In article ,
Mac Davis wrote:

On Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:24:44 -0400, Gerald Ross
wrote:
snip
A minority dissent:

I have been turning for about 10 years, mainly bowls. I own three
"grinders" but have never used one for sharpening turning tools. I
use a 1" belt sander with a blue zirconia belt with the small sanding
rest set at the angle I use. Has always worked great for me.
Incidentally, no lessons either. Maybe that is the reason I do things
differently.

I use a 1" x 40something" belt grinder for scrapers.. Works really
well with the table at a negative angle and the scrapers sharpened
"upside down"...
I use a low speed grinder with the funky white wheel for gouges with
the EZgrind jig...

OTOH, I use mostly carbide tools now so my bowl gouges last a LOT
longer..

The hot ticket at the NH guild meeting more than a few years back was a
cheap 4x36" bench belt sander, rearranged in some way (ie, bolted to a
wall was one method - messing with the drive was another) so the belt
was running "uphill" with Al/Zn belt - jig or not jig as you like it or
depending what you were sharpening. The usual sorts of fingernail jigs
worked fine on it. Rub the burr off with a bit of leather and go. Being
a belt sander, no heat build up to speak of, and a flat grind.

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