More specifically a wood turners chisel.

When I first got my chisels a year and a half or so ago, I would use them and they would take strips of corian/acrylic off the blanks or nice chips off the wood. Now, I am only seeing like larger sawdust.

All I have to sharpen these with is 80 grit,(I dont use it unless i'm taking nicks out of the chisel) 100 grit sand paper disks then a 400 and 600 grit diamond file.

My 1" skew I wont even use right now due to the fact that it does have a messed up edge on it, the bevel just isn't right, probably due to trying to sharpen it before getting the 400 and 600 grit files about a year ago.

I have seen several on sharpening but that is sharpening with a slow speed grinder, which I do not have. I have seen one video on sharpening with the worksharp 3000 which a link was given to on this forum recently, but I don't have one of those either. So, how does one cheaply sharpen the chisels so that they actually CUT instead of grinding the wood from an object?

I was never taught wood turning by anyone, i just watched a few videos and went from there. I saw plenty of videos on using gouges etc. but only one or 2 cover skews that I have seen. As a matter of fact, here recently I find that for a year and a half I have been using the skew WRONG, so now I can't even get the skew to cut if i hold it the way i'm instructed to. Whats up with that?

Thanks for reading.

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

Charles sorry for the lack of replies. Your grits are fine that your using, it sounds like your not getting the proper bevel on them in order for them to cut efficiently. Here is an inexpensive way to get that honed at the proper bevel. Click on Honing Guides to see some inexpensive guides and some elaborately expensive ones, take your pick.

Stick with your scary sharp method, and use one of these guides and you'll be quite pleased.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Charles you have got me beat. I have never sharpened one the way you are doing it. The scary sharp should work on the skews for sure, just keep the bevel angle.

In some places there are people that sharpen saw blades and chisels. Do you know if there is anyone in your area that does that?

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Charles, I found this nice chart showing the proper bevels for turning tools. I have it on our site, I hope Robert Sorby does not mind, I linked back to his site at the bottom. Please go to Chisel Sharpening Specs and you can also find it at our Resources tab at the top, hover your cursor over "Resources" and click on "Chisel Sharpening Specs".

Now, I went out to YouTube and found an excellent series on sharpening your chisels on sand paper. I wish we could produce our own videos about these techniques, but for now we have to rely on outside sources until John Moody and I get our act together on the video producing side of things. So when you guys view these videos from outside sources, be sure to visit their YouTube Channel and thank them for their wonderful video productions.

Go to our "Videos" section Charles and you'll see a set of 3 videos made by Polthaus Workshop. He did an excellent job on these. They are titled "Sandpaper Sharpening Part 1, 2 and 3 HD.

Charles Nicholls said:

That's just it John i have no idea what a scary sharp method is, and don't even know what the proper bevel is supposed to be.

No I don't but I'll look in the phone book and see if I can find one

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Charles, the sandpaper method is so easy to use, and it's cheap. You can be into a full blown sharpening set up for under 30 bucks with sand paper and glass. It's worth your attention to really soak this up. I love the sandpaper method. It's fast and easy.  Let me know if your ok with this or if you need more information.

Charles Nicholls said:

Thank you John I'll do that.

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Sharpening gouges on sand paper can be frustrating. Trying to maintain the correct angle, follow the gouge curve and move the metal across the grit- all at the same time- is a challenge. More so when the sand paper is fixed, as in the scary sharp system. You might find it easier to apply the sand paper to hard wood "sticks/boards". Clamp the gouge in a vice and, using the boards, sharpen the gouge as if you were using a file.

I have an original Tormek sharpener that works wonders on just about everything. But, when turning, I touch up the gouges and chisels with a standard old bench grinder. Light touches and water quenching keeps the tips from over heating. A few seconds and the tool is ready to return to the lathe.

If you eventually get a grinder, make one of these jigs to help maintain the tool angle when grinding- http://www.am-wood.com/june98/chiseljig.html

That sounds like a great idea! The only "down" side would be if you wanted to touch-up an edge during a turning session; you would have to exchange the turning with the sanding disk.

Thinking about this led me to an idea. Do you have a drill press? Maybe you could make circular edge sanding disks that could be mounted in the drill press. I made something similar to hone chisels when doing dovetails. Took a piece of 3/4" plywood and cut it into about an 8" circle and used a bolt as a shaft to allow it to be chucked into the drill. For mine, I wrapped a piece of leather around the perimeter but maybe you could attach sand paper to the edge of the disk and this would create sort of a horizontal grinder/sharpener. Having it powered by a separate device would mean less work for sharpening needs during a turning.

Just my 2¢

Lew

Charles Nicholls said:

Thanks Lew the chances of me getting a grinder are about as remote as me earning $1000 tomorrow but I do see potential in that jig, I may be able to find a way to adapt it to the lathe so that it attaches to the lathe bed and then I can use the disk sander that attaches to the lathe to sharpen the gouges.

Here's what I'm thinking. Due to the length of most gouges except mini's you cannot mount a standard size gouge in the same type jig going straight onto the sanding disk because the angle on the bevel will not go straight onto the sanding disk, more likely it will meet edge on and that is counter productive. so we have to find a way to side mount the jig so that it comes at a 90+- degree angle off the lathe bed and affix an end on the jig to where the tool can rest in such a way that it is bevel on, to the sanding disk.

