Lathe Chisel Sharpening Guide

[charlese]

[quote="JPG40504"]Sure about that? Quill side maybe!]

Thanks, Red! Whoops!!!!:o On the axillary side, the Strip sander has to run in reverse. Or as you say, on the quill side the belt will run upward, but that would interfere with lathe operations.

I've edited my error.

[JPG]

Thanks, Red! Whoops!!!!:o On the axillary side, the Strip sander has to run in reverse. Or as you say, on the quill side the belt will run upward, but that would interfere with lathe operations.

I've edited my error.

Details, details, details!:D

[robinson46176]

When I had a sharpening wing to the company much of my customer interface time was spent trying to convince them that they didn't really want me to grind the bee-jeebers out of their sharpening job. I still do a little sharpening work for a few folks and still work at trying to make them understand that "over grinding" will not automatically make the tool better. Every type of cutting edge tends to have different needs.
In my case over the years I sharpened thousands and thousands of pairs of scissors and pinking shears. Also thousands of chainsaw chains. With the scissors the edge need to be totally nick free or they snag. On chainsaw chains on the other hand you do not want to grind the whole chain to the full depth of the worst nicked tooth. You want to do a light uniform grind of all of the teeth and sneak up on those few badly nicked teeth over several sharpenings. When a customer insisted on a chain being ground to a totally nick free condition the life span was usually cut by a factor of about 10.
I have a mower blade customer that insists on having every single nick totally ground out of the blades. This is a very large commercial zero turn mower just used on their business lot that gets nicked a lot in use. They buy very expensive blades with hard faced cutting edges. They waste a fortune in replacing blades mostly to cut gravel lots full of weeds. I long ago quit trying to convince them that I could save them a fortune by grinding for "optimal" cutting.
On stuff like lathe tools etc. I am big on grinding occasionally and lightly touching them up often rather than constantly grinding the bee-jeebers out of them.
I have long had a Foley Belsaw 1"X 42" abrasive belt grinder and absolutely love it for many misc. tool sharpening jobs. I have had a Belsaw chainsaw grinder since the mid 1970's and it has paid for itself a half a zillion times. I forget the brand name of the scissor machine but I bought it when we first opened the store in 1974 and it paid for itself in 30 days.


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[michaeltoc]

I have one of these but have used it very little because I do very little turning.

Same here. I never drilled the extension table, only used it on the main table. I think SS suggests the extension table because of the disc rotation - in the picture, the sparks fly away from the tool. I'm no sharpening expert, so I don't know if that is better, but I had no problems with the disc spinning towards the edge. With the PowerPro, we can reverse rotation, so it is not necessary to mount on the extension table (unless you are using a dual setup).

So the real question becomes - which rotation is better for sharpening?

[damagi]

Same here. I never drilled the extension table, only used it on the main table. I think SS suggests the extension table because of the disc rotation - in the picture, the sparks fly away from the tool. I'm no sharpening expert, so I don't know if that is better, but I had no problems with the disc spinning towards the edge. With the PowerPro, we can reverse rotation, so it is not necessary to mount on the extension table (unless you are using a dual setup).

So the real question becomes - which rotation is better for sharpening?

eh? the extension table config is the same as the main table config in terms of direction. the dual config is the main reason to use the extension table

[JPG]

eh? the extension table config is the same as the main table config in terms of direction. the dual config is the main reason to use the extension table

Nope! Tain't so!

Yes the aux configuration does eliminate the need to dismount lathe work.

When the disk is mounted on the quill, the top of the disk rotates right to left(CCW). When on the opposite end, the top rotates left to right(CW).

IMHO it is best for the abrasive to be moving same as the strip sander when running in 'reverse' (From back of tool towards edge). Less chance of the edge biting into the abrasive. . . Debris just removed from the edge is not being forced back towards the rest of the tool. That may also decrease heat buildup at the edge.

P.S. If the aux table is mounted on the tailstock end, the rotation direction is the same as using the main table.

[charlese]

For a little change in discussion - when using the Shopsmith Sharpening guide, rather than drilling holes in any table, I mount it on the BELT SANDER. Using the belt sander it is possible to grind lathe tools the same as with the disk sander. Advantage is, it is used on the axillary side of the headstock. In PTWFE a picture of using the belt sander is shown.

For stropping any hand tool, I prefer the strip sander equiped with a leather belt (no sand paper). Haven't needed to grind unless wanting to change the cutting angle.

[JPG]

For a little change in discussion - when using the Shopsmith Sharpening guide, rather than drilling holes in any table, I mount it on the BELT SANDER. Using the belt sander it is possible to grind lathe tools the same as with the disk sander. Advantage is, it is used on the axillary side of the headstock. In PTWFE a picture of using the belt sander is shown.

For stropping any hand tool, I prefer the strip sander equiped with a leather belt (no sand paper). Haven't needed to grind unless wanting to change the cutting angle.

Variable length coupler?;)