Keith & Lynn,
You have gotten some good advice and I can add little so naturally I'll
add a lot. Some random mouthings about what I think I know about
sharpening turning tools on a grinding _wheel. I leave belts, to others.
All is opinion, believe what you will, take what you want or take
nothing.

There is no mutual exclusion between free hand and jigging. Most of us
use both. Why impose limits when you consider cost, convenience,
consistency, ease of use, portability etc. I take freehand to mean
resting the tool on a platform like on a lathe's toolrest, not 'waving'
a totally unsupported tool.

Being timid, uncertain or hamfisted is not the same as a gentle yet
confident approach whether it be in sharpening or turning or surgery or
most anything else. Whether you jig or freehand, don't jiggle or slam.
"Assume the mantle if you have it not" will get you there sooner than if
you use excessive caution.

When turning or sharpening, your elbows are not chicken wings to be
flapped, keep them in by your sides. To learn a lot from your mistakes,
you have to make a lot of mistakes. Learning to sharpen either by jig or
by freehand requires practice and using up cheap tools is not a waste of
steel. Don't assume a new tool or a tool in use is as sharp as it can
be or needs to be; resharpen it to see and be sure.

Grind the bevel, not the edge and when _tiny sparks start coming over
the top of the entire edge, it _will be sharp with a smooth bevel behind
it. Rotate, twist, or push the bevel up on the wheel and lift the
handle; whatever it takes to keep all of a tool's bevel touching the
wheel and perpendicular to it. Remember that it takes two to tango and
two bevels to make an edge. In sharpening as in dancing the distaff side
is as important as the spear side.

Grind the tool's profile before starting to grind the bevel. To get the
bevel angle desired, view the bevel-stone interface from the side not
the front. You are wielding the same tools so you need the same free
space around the grinder's tool rest as around the lathe's and that
includes a comfortable height and cleared floor. A pretty bevel is like
a pretty face, nice to look at, but what's important is how it's used.
There is so much variation in tools, woods, turning speeds, approach
angles, toolrest positions, etc. that precisely identical bevels are
just one concern among many.

Practice and lots of it will cure the exaggerated fears and problems of
both sharpening and skewing. The 'grinder's sway' like the 'turner's
sway'" with the tool locked against your body is often helpful. Shaping
and dressing a grinding wheel are not the same, but both need to be done
often.

Like a broken old '78 record I repeat, "There are no 'always' or
'nevers' in woodturning and there is no rule book.
Do what works for you and that includes using a Wolverine with a belt
sander.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter



http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings