Sharpening Lathe Tools

I use my belt sander to sharpen. I'm sure one brand of tools holds a better edge than others, but I wouldn't know. I only own 1 set of inexpensive tools. I'm too hard on them (antler, ivory, wood, horn) to jepordize a premium brand of tools.

Tony
 
I use both a bench grinder and a belt sander, depending on the tool. I, too, use an inexpensive set of high speed steel tools (from Grizzly tool). I have one that is custom ground that I use for my turkey calls. It can only be sharpened on the grinder due to its shape.
 
I use a Tormek sharpening system. It has a grinding wheel that runs in a water bath. The other side has a leather strop wheel to remove the burr. It's expensive, but well worth the money if you have to sharpen a variety of tools and knives. The main wheel is a coarse stone that quickly forms the edge. Then by holding what is called "a stone grader" against the wheel, it alters the stone surface to a fine grit. It'll put a razor edge on any tool, or knife.
 
Quote:
I use a Tormek sharpening system. It has a grinding wheel that runs in a water bath. The other side has a leather strop wheel to remove the burr. It's expensive, but well worth the money if you have to sharpen a variety of tools and knives. The main wheel is a coarse stone that quickly forms the edge. Then by holding what is called "a stone grader" against the wheel, it alters the stone surface to a fine grit. It'll put a razor edge on any tool, or knife.



We use one of these at work for sharpening Lathe tools, knifes , hand plane blades, and scissors. You can buy a jig for dang near everything and the angles come out perfect.
 
I use a belt sander to sharpen my tools.

In the beginning, it is often reccomended that you buy inexpensive tools and learn to sharpen them. You wont find yourself crying over your 50 buck Sorby gouge that is now 3 inches long because you just could not get the bevel right /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I use an assortment of tools from Craftsman, Sorby, Henry Taylor and others as well as a lot of inexpensive tools that I have modified to suit my needs. This is especially true with the tools I use to turn acrylic.

To try to help answer what kind of tools hold edges better, this is a blurb from the Craft Supplies USA web site.

What steels are tools made from?

Today’s woodturning tools are produced primarily from two types of tool steel, M2 and ASP series. M2 High Speed steel is the industry standard and holds an edge 6 times longer than carbon steel tools. Unlike carbon steel, M2 High Speed steel maintains its edge holding ability even when "bluing" the edge during grinding. Tools manufactured from M2 are relatively inexpensive and offer good value. ASP series
steel is a relative newcomer to the woodturning industry. The edge holding ability of tools manufactured from ASP series steel is 3 to 4.5 times that of M2 High Speed
steel. Although ASP series tools can be expensive, these tools last many times longer than M2 and are an excellent investment.

Al
THO Game Calls
 
I use a set of diamond sticks from Penn State. Set of 4 has tapered needle, flat, and two sizes of curved that handle all my gouges. After that I use a ceramic stick to dress the edge. Once I have a good edge, regular touch ups with the ceramic keep the edge polished. Once it get past polished, it's time to go back to the diamond rig.

Be careful with the ceramic stick when you first start! Keep a box of bandaids handy. LOL!!

Rudy
 
Calls are a small part of my lathe work, I have the whole price range of tools. Best tools for the money are Harbor Freight's HSS set less than $50.00 with freight. And I use the Wolverine system with a bench grinder. worth every penny of the $170.00 plus the cost of the grinder. You can easily change the angle of a chisel for special cuts. With the Harbor Freight chisels I reshape the ends and have a quality custom tool in minutes. I do use cheaper tools when cutting antler, horn etc. I consider them throw away tools and I abuse them. But also have the high end tools like Sorby, but most were gifts.
 
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