Sharpening a Bowl Gouge with Strip Sander

[jayhawk]

I recently bought a bowl gouge and would like to sharpen it with my strip sander w/chisel sharpening attachment. I can put a nice edge on my standard set of Shopsmith chisels but the new bowl gouge has a fingernail grind that I haven't figured out how to sharpen correctly. Has anyone made a jig or fixture for the strip sander for this purpose? Thanks for the help.

[JPG]

I do not think this answers your question, but it does contain some useful information.
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=4748&highlight=fingernail

See #6

[jayhawk]

Thanks. I found a lot of info on sharpening the bowl gouge with a grinding wheel but I don't have that setup. I made a pivoting chisel holder similar to one I saw in several videos using grinding wheels and nearly got it to work on the strip sander. The problem I'm having is the chisel sharpening attachment bar gets in the way on the swing to the right. I was hoping that someone on this forum had found a method using the strip sander. I still have a couple more ideas up my sleeve.

[moose]

Jay! Do you by any chance have the finger nail grind attachment from Wolverine or another manufacturer? If so, go to the craft store and buy a 2 inch wood ball, drill a hole in it big enough to place the south end of the jig into then place this into the cup of the SS attachment. It works fine for me and I do not hit the bar on the right hand swing. Sorry I can't provide a picture as my camera is not digital.

[jayhawk]

Ashbury, I made a jig similar to the Wolverine that I can add a ball to. I have a few questions: What angle to you set the chisel sharpening attachment and at what position to you set the cup? How much of the chisel tip extends out the front of the jig? Thanks so much!

[jayhawk]

Here is my solution for putting a fingernail grind on my new bowl gouge using the Shopsmith strip sander. I made it out of scrap and stuff I had on hand. I made the jig using a 1-3/4" square chunk of 7/8" maple for the jig head, a 6-1/2" piece of 3/8" dowel and a 1" wooden ball. I drilled a 13/32" hole through the jig head that made a nice fit for the 3/8" gouge. I drilled and inserted the dowel into the maple jig head at a 45 degree angle and then mounted the ball on the other end of the dowel (Thanks to Ashbury for that idea). I drilled and tapped a hole for a set screw that tightens from the side of the gouge. To sharpen the gouge, I inserted it into the jig and tightened the set screw leaving 2" of the gouge extending beyond the face of the jig. For the initial grind I used an 80 grit ceramic belt on the strip sander. I adjusted the angle of the sharpening attachment and the location of the cup until I obtained the grind angle I wanted. It fell at 65 degrees on the attachment indicator. The gouge had to be sharpened at the top of the strip sander platen in order to clear the sharpening attachment when swinging to the right. I placed the ball end of the jig into the cup of the sharpening attachment, turned on the strip sander and rolled the tip of the chisel from side to side against the belt. After shaping the gouge to the new fingernail grind with the course grit belt, I progressed up through finer grit belts to get a very sharp cutting edge. (The photos are after a 120 grit belt.) I can now duplicate a very nice edge on my new bowl gouge and get smooth cuts on end grain without the catches I was getting using the spindle gouge. If I get other sizes of bowl gouges I will make a jig for each. I hope I was clear enough in my description and that it will be helpful to other members of this forum.

[peterm]

Thank you for the description and photos, just terrific and will save me lots of time trying to come up with a similar method!