Sharpening guide

[dannyshamoon]

Now that I've got several fired up on the Grizzly keyless drill chuck I'll start another dumb question. I just got the SS sharpening guide since I now plan to do more turning. The manual talks about using the auxiliary table to sharpen the lathe tools and the worktable to sharpen bench chisels and shaper cutters. Is this correct? I thought I saw a video on how to sharpen and it looked like the guide wasa mounted to the worktable. Need some help here PLEASE.
THANKS
Danny

[dusty]

It can be done either way. In my opinion, neither was is better than the other; however, I have mine mounted on a board that I clamp to the auxiliary table. I don't know why other than maybe it was suggested during Sawdust Sessions years ago.

Having said that, I suggest that you wait to hear from a couple of the avid turners before yo decide. I turn on occasion (when I NEED TOO).

[thunderbirdbat]

From what I remember it was up to the end user on what they preferred to use. Mounting it to the auxiliary table required drilling holes in the table if I remember correctly. However, the use of the auxiliary table allows the piece being turned to still be mounted on the quill while sharpening the lathe tools. I have also seen it used on the belt sander .

[wa2crk]

OK I will chime in here. I did not like the sharpening guide and I still don't like it for lathe chisels. I think that Woodcraft still has the Rikon low speed grinder for sale at $99.00 for the rest of Feb. Combine that grinder with the One Way jig system and In my opinion you have the optimum sharpening system for lathe chisels. The grinder leaves a slight concave bevel on the chisel which enables you to use a credit card size honing plate to refine the edge when sharpening.This saves a lot of grinding and removes less of that very expensive high speed steel.
I have spent a lot of money over the years trying different designs of sharpening systems before I settled on this system. I have not tried the Tormek although I still have a similar system from Grizzly that I don't use.
If you know a turner ask them what system they use as a guide for sharpening their chisels. If they do it freehand they have been at it for a long time. But I don't have time to spend a lifetime learning to sharpen. I am 76.
I am not trying to tell you what to use, I am trying to save you a few bucks.
Bill V

[reible]

I got this system when it first came out. I wasn't so into turning but wanted something that was simple and effective. It does work but there are a few things that I learned along the way.

First you will want a sanding disk dedicated to this jig. The obvious should I guess be stated, do not use the Velcro system.

You can use the lower guard dust collection for gathering the crud but not attached to a vacuum and you have to make sure there is no saw dust collection to catch on fire remaining in the guard. This only works on the front side of the power head and you still will want to cover the tubes to keep them clean.

On this system the lathe chisels are done on the back side of the head stock so you will have to make your own system for collecting the grit. I've used a piece of thin plywood for this. It only collects some of it.

Since you need support for the lathe tool sharpening they mention drilling the fixed table. I didn't want to do that so I went with the plywood mount, 3/4" thick works well for this. I then figured out where it mounted and drilled so I could use location dowels at the front and side. The dowels are a tight fit but they can be tapped flush if I want to use the jig else where, ie a 500 verses a 520 table system. Using the dowel for location still requires you to clamp the jig in place but you don't have to drill the top which is a plus. I've posted pictures somewhere here of this but can not find them now.

You do not want to sharpen lathe chisels any place but the back side. To quote the shopsmith information:

"Warning: To sharpen lathe chisels, mount the sharpening guide to the extension table only. Mounting the guide to the work-table may cause the cutting edge of the chisel to dig into the abrasive and the tool be thrown from your hands."

With that warning I have never attempted to to do anything other then they say. Safety first.

If you have the guide you need to read and understand the manual. If you don't have the manual get one.

Now some of the conclusions of my use. Unless you have two shopsmiths, one for turning and one for sharpening you are probably not going to be happy with this system. While turning you will learn that the edges stay only so long and then even with honing you have to touch them up. Problem is that unless you get very lucky you will have to un-mount the work piece to use the jig. Once unmounted for some reason work pieces lose center, only a little but you still need to redo getting them round again...... yes you might be faceplate or chuck turning and get away without having to remove the work piece but it seemed like a lot of effort even then to have to slide things around to accommodate the jig. Then after sharpening you really need to clean up the tubes even if covered during the sharpening, this amounts to wasted time from do the thing you want to do, that being turning.

