theyoungwoodworker
Member
would a buffing wheel be good for sharpening woodturning tools
buffing wheel to sharpen woodturning tools?
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AJB Temple
Finely figured
No. A buffing wheel is for polishing really. Edge will require grinding on a stone (e.g. slow waterstone) and you could hone on a honing wheel (look at the Tormek ones for example).
There is tons of advice on here and the web generally on tool sharpening. Worth using search tools and google. Lots of you tube vide.
There is tons of advice on here and the web generally on tool sharpening. Worth using search tools and google. Lots of you tube vide.
CHJ
Established Member
No, any form of buffing or honing is pre-disposed to round over the cutting edge, no problem to a carver but doing so with a turning gouge means that presenting the bevel for support means the razor edge is likely to be above the surface and present as though it's blunt.
A buffed edge may be sharp but so fragile that it will destruct in a fraction of a second as soon as it touches the wood, you need a sharp edge but just as important you need robust edge.
Debris clearing flutes can be buffed or honed to polish prior to sharpening the bevel.
Even the leather honing wheel of the Tormek can round out the cutting edge as the soft leather flows round the narrow width high pressure point of a bowl gouge for instance.
A buffed edge may be sharp but so fragile that it will destruct in a fraction of a second as soon as it touches the wood, you need a sharp edge but just as important you need robust edge.
Debris clearing flutes can be buffed or honed to polish prior to sharpening the bevel.
Even the leather honing wheel of the Tormek can round out the cutting edge as the soft leather flows round the narrow width high pressure point of a bowl gouge for instance.
nev
Established Member
Nope.
The realistic minimum required for sharpening turning tools, quickly and efficiently is a bench grinder with an appropriate wheel on it, with the 'white' aluminium oxide as fitted to record grinders being the starting point. You can get one of these wheels for about 12 quid to pop on any suitably sized cheap bench grinder you can find, or just buy a Record with one already attached for about 60 quid.
http://www.peterchild.co.uk/grind/grindinfo.htm edited to correct link #-o
Add to that a homemade rest (see Keith Rowleys book, and Dalboys suggestion in your other thread) and you're good to go.
You WILL need to sharpen your tools regularly. And that may mean several times during a 'turning' so you want it to be simple, repeatable and quick.
A simple setup like this,at least, is as essential as the lathe itself IMHO.
The realistic minimum required for sharpening turning tools, quickly and efficiently is a bench grinder with an appropriate wheel on it, with the 'white' aluminium oxide as fitted to record grinders being the starting point. You can get one of these wheels for about 12 quid to pop on any suitably sized cheap bench grinder you can find, or just buy a Record with one already attached for about 60 quid.
http://www.peterchild.co.uk/grind/grindinfo.htm edited to correct link #-o
Add to that a homemade rest (see Keith Rowleys book, and Dalboys suggestion in your other thread) and you're good to go.
You WILL need to sharpen your tools regularly. And that may mean several times during a 'turning' so you want it to be simple, repeatable and quick.
A simple setup like this,at least, is as essential as the lathe itself IMHO.
Not for sharpening but a leather or felt wheel is good for honing. I use a hard felt wheel with polishing compound for final finishing on kitchen knives after they come off the tormek, I prefer it to the tormeks leather honing wheel.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Yes ... but the question was concerning turning tools.
paulm
IG paulm_outdoors
Rorschach":8p1ts63r said:
No it can't.
Read the posts above that explain why not !
AJB Temple
Finely figured
I do actually hone turning tools and have not had an issue with it, though I have not been turning for long. However, I have been sharpening for donkey's years and adopt a very moderate approach to my turning tools: and only really hone if I feel I need a very fine edge. I find a honing wheel very useful for chisels, plane blades and kitchen knives. Since it is on the other side of one of the grinders anyway, it is no big deal to use it or not.
CHJ
Established Member
Even the slightest rounding of the cutting edge by polishing or honing on a soft flowing substrate such as leather or felt will result in a cutting edge that is riding higher than the rubbing bevel, lifting the tool handle excessively to get it to start cut can result in it diving into the wood unsuported.
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paulm":4k0rmazg said:
If you use a hard felt wheel then the amount of rounding of the edge is almost non-existent. It's probably less than that using the tormek leather wheel which is intended for that purpose!
paulm
IG paulm_outdoors
Rorschach":fkt9dpgr said:
You're assuming the tormek leather wheel is intended for honing turning tools - it's not !
How much turning experience do you actually have ?
nev
Established Member
This is not really helpful to the new member, a new turner looking for basic advice.
If someone would like to start a new thread regarding honing, stropping, polishing and otherwise fettling turning tools then please do.
The OP, a new turner, was looking for an inexpensive but effective method of sharpening his/her turning gouges in order to get turning, and a grinder with an appropriate wheel and a rest of some kind is the accepted entry level method, and if I am not mistaken the continued method used by most that do not splash out on a Sorby Proedge
The argument, sorry, discussion about sharpening, honing etc and which rare crystal to wave and incantation to mumble near the tool edge was I thought restricted to the hand tool department and I for one would like it to stay there.
If someone would like to start a new thread regarding honing, stropping, polishing and otherwise fettling turning tools then please do.
The OP, a new turner, was looking for an inexpensive but effective method of sharpening his/her turning gouges in order to get turning, and a grinder with an appropriate wheel and a rest of some kind is the accepted entry level method, and if I am not mistaken the continued method used by most that do not splash out on a Sorby Proedge
The argument, sorry, discussion about sharpening, honing etc and which rare crystal to wave and incantation to mumble near the tool edge was I thought restricted to the hand tool department and I for one would like it to stay there.
I hone on MDF wheels charged with honing compound, running on a low speed grinder and using different wheels for different profiles. There are quite a few American authors who recommend honing in between sharpenings at the grinder, but seems to be quite a trans-Atlantic divide on this. British authors seem less interested in honing in between trips to the grinding wheel.
That said, I would stick to the basics first, sharpening with an 80 or 120 grit (I prefer 80) on a grinder is the common and essential element of any method set applicable for high speed steel. From there, a sound sharp edge lets you build core turning technique, without which an even sharper edge isn't really noticeable.
That said, I would stick to the basics first, sharpening with an 80 or 120 grit (I prefer 80) on a grinder is the common and essential element of any method set applicable for high speed steel. From there, a sound sharp edge lets you build core turning technique, without which an even sharper edge isn't really noticeable.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
They are not in the business of sharpening turning tools, they're in the business of selling machines. For a machine selling at several hundred pounds it would be odd if they didn't suggest it would sharpen everything from a razor to a felling axe. It doesn't mean they're good at it or necessary for it. I suspect although I haven't looked that maybe what appear at a glance to be turning gouges are in fact carving tools - which are honed as a matter of course - a carving tool goes through a few inches of wood a minute under manpower and a turning tool goes through hundreds of feet a minute under machine power. Slightly different. I don't know an experienced turner who hones tools, with the exception of a quick touch of a diamond plate on a skew when they can't be bothered to stop and it's debatable that could be called honing.
Well watch this video, then you can say you know an experienced turned who does use the leather wheel on a turning tool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpIXozlTJ0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpIXozlTJ0E
CHJ
Established Member
At the risk of annoying :-
A quote from an old review I did of the Tormek including it's documentation and DVD.
This was some years ago and the jigs/fixtures may have been modified for easier honing on current models.
I personally no longer polish any bevel but do polish the flutes of gouges as I perceive that it cleans up the cutting action, but this may just be a personal fetish with no worth in real life other than to remove the inevitable grot that sticks at times.
I personally think it very unlikely that someone new to turning would even be in a position to assess the benefits or otherwise of any polishing or honing and would be better spending the time learning to quickly achieve a working edge and concentrate on the turning experience as the higher priority and far more beneficial to their turning.
:-A quote from an old review I did of the Tormek including it's documentation and DVD.
This was some years ago and the jigs/fixtures may have been modified for easier honing on current models.
I personally no longer polish any bevel but do polish the flutes of gouges as I perceive that it cleans up the cutting action, but this may just be a personal fetish with no worth in real life other than to remove the inevitable grot that sticks at times.
I personally think it very unlikely that someone new to turning would even be in a position to assess the benefits or otherwise of any polishing or honing and would be better spending the time learning to quickly achieve a working edge and concentrate on the turning experience as the higher priority and far more beneficial to their turning.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Precisely. He's being paid to sell Tormeks - of course he's going to use it. :lol: If he were paid by a dog turd seller he'd probably be using dog turd as a honing compound.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Another point of course - if the sharpness of the tool were so critical that honing was necessary, we'd all be using carbon steel tools and not HSS.
