Sharpening Lathe Chisels With the Wolverine System

[RobertTaylor]

I had this in a response to Ed's question on the Wolverine mini platform and decided that it was really not in line with his question. So I started this thread. Trying to understand when the leg of the varigrind jig is up or down was driving me nutty(er). I was wrong every time that I set up the jig for my bowl gouges. I have half a dozen screwed up grinds that I am finally getting "useable". What is working for me are the "Raptor" setup gages from Craft Supplies. Set the angle of the varigrind jig at 23 degrees(they include a template) and do NOT move it. You can use that setting for both spindle and bowl gouges by setting the distance of the arm with the Raptor gage of the corresponding angle the you desire. Bob

[reible]

They looked like a good time saver so I got them too. I'd rather not mess things up here at the start so I figured anything that makes it more fool proof would be welcome.

I go the whole set of them, just a little cheaper that way.

Here is the link to them and a short video on their use:

https://www.woodturnerscatalog.com/p/95 ... t-Up-Tools

Ed

[Hobbyman2]

is there a reason you want such a aggressive action on a chisel ?

Have you seen the paper wheels ?


Or do you have a polishing stone on the grinder/

I have had my eye on the workshop system , not sure how well they work .

[Hobbyman2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWfkD8FBIbI

[roy_okc]

@Hobbyman2,

I've had a Worksharp 3000 and a separate Worksharp knife sharpener (not the add on to the 3000) for a couple years, like them both.

The 3000 has been great for chisels. I'd tried a couple other methods to include 'scary sharp' on a granite block with a cheap guide, which worked well but I found out that the guide had put a sideways angle on a couple of the chisels. It took a bit of time on the coarsest grit to get the chisels back to being square sideways and the angle set, maybe a few minutes each, but then a few 10s of seconds for each chisel through each finer grit. I literally spent more time flipping/swapping/cleaning off the discs than I did working on three chisels after I got them in basic shape. I more recently bought some old hand planes, have worked on one iron, but similar story in that it was way off kilter and took a bit to get it square again, but then fairly quick through each subsequent grit. I've not yet used the 'see through' disc, nor done any work from the top other than to flatten the backs and removed burrs. Also have not yet bought any add-on accessories.

At one point, I was thinking of getting some of the accessories for the 3000 to mount the Tormach-type tools and use that for grinding lathe chisels. After being in a class led by Alan Lacer, he convinced me that grinding wheels and a slip stone were the way to go; use the wheels, ideally 8" so as to not cut too sharp a concave into the face, to get a decent edge on the tool, finish off with the slip stone (he sells a diamond hone/slip stone--expensive but should last a lifetime) where you're only touching the edge and heal due to the concave, meaning hardly any metal removed making it quick and easy, touch up as needed with the slip stone often to keep a nice edge and only occasionally back to the grinder. This method means removing less chisel material compared to using a grinder or sanding disc/belt to always sharpen and touch up. It is also faster to touch up as you can do it with just a few strokes of the hone while leaving the lathe running if you want and are safe about it. I'm probably going to pick up a slow speed 1 HP Rikon grinder from Woodcraft this weekend (15% off Rikon tools through the 20th) and slowly fit it out with a Wolverine or similar setup and one or two CBN wheels (Lacer recommends a 180 grit CBN for finishing, also likely a lifetime purchase, but was at that time using a Norton 3X coarse wheel--maybe 60 grit--for heavy reshaping).

The knife sharpener makes quick and easy work of taking even the dullest knives and bringing them to at least near-razor sharp. Again, the first time I spent more time on the coarsest belt to get a pile of knives initially shaped, but then quickly worked through the finer belts. Some purists may not like the resulting convex edge and argue that it isn't as sharp as a flat or concave edge, probably true, but for me sharpening a mishmash collection of typical non-premium home kitchen knives the speed and ease to go through a dozen or so knives once every few months makes me not care about what others say or do as I get a sharp enough blade.

[reible]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWfkD8FBIbI

I'm sure that is a nice system but I'm not sure we are talking apple and apples here.

The wolverine system allows for grinding a controlled fingernail edge on bowl gouges. For us less experienced people buying a system to do this has its advantages. Since it easy to spend $100 for such a lathe tool you sure don't want to grind it away in wasteful ways.

My new D-way Tools gouge arrived into days mail. Now This is my first experience with M42 steel and with fingernail grind tools. I've been on the path for a while now and slowly picking up what I think I need to get it done.

For those of you not familiar with the sharpening concept check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j__h45sQErg

I'm hoping it warms up soon as I'd like to get on with a bunch of things and finishing up a grinding station will be one of the first of them.

Ed

[Hobbyman2]

Thanks that makes more sense , I couldn't imagine grinding on a chisel every time to sharpen it?