By far my best tool purchase! - New guys read this

[karlkuehn]

You know, with all the money I've been spending on lathes, saws, drills, more lathes, sanders and pressure pots and everything else, I'm most excited about my new cheapie Ryobi 8" bench grinder. I bought a Norton white aluminum oxide 150 grit wheel to replace the coarse wheel that came on the grinder. All told, I'm into the grinder for about $95.

I just went through every lathe tool that I own, grinding and reshaping edges. For the last year, I've been hand-sharpening with a 1000 grit Japanese water stone, which I've gotten pretty good at, but what a gigantic waste of time! By using the flat stone for so long, all of my tools had lost any semblance of a hollow grind, which has really been creating some long sharpening sessions in the last few months.

Now, I grind the edge on the tools with a nice hollow, and then finish them on the water stone with just a few quick passes, and I've got extremely sharp tools. They were sharp before, but the darn things just scare me now.

I was considering the Tormek system, but I'm not going to pay over $500 for a sharpening system, I don't care how good it is. I'll put my tools up against any that were sharpened on the Tormek any day.

What a difference it's made in my turning experience having truly sharp tools again. The grinder also allows me to experiment with different edge shapes that would've taken me a month to grind down before.

You new guys, make sure you have a good sharpening system. I was going to buy the Wolverine system for the grinder, but after seeing Ron in Drums PA's shop built equivalent, I can save myself over $150 by just building my own. I'm going to call it the Karlverine. heh

The Wolverine jig, from what I've heard and read, is a really good system, but I can just build the same stuff myself, and add my own custom fabrication for versatility and CHEAPNESS.

Now that I see the difference between sharp and scary sharp, I'm kicking myself for not buying the grinder right when I first started. The darn thing woulda paid for itself inside a month just in non-kablooied blanks.

The Ryobi grinder has been great so far, and you can get them at Home Depot for $60. Putting the new wheel on was a little touchy, getting it bolted on there without wobble was a little tricky. The grinder also comes with a diamond dressing tool which I've already used and found to do a great job.

Now I can sharpen my lawn mower blades, too! heh []

 

[Rifleman1776]

I'm glad you are glad. Whatever works for you is best. But (there's always a 'but' [] ) I see two things in your post that strike me as odd. Eliminating the hollow grind is often, perhaps usually, the goal of most who want sharp tools. For our purposes, it is considered undesirable. And, sharpening with 1000 grit would be a huge investment in time. I have tried sharpening with a 220 grit wet stone and grew old in the process. Something between 80 and 150 grit is most desirable. I believe that 80 and 100 are the two most popular grits for turning tools.

 

[Firefyter-emt]

I use a 320 diamond flat on my skews and they are flat ground from my belt sander jig. Although these are HCS chisels and not HSS, but the hollow ground really will not make a change. Your cut comes from the cutting tip and the bevel will just ride.

That said, I have my eye on a Delta 8" VS grinder that will grace my shop very soon! []

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by Rifleman1776
<br />I'm glad you are glad. Whatever works for you is best. But (there's always a 'but' [] ) I see two things in your post that strike me as odd. Eliminating the hollow grind is often, perhaps usually, the goal of most who want sharp tools. For our purposes, it is considered undesirable. And, sharpening with 1000 grit would be a huge investment in time. I have tried sharpening with a 220 grit wet stone and grew old in the process. Something between 80 and 150 grit is most desirable. I believe that 80 and 100 are the two most popular grits for turning tools.

I like the hollow grind in conjunction with the water stone step. With the slight hollow, when I go to hone on the stone, my strokes only come in contact with the edge and the back of the bevel, so I'm not having to cut the whole surface of the bevel. Were you using a wet stone (gray colored oil stone type thing) or an actual water stone? I keep my stone halfway submerged in a tray of water, and it cuts like crazy.

All that being said, I've never actually tried using a tool straight from the 150 grit wheel yet. [:0] You mighta saved me a step! I just assumed that it needed to be honed a little more. While they are sharp feeling, there's a good bit of 'tooth' to the edge, like small serrations. I'll have to give it a shot with some scrap material.

 

[GaryMGg]

Originally posted by karlkuehn
<br />You know, with all the money I've been spending on lathes, saws, drills, more lathes, sanders and pressure pots and everything else, I'm most excited about my new cheapie Ryobi 8" bench grinder....

Karl,
After reading your post I've learned how you can re-invigorate your excitement. Sent the lathe, saws, and more lathes to me. Then you'll have to purchase some new ones and get all giddy all over again. [] [][][][]
[]

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by GaryMGg
<br />

Originally posted by karlkuehn
<br />You know, with all the money I've been spending on lathes, saws, drills, more lathes, sanders and pressure pots and everything else, I'm most excited about my new cheapie Ryobi 8" bench grinder....

