This week ends WWing show sure put a hole in my checking account,
the largest single hole being for a JoolTool Sharpening System.

I'd seen this thing at the woodworking show a year or two ago and
dismissed it out of hand for two reasons - it looked like a toy and
the person demonstrating it looked like one of those pretty girls
who stand next to a new shiny swoopy looking car and points at it.

Dumb!

This time I watched her demonstration - rather than watching
her, and this time I listened to what she was saying. What
she said made a lot of sense. What she did with the tool was
the proof. She took my bowl gouge, with a hollow fingernail grind
the Tormek demonstator put on it, removed the hollow grind
while keeping the fingernail shape - and handed it back even
sharper and polished - inside and out - in maybe 45 seconds.

Now I'm somewhat of a sharpening nut, with a Tormek and most
of its accessories, a dry grinder with Norton wheels and the
Wolverine jig, a fair assortment of diamond plates, a collection
of india and arkansas stones ( I used to do hand engraving ),
a Scary Sharp (TM) set up (but haven't gone to the MicroMesh
12,000 grit level). a 1" belt sander AND FIVE japanese water-
stones - through and including 8000. No one method does it
all and the JoolTool is no exception.

But for many turning tools and carving tools this thing may
overcome THE major shortcoming of the other sharpening
methods I have - I can see WHAT I'm doing WHILE I'm doing it.
No more grind/rub - stop to see what I've just done
- adjust if necessary - grind/rub some more - stop and see
where I'm at - grind/rub some more - etc., etc. etc., . . .
and each stop oten means I've created a little faceting of the
bevel. When I'm done I strop the bevel, stop and see what I've
done, strop some more, stop and see what yI've done, . . . and
then repeat the process for the "inside/top side".

With this thing there's no jig set ups to deal with - once you've
got a shape that works for you (your preferred shape is probably
different from mine) IT becomes your guide and you're the jig.

Because of my jewelry making experience, I've learned how
to make my hands work together and with a tool. I imagine
ceramicists who throw on a wheel have learned the same
tricks (If you can get any part of one hand touching the other
they'll both work together rather than chasing each other.
If you can have some part of your body in constant contact
with some fixed reference point for a tool or machine, you
can position anything you're holding or touching with a
surprisingly high degree of accuracy and control).

I don't know how well the JoolTool will work for handplane
irons or wide bench chisels, but for many carving and turning
chisels and gouges - especialy the small carving tools, this
thing seems to be The Answer (ok so I could spend hours
with japanese slip stones - I've got them - but I'm somewhat
impatient).

Should have the JoolTool here by the end of the week. Will
post first impressions and then review it after I've used
it for a month or two.

Oh - if you see the pretty lady at the next woodworking show,
watch what she does with the JoolTool and listen to what she's
saying. Bring your most difficult to sharpen gouge or chisel with
you - and be prepared to crow bar open your wallet.

charlie b

after looking at the videos, I don't see why you have to have a $300 tool,
just a washing machine motor and one of those 3-M disks -


"charlie b" wrote in message
...
This week ends WWing show sure put a hole in my checking account,
the largest single hole being for a JoolTool Sharpening System.


big snip



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

William Noble wrote:

after looking at the videos, I don't see why you have to have a $300 tool,
just a washing machine motor and one of those 3-M disks -



Well let's see
- the 3-M "disk" screws onto a tapered threaded spindle
- you change disks two or three times if you start with
reshaping and end polishing
- the unit is variable speed - which you need depending
on the grit you're using - and don't want to burn the
tool you're working on
- the unit has a small footprint maybe 8" diameter
and two sheet rock screws are all that's required
to secure it to a surface.
- spindle is tilted at 15 degrees so you don't have to
lean over it to see what you're doing
:
:

charlie b

Why not put your hard earned money into a Tormek sharpener instead?

Hi charlie b, I don't know if the JoolTool will be the ultimate answer
to sharpening turning tools, but the concept is certainly innovative
and the inventor is said to be a woodturner. I wonder if she was the
attractive demonstrator.

I hope you aren't disappointed like I was as a twelve year old when I
bought a $1.00 wonder kitchen knife from a lady demonstrating them on
the street. I didn't know that those super thin slices were cut on
frozen tomatoes with a better knife.

At the moment, my main criticism is that I didn't think of it. Over the
years I had thought about ways to see thru faceplates etc. in the way we
can see the tool edge and judge wall thickness of a hollow form that has
holes in its side.

I'll be interested to see if your being able to see the surface being
ground freehand will take the place of jigs. Jigs are used in other
situations in which we can see the surface being dealt with.

Thanks for your interesting post. I look forward to your discussion and
evaluation of something different for a change.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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

Oh Boy! I meant a change from rcw's usual threads, not from your
threads.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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

* tapered threaded spindle - ok, I'll bet it's a standard taper, easily
machined for $30 or less by your friendly local machine shop

* vairable speed - well, a washing machine motor isn't, but a small AC/DC
motor would be - I have a box of them - your foredom type tool has one, the
cheap harbor frieght you name it tool has one...

