that it should resemble a ladies{?} fingernail :dunno: and with anywhere from a 30 to 45 degree angle...this was approx. 40 degrees, but it looks to me to be a little pointed if that makes sense...any thoughts, comments or suggestions whole-heartily welcomed...Thanks in advance

It seems to work OK for me, but my lack of skills and practicing on punky spalted maple has me desiring some more advanced observations...

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this is what I've been playing with, from the deep dark dilapidated depths of my firewood stack :rofl:
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as brittle as my wife's nerves when I say I'm going to the borg :D
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Managed to save this little tid-bit :eek:
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I think the gouge looks great. :thumb: I prefer the swept-back wings like that, and in fact have them a bit longer on most of my bowl gouges.

The wood you're practicing on would give even an experienced turner a good challenge. Gorgeous stuff, but the punkiness will give anyone fits. The trick is to take light shearing cuts, but without being with you in person (or showing on a video, which I'm not set up to do handily right now) it's hard to describe what a shearing cut is.
 
I like the shape of your gouges but like Vaughn mine also have longer wings. The wood you are using is probably about as hard as it gets for new turning. I would look for some maple or cherry.
 
It looks like you may be using a 6" wheel Ken, see if you can move up to an 8"...I see a concave area on the back of the first gouge. That makes it a bit hard to ride a bevel...IMHO only. I've tossed chunks of wood like that into the burn pit...my hat is off to you sir!:bow:
 
Thanks guy's, how do you get the longer wings? Is it simply rolling the tool more? and/or is it done without changing the overall angle? :dunno:

Also...I'll say this much about learning on the punky stuff... sure teaches one to ease into the piece :rofl: but not so good for the confidence with it falling off the bone{so to say}...Just when I think something may come of the turning...Ka pow right in the ol' kisser :doh:

So much to learn :doh:, thankfully my vocabulary is keeping pace :rofl:
 
Lots of us use grinding jigs with a varigrind attachment which allows you to "swing the tool" for the longer wings. I built one, but broke down and bought a wolverine when I realized the lathe was going to be more than a passing fancy for me.
Some of that wood is just begging for a 40 grit belt sanding - no metal involved...... but then your forms are limited. Happy turning! :thumb:
mj
 
Thanks guy's, how do you get the longer wings? Is it simply rolling the tool more? and/or is it done without changing the overall angle? :dunno: ...

Sorry, I missed this question earlier, Ken. To get the longer wings with the Vari-Grind, you don't need to change angles or reset anything. Just roll the over tool more, and grind more off the sides than you do off the tip.

For a good starting point on the angle for setting the Vari-Grind, I'd recommend the setting Doug Thompson uses on the gouges he sells. Here's a link to a PDF the shows it. (Actual size, so you can print this page out and use it as a guide for setting the Vari-Grind.)

http://www.thompsonlathetools.com/sharpening.asp

And on the subject of punky wood, John Jordan, one of the grandfathers of modern woodturning, has been quoted saying "Life's too short to turn crappy wood." His attitude is that you spend more time dealing with problems instead of turning, and often make compromises in the form or finish if you're having to deal with problematic wood. Just something to keep in mind sometimes when you're battling a piece of uncooperative wood. ;)
 
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