There's grinding, which reshapes your tool, sharpening, which creates an
edge, and honing, which refines what a lot of turners consider a "good
enough."

Belt sanders can handle all three, with appropriate belts, but are not kind
to carbon steels found in chisels, planes and so forth. High speed grinders
suffer from a bit of the same problem. A coarse wheel and a careless hand
can take a big chunk off of a chisel quickly. Some tradeoff is possible
with the "friable" soft bond grinding wheels, where the wheel disappears
faster than the steel.

So, if you're going to have just one to do everything, I think it's tough to
beat a low-speed setup, which grinds your mower blades with cheap stones,
your plane irons and turning tools with more expensive, but still not
ridiculously soft, and your carving tools with the softest. You can have
both speeds if you get a good mandrel and two pulleys for your motor, but
I'm betting you'll stick with slow. Wet or dry? If you think having water
around in the shop all the time is fine, get one. I don't, but I still hone
my flat edges on the Makita, which does a superb job. Just remember to
drain it before you spill it.

As far as jigs go, they give you a repeatable grind, which, if you like to
tailor your turning style to your tools, is fine. I have a large number of
tools acquired over the years, and they are ground at many angles which
allow me many options in the way I cut. The jig is the bevel, which I
sharpen as if I were turning, laying the tool on the rest, the heel on the
slow stone, and moving the handle until contact is made on the entire bevel,
then following it as if I were taking a cut on the lathe.

I don't normally hone turning tools, but when I do, it's with diamond
slips/stones which can be used dry.

"Mike Rinken" wrote in message
news:LhO3d.473885$%_6.207928@attbi_s01...

Basically I need to sharpen my turning tools. I've been turning for a
week
now and needless to say I'm hooked. I'm making plans to create all of my
Christmas gifts on the lathe, but I know I'll be doing a lot of sharpening
as well.

So the question becomes, what do I get? A horizontal wet stone, a bench
grinder, a slow speed grinder, jigs to hold the tools (I think this is a
must). I had a guy at the local woodcraft recommend a 1" belt sander with
fine belts. Really? I talked to him about the various choices but he
wasn't much help. I do know I'll need to get some different wheels of
varying grit.

I do all kinds of woodworking, I'd prefer something I can sharpen my
chisels
and jointer knives on as well.