BTW this can be said for the option of having the strip sander with the sharpening attachment on it or for that mater the belt sander, they need to be mounted and used on the far end causing the same issues.

Shopsmith also sells an attachment to the strip sander and while it has the same mounting issues I like to better for the job it does and the selection of belts that let you work through a series of grits to get to a point you want. That's a whole other story but I wanted to mention it.

Despite the advantage of saving space the jig is a bit lacking it usefulness. You may find you will want a grinder at some point (and not the shopsmith attachment with small wheels). Getting one with 8" wheels and either two speed or variable speed is pretty appealing. The cost will add up when you replace the grinding wheels with better ones and then add a grinding system. You can easily spend several hundreds of dollars on these other system, I know I have.

But after having said all this the jig has one redeeming value. That being a low cost option to get someone started. Lathe chisels (for the most part) don't come sharpened so job one is to put an edge on them before you can do anything else. New to turning who knows if you will like to be a turner???? Why spend a lot of money on a sharpening system only to find you are not interested in turning? So you have a decent set of shopsmith lathe tools and this sharpener to get you started, you can go where you wish after that.

Ed

[algale]

I blame myself but, try as I might, I could never get good results on the gouges with that sharpening jig and a sanding disk. All I managed to do was make my gouges shorter as I screwed up the grind and tried to re-work them. It got so bad I jokingly referred to it as the Shopsmith "Chisel Shortening System." It worked somewhat better on the skew but I couldn't get it really sharp using the available grits.

A couple of years ago I acquired a used Shopsmith strip sander with the chisel sharpening attachment that reible mentions and it has worked perfectly for me every time and gets things really sharp when you work through the grits.

[ChrisNeilan]

OK I will chime in here. I did not like the sharpening guide and I still don't like it for lathe chisels. I think that Woodcraft still has the Rikon low speed grinder for sale at $99.00 for the rest of Feb. Combine that grinder with the One Way jig system and In my opinion you have the optimum sharpening system for lathe chisels. The grinder leaves a slight concave bevel on the chisel which enables you to use a credit card size honing plate to refine the edge when sharpening.This saves a lot of grinding and removes less of that very expensive high speed steel.
I have spent a lot of money over the years trying different designs of sharpening systems before I settled on this system. I have not tried the Tormek although I still have a similar system from Grizzly that I don't use.
If you know a turner ask them what system they use as a guide for sharpening their chisels. If they do it freehand they have been at it for a long time. But I don't have time to spend a lifetime learning to sharpen. I am 76.
I am not trying to tell you what to use, I am trying to save you a few bucks.
Bill V

Could not have said it better! Get a low speed grinder and the Oneway Wolverine jig and you will be very happy!

[Awake]

"Warning: To sharpen lathe chisels, mount the sharpening guide to the extension table only. Mounting the guide to the work-table may cause the cutting edge of the chisel to dig into the abrasive and the tool be thrown from your hands."

Dumb question here, but on a mark 7 couldn't you run the sanding disk in reverse and safely use the jig with the main table? Or am I misunderstanding the purpose of using the extension table?

[JPG]

'Dumber' question - why does it matter which table it is mounted on?

I be assuming disk on quill.

[jsburger]

"Warning: To sharpen lathe chisels, mount the sharpening guide to the extension table only. Mounting the guide to the work-table may cause the cutting edge of the chisel to dig into the abrasive and the tool be thrown from your hands."

Dumb question here, but on a mark 7 couldn't you run the sanding disk in reverse and safely use the jig with the main table? Or am I misunderstanding the purpose of using the extension table?

First, SS must have changed their opinion on the warning. The manual apparently has changed. My manual has a copyright date of 1986 and a revision date of July 1999. That warning is not in the revised manual.

The manual does still say to sharpen lathe tools on the left side. It also says to sharpen bench chisels on the right side. So my question is what is the difference between a bench chisel and a lathe tool vis-a-vis the warning? Maybe SS didn't want to rewrite the complete manual so they just removed the Warning.

In both of Doug Reid's videos on sharpening lathe tools he uses the right side for everything except the round nose scraper.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkT5y-2ie94

I use the sharpening guide on the right side with no problems.