rich wrote:
Hi, All.

Got a new lathe, HSS tools, a recommended book, and no experience with
a lathe. I sharpened the gouges on a low speed grinder to same approx
angle as they came from the factory, then buffed on a cloth wheel.
They seemed sharp at first, but dulled quickly as compared to planes
and chisels, or so it seemed.

Do I need to resharpen that often??? Or can I just buff before each
use, then the grinder every once in a while?

Yup. With a chisel or plane you may take off tens of feet of wood a
minute. A lathe tool may take off hundreds or thousands. Don't think
in terms of time when sharping, think of lineal feet of wood cut. A 14"
bowl has a circumference just shy of 44". At 600 rpm you're cutting
2,200' per minute. When's the last time you planed that much wood w/o
sharpening?

Most experienced turners probably hit the sharpener every few minutes.
John Jordan recommends sharpening before you're acutely aware you need
to. If you're noticing significant dulling you've waited too long.

I haven't tried buffing my tools between grinding. That may work well,
but you'll have to be very careful not to round over the cutting edge.


Also, do I set the tool rest at the height such that the cutting edge
of the tool is at the centerline of the wood? So much to learn!

Yes, that's a good spot to set it in general. It's not rocket science -
doesn't have to be exact...

....Kevin
--
Kevin Miller
Juneau, Alaska
http://www.alaska.net/~atftb
In a recent poll, seven out of ten hard drives preferred Linux.