Karl,
After reading your post I've learned how you can re-invigorate your excitement. Sent the lathe, saws, and more lathes to me. Then you'll have to purchase some new ones and get all giddy all over again. [] [][][][]
[]

Heh...I like getting giddy as much as the next guy, but I don't want to overdo it. Moderation, and all, you know? heh

Thanks for the offer of help, though! Nice to know that people really care, but I think I'm gonna tough this one out. []

 

[Rifleman1776]

Originally posted by karlkuehn
<br />

Originally posted by Rifleman1776
<br />I'm glad you are glad. Whatever works for you is best. But (there's always a 'but' [] ) I see two things in your post that strike me as odd. Eliminating the hollow grind is often, perhaps usually, the goal of most who want sharp tools. For our purposes, it is considered undesirable. And, sharpening with 1000 grit would be a huge investment in time. I have tried sharpening with a 220 grit wet stone and grew old in the process. Something between 80 and 150 grit is most desirable. I believe that 80 and 100 are the two most popular grits for turning tools.

I like the hollow grind in conjunction with the water stone step. With the slight hollow, when I go to hone on the stone, my strokes only come in contact with the edge and the back of the bevel, so I'm not having to cut the whole surface of the bevel. Were you using a wet stone (gray colored oil stone type thing) or an actual water stone? I keep my stone halfway submerged in a tray of water, and it cuts like crazy.

All that being said, I've never actually tried using a tool straight from the 150 grit wheel yet. [:0] You mighta saved me a step! I just assumed that it needed to be honed a little more. While they are sharp feeling, there's a good bit of 'tooth' to the edge, like small serrations. I'll have to give it a shot with some scrap material.

Certainly, what you like is what is best for you. We wouldn't have forums without different opinions.
My wet wheel is white and submerged. It is the slow wheel sharpener sold under many different brand labels. The 220 is so fine, IMHO and experience, that it doesn't really sharpen. It will hone an already finely sharp edge. Good for carving tools but useless for turning ones.

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by Rifleman1776
<br />

Originally posted by karlkuehn
<br />

Originally posted by Rifleman1776
<br />...I have tried sharpening with a 220 grit wet stone and grew old in the process. Something between 80 and 150 grit is most desirable. I believe that 80 and 100 are the two most popular grits for turning tools.

...Were you using a wet stone (gray colored oil stone type thing) or an actual water stone? I keep my stone halfway submerged in a tray of water, and it cuts like crazy...

Certainly, what you like is what is best for you. We wouldn't have forums without different opinions.
My wet wheel is white and submerged. It is the slow wheel sharpener sold under many different brand labels. The 220 is so fine, IMHO and experience, that it doesn't really sharpen. It will hone an already finely sharp edge. Good for carving tools but useless for turning ones.

Ahh, okay...I think that's why we're seeing different results. My water stone is the Japanese type that is flat and just sits in a water bath, the grits on these things go way up to 8000 or something weird like that. The 1000 grit is actually pretty rough on the scale, they must measure their numbers differently, and I know the stone material itself is different than the wheel types. It's actually quite soft, and I have to be careful with digging in the edges of the tools.

Water stones don't last as long as the other types, but they take off a ton of metal. Just sharpening by hand on a really rough grind like a belt sander (what I used to use for shaping), they knock it down super quick and build up a heavy slurry.

I'm going to try a couple tools with just the 150 grit from the grinding wheel and see how they cut, though. I'm always interested in eliminating a step or two! heh []

 

[badger]

When I bought my 8" grinder with white wheels, I was in better shape when it came to grinding my tools. But I still wasn't getting consistent results on my gouges.

So I built a Jig that helped me.

http://badgerwoodworks.com/index.php/articles/sharpening-tool-jig

It's inspired by the Wolverine style jig, but assembled out of wood.

hope that helps, because sharp tools is a wonderful thing.

 

[karlkuehn]

Originally posted by badger
<br />When I bought my 8" grinder with white wheels, I was in better shape when it came to grinding my tools. But I still wasn't getting consistent results on my gouges.

So I built a Jig that helped me.

http://badgerwoodworks.com/index.php/articles/sharpening-tool-jig

It's inspired by the Wolverine style jig, but assembled out of wood.

hope that helps, because sharp tools is a wonderful thing.

Badger, you're a genius! I mean, the idea of building your own jig isn't new, but you made it very simple and easy to do. Thanks a ton for taking the time to build a tutorial as you went along, too. I now have a place to start, and you've got my brain working in all kinds of different directions!

I'm going to build as soon as I find some of those nifty knobs. I know you can get the fancy t-slot knobs and sliders and stuff, too.

Huh...woodworkers actually building things out of wood...who'd have thunk it.

Thanks again! []

 

[badger]

Thanks for the compliment. Use the design as a starting point though, there are lots of ways you could do it.

A couple of refinements I was thinking.
- three bars on the skew jig, to prevent any twisting.
- a drawer under the base.
- a "irish grind" jig that fits in the pocket of the gouge
- covering the bars with thin aluminum/brass to prevent wood gouging.

I use the gouge jig all the time, since that's I primarily use for turning. Somehow I got in the habit of using my 3/4" gouge for all my turning with a quick skew pass at the end.

Good luck.

 

[karlkuehn]

Well, just ordered a bunch of t-track stuff from Rockler to start building this thing. I like your idea of the drawer underneath. If I make it tall enough, I can use it to store the extra jigs I want to make, you know, like the Wolverine round nose scraper thing, the skew thing, and whatever else I figure out to make! The extra height would be nice, too, as the grinder's a little low on the bench the way things stand. []