Woodturning Beginner

[pop-pop]

I didn’t have a Chuck. This was glued to a wood block that was screwed to a face plate on a $90 Big Lots lathe. That lathe was given away in Georgia when we moved up here 35 years ago.
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Graceful shape!

 

[Leviblue]

When I taught wood turning, I had everyone start with the wide roughing gouge. It's pretty forgiving. Once you get used to it, then move up to a wide skew. You'll get catches, and they'll startle you, but work through it.
Also try the carbide tools. They are very easy to learn with and use. You can even make your own and turn the handles.

 

[Ptofimpact]

When I taught wood turning, I had everyone start with the wide roughing gouge. It's pretty forgiving. Once you get used to it, then move up to a wide skew. You'll get catches, and they'll startle you, but work through it.
Also try the carbide tools. They are very easy to learn with and use. You can even make your own and turn the handles.

Thank you, working on learning how to sharpen, and hopefully will progress.
Using the Worksharp, working on a jig to help

 

[Leviblue]

Thank you, working on learning how to sharpen, and hopefully will progress.
Using the Worksharp, working on a jig to help

I started out with a workshop for sharpening turning tools. It's works ok. Bought the slow speed grinder and upgraded to the wheels to diamond coated. Bought the sharpening jig and haven't regretted it . The grinder with the jig does a great job on bowl gouges as well.

 

[bob vaughan]

Lathes come and go. Tools come and go. A good sharpening system - that's a keeper.

 

[iclark]

I started out with a workshop for sharpening turning tools. It's works ok. Bought the slow speed grinder and upgraded to the wheels to diamond coated. Bought the sharpening jig and haven't regretted it . The grinder with the jig does a great job on bowl gouges as well.

Lots of different approaches to sharpening. I have spent money on many of them. ;-) The WorkSharp is a lot easier to use for sharpening flat chisels and plane blades than it is for gouges (turning or carving). The slow speed 8" grinder with the Oneway sharpening jig system is what I keep going back to.

Do not bother getting their skew sharpening adapter. If you learn to use skews from Richard Raffin or Alan Lacer, then that skew attachment is worse than useless.

Unless you are only using carbide tools, you do NOT want diamond wheels. You want CBN wheels rated for the speed of your grinder.

Other than when doing peeling cuts, I have not experienced the pluck-out problem with skew cuts reported above. Maybe, I have just been lucky. It does seem like I got the same amount of pluck out from roughing gouges and skews when either of them were not as sharp as they should be.

Glenn Lucas reports that he added the Tormek water-cooled sharpening system with turning tool jigs to his classroom in addition to the 8" grinders. Once he worked out the set up for the jigs, the students used up less steel of the tools for each sharpening than when they used the 8" grinders. For most of us, though, the added cost of the Tormek system does not really break even for the tools to last longer. The exception, of course, is for the woodworkers who already own the Tormek for their flat work.

[curmudgeon] As you start out in turning, now is the time to learn to not stand with your head in the danger zone. Spindles are relatively forgiving when they shatter. Large bowls and vessels are not. If you wet sand or apply finish on the lathe and you get spatter on your faceshield, then you have your head in the danger zone. It has been years since one turner had his jaw broken and a woman died from head trauma from turnings that failed. That was a bad year. Let's keep such accidents in the past. [/curmudgeon]

 

[Leviblue]

Lots of different approaches to sharpening. I have spent money on many of them. ;-) The WorkSharp is a lot easier to use for sharpening flat chisels and plane blades than it is for gouges (turning or carving). The slow speed 8" grinder with the Oneway sharpening jig system is what I keep going back to.

Do not bother getting their skew sharpening adapter. If you learn to use skews from Richard Raffin or Alan Lacer, then that skew attachment is worse than useless.

Unless you are only using carbide tools, you do NOT want diamond wheels. You want CBN wheels rated for the speed of your grinder.

Other than when doing peeling cuts, I have not experienced the pluck-out problem with skew cuts reported above. Maybe, I have just been lucky. It does seem like I got the same amount of pluck out from roughing gouges and skews when either of them were not as sharp as they should be.

Glenn Lucas reports that he added the Tormek water-cooled sharpening system with turning tool jigs to his classroom in addition to the 8" grinders. Once he worked out the set up for the jigs, the students used up less steel of the tools for each sharpening than when they used the 8" grinders. For most of us, though, the added cost of the Tormek system does not really break even for the tools to last longer. The exception, of course, is for the woodworkers who already own the Tormek for their flat work.

[curmudgeon] As you start out in turning, now is the time to learn to not stand with your head in the danger zone. Spindles are relatively forgiving when they shatter. Large bowls and vessels are not. If you wet sand or apply finish on the lathe and you get spatter on your faceshield, then you have your head in the danger zone. It has been years since one turner had his jaw broken and a woman died from head trauma from turnings that failed. That was a bad year. Let's keep such accidents in the past. [/curmudgeon]

Your correct on the CBN wheels. I couldn't think of the name when I was responding. I agree about the One-way jig.

 

[Mike Davis]

I use a 600 grit CBN wheel for my turning tools. I think it will waste very little steel, the speed is reasonable, and the finish is fantastic.

 

[Ptofimpact]

I am forcing myself to learn how to free hand sharpen, black marker and patience, my thought is try to learn the old school way then move forward, hopefully. Again Thank you all for info and patience

 

[iclark]

I am forcing myself to learn how to free hand sharpen, black marker and patience, my thought is try to learn the old school way then move forward, hopefully. Again Thank you all for info and patience

For free hand sharpening, you get a lot of help from a good tool rest. Unfortunately the RoboRest is out of production. Reed Grey sold the rights, but the new owner does not seem to have any hurry putting it back in production.

The Lee Valley rest and the Oneway rest are both good quality. If you get a used Oneway more than a few years old, then you may find a hump in the table above the weld. A few minutes work with a smooth file to flatten the table works wonders. I think that they fixed that problem in the last few years.

 

[Mike Davis]

I am a huge proponent for hand sharpening and highly recommend it for chisels, knives, and plane irons. However, when it comes to turning gouges you can not get the consistency of the OneWay Wolverine jig. It changed the quality and joy of turning for me.

 

[iclark]

I am a huge proponent for hand sharpening and highly recommend it for chisels, knives, and plane irons. However, when it comes to turning gouges you can not get the consistency of the OneWay Wolverine jig. It changed the quality and joy of turning for me.

I absolutely agree if you like the fingernail (aka Irish) grind. I do.

There are several pro turners (Stuart Batty and Ashley Harwood, among others) who are advocating a 40-40 grind that is hard to do with a jig. They do it with a good tool rest and draw lines on the table to help them hit the yaw/azimuth angles that they want.

 

[Mike Davis]

I absolutely agree if you like the fingernail (aka Irish) grind. I do.

There are several pro turners (Stuart Batty and Ashley Harwood, among others) who are advocating a 40-40 grind that is hard to do with a jig. They do it with a good tool rest and draw lines on the table to help them hit the yaw/azimuth angles that they want.

40/40 grind is the reason I bought the Wolverine. I use RonBrown’s set up block.