We can probably do this with a couple pieces of angle iron an all thread bolt or two and some wing nuts to clamp the rest to the lathe then mount the wood for the jig itself to this, but i'm not quite clear in how to do that part yet.

Oh and if any of you figure out how to do that and decide to try marketing it, please just give me some credit on it lol

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

When I first started turning I struggled with hand sharpening my tools with sharpening stones and I could work a razor sharp edge onto any of my chisels, but the sharpness only last so long... I probably spent more time sharpening tools than turning with them. In short, I feel your pain.

Check your local pawn shops and flea markets and find a grinder - 8" is better, but a 6 will work, then make one of those jigs as mentioned above or on THIS site. $10 or $15 for a used grinder and a few pieces of scrap wood from a construction site would make your tuning life sooo much more enjoyable.

 

I remembered something else. My first lathe had the capability of mounting a face plate on the "Left" side of the head stock- for outboard turning. Does your lathe have that capability?

Charles Nicholls said:

Wish I did Lew but I dont, I also don't have a grinder which is why I am having so much trouble with sharpening. i'll probably goahead and do what John suggested and get a piece of flat glass or slate or even corian and make a sanding plate for the skews and just continue sharpening the gouges on the lathe since they are pretty easy to do there. With the skew's though they are harder to do on the lathe due to the angle and length of the tool.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Edit: duh i just remembered i have some 1/2" corian in the closet lol there we go.

Lewis Kauffman said:

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

Just saw your posted pic of your new lathe and realized that the left side of the head stock doesn't appear to have a method of mounting a face plate. 

Lewis Kauffman said:

I remembered something else. My first lathe had the capability of mounting a face plate on the "Left" side of the head stock- for outboard turning. Does your lathe have that capability?

Charles Nicholls said:

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

Charles, You might look at this one at Harbor Freight. It is a faster speed, but as Lew said, light touches and a little water and you would be okay. Just don't put it to the grinder and hold it there.

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I'll look into Charles, thanks for trying!

Charles Nicholls said:

As a side note to John Morris, I tried using the Facebook link to recommend this topic but it isn't posting to FB

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Great suggestions guys. Charles, have you tried sharpening any yet? And, where do you go to get your sanding and finishing supplies?

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Charles, as for the jig, see the first reply to this discussion. I linked you to some honing guides, cheap and expensive. For now I feel you could do fine with the cheaper ones, you just need a guide so they'll do fine.

Charles Nicholls said:

yea I have John the 1" skew that i said I would have to straighten the bevel out on, its slow going because the bevel was really bad. i'm using 80 grit to get it back on track but even with such a heavy grit, its going really slow.

I have not tried the whole process yet as i need to wait until I get paid again so I can get the sand paper/cloth at least to 1500 grit, not sure I want to go all the way to 3000

Well John, Seeing as I just started doing it this way i only have 2 grits of actual usable paper for this 80 & 100 I was just getting the 1" rolls from PSI for the pens. I'll probably go to either Lowe's or HD for the paper, depending on who is lower priced.

As i recall, it was either Ron Dudelston or Bob Kloes that sent me the 100 grit disks a few months back.

Is there a jig that I can buy somewhere to attach to the skews to get the proper bevel to sharpen by hand with? and what IS the proper angle for the skew, i'm hearing anywhere from 15 - 25 degrees

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net
http://www.nichollswoodworks.com
This website is new so it doesn't have much to it yet but you are welcome to take a look

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Aww yes you are correct! There are skew angle setters out there, let me look for one, I know they exist!

Charles Nicholls said:

My apologies John i forgot that was even there, long day I see the guides there for Flat chisels but not one for a skew specifically so that is why i asked again.

John Morris said:

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Charles
nicholls61@att.net
http://www.nichollswoodworks.com
This website is new so it doesn't have much to it yet but you are welcome to take a look

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

I found this information in one of my lathe books. I think you could use a protractor and make a guage-

Usually, I try and maintain the original angle for most turning tools. That being said, I did get a small spindle gouge that would catch regardless of how careful I tried to be. I reground the tip so the bevel was not as steep of an angle and that helped improve the tool's operation.

Lew

Hey Charles, looks like you got the FB share feature down!!!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

You guys might want to visit Capt Eddie's web site.  You can build his jig for just a few bucks and take the guess work out.  I built mine in one evening, and rebuilt it with a few modification in another.  Most of my materials I had on hand, but counting the sink cut-out, thumb screw, carriage bolt, pc of 34 pvc, 3/4 pvc coupling, 1" coupling, pc of 3/8 all thread, 5 nuts and 4 washers there can't be more than $5 if had bought new.  There are others other there on the net that do the same thing.  I have not made the attachment to grind a scew yet.  As you can see, I am using an old junk high speed grinder from a garage sale that was missing most of the guard parts.  This will become a dedicated tool and the wheel will be upgraded.  After grinding I used an oil stone to get a razor-sharp egde in just a few seconds.