* small footprint - 8 inches is actually a pretty big footprint - my diamond
disk rock polisher uses a 1/3 hp washing machine motor and it's 8 inches
square in footprint, the only cost beyond the diamond disks was about 5
cents worth of glue and some time to salvage the motor from whatever I took
it off

*secure with two sheet rock screws - aaah, why is that a feature?

* 15 degree tilt - ok, so tilt the junk motor any way that floats your
boat - why is that hard?


my point here is not to insult your jool tool (or anyone else's jool tool,
or the company, or anyone or any thing) - it may well be wonderful and at
least as good as sliced bread (whcih by the way anyone can create with an
inexpensive tool called a "knife") - my point was to suggest to those
amongst us that might have to think hard about $300 that there might be ways
of getting the same capability at a lot less cost by using some personal
time to manufacture something like they are trying to sell you. And no, I
won't be buying or making one - I don't think I like that system from
watching the video - but then again, that's just me. YMMV. My real point
is that we can make a lot more of the stuff we use, and we probably should.




"charlie b" wrote in message
...
William Noble wrote:

after looking at the videos, I don't see why you have to have a $300
tool,
just a washing machine motor and one of those 3-M disks -



Well let's see
- the 3-M "disk" screws onto a tapered threaded spindle
- you change disks two or three times if you start with
reshaping and end polishing
- the unit is variable speed - which you need depending
on the grit you're using - and don't want to burn the
tool you're working on
- the unit has a small footprint maybe 8" diameter
and two sheet rock screws are all that's required
to secure it to a surface.
- spindle is tilted at 15 degrees so you don't have to
lean over it to see what you're doing
:
:

charlie b



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Tom wrote:

Why not put your hard earned money into a Tormek sharpener instead?

Have one - and most of the jigs, along with a 6" grinder with Norton
wheels
and the Wolverine jig, DMT diamond plates, arkansas stones, india
stones,
japanese water stones, an assortment of slip stones, 1" belt sander
and
a Scary Sharp (tm) set up. Each does a few things the others don't.
The
JoolTool fills in a gap - small carving tools, sweeps and some
turning tools.

Was going to add onto my mini/midi lathe bench for the Tormek but the
JoolTool will be my edge restorer instead. Smaller foot print, no
water,
no jigs or jig set up, all the stuff for it will fit in a small box
or drawer.
If it's fast and easy to restore and edge I figure I'll do it more
often
rather than continuing to use the tool well after the sharp edge is
gone.

The Tormek is great for fixing a dinged bench chisel or plane iron
without fear of burning the edge.

The japanese water stones are great for flattening the back of a
plane
iron or bench chisel, as are the diamond plates and Scary Sharp.

Scary Sharp works well for "fettling" (I think that's the spelling)
metal
hand planes and for getting a REALLY sharp edge on a bench chisel.
Not
so good on curved edge tools like carving and turning tools.


William Noble wrote:

my point here is not to insult your jool tool (or anyone else's jool tool,
or the company, or anyone or any thing) - it may well be wonderful and at
least as good as sliced bread (whcih by the way anyone can create with an
inexpensive tool called a "knife") - my point was to suggest to those
amongst us that might have to think hard about $300 that there might be ways
of getting the same capability at a lot less cost by using some personal
time to manufacture something like they are trying to sell you. And no, I
won't be buying or making one - I don't think I like that system from
watching the video - but then again, that's just me. YMMV. My real point
is that we can make a lot more of the stuff we use, and we probably should.


You pay either in time and effort or in dollars. Inventing things
and
coming up with a DIY version of something you can buy is fun, but
often time consuming. I spent probably 10 or more hours making
a loose tenon jig that lets you cut mortises with a plunge router.
It did the job but took more time and wasn't as easy to set up
and use as the TREND Mortise & Tenon Jig. At $25 an hour it
was a toss up between making the DIY jig and the TREND. When
it came time to do a boatload of loose tenon joints the TREND
came out ahead in terms of time saved. I'd rather spend time
making a piece of furniture, or turning a box, plate, bowl or
"hollow form" than making or setting up a jig or machine. But
that's my preference.

Arch wrote:

I don't know if the JoolTool will be the ultimate answer
to sharpening turning tools, but the concept is certainly innovative
and the inventor is said to be a woodturner. I wonder if she was the
attractive demonstrator.

"Utlimate" - no way. Convenient for restoring an edge on most
turning tools? We'll see.

Innovative? Well this type of machine has been available to
jewelers for quite a while. Adapting it for sharpening wood
working tools isn't that big a leap - if you were a jeweler first.

The pretty lady who does the demonstrations was a jewelry
maker and is a turner. She and her husband came up with
the JoolTool.

Will report back on this thing after I've used it for a couple
of months and given it a workout.

charlie b