So, my journey down learning-to-turn is still fun. Sharpening has been
kinda ... variable would be kind. I was having some odd catches with the
spindle gouge (haven't tried bowls yet) and a close examination of the
edge proved to show it a disaster. I decided that free-hand sharpening
was a lovely goal but I need to learn one thing at a time. Alas, money
is short, beside I have resolved to quit buying gadgets and Sorby's
comes in at C$115 or so. Off to search for jig plans. Ah, still one of
my favorite newbie resources, Mr. Feltmate has a page on his jig:

http://www.aroundthewoods.com/sharp.shtml

Now, I will admit that "plans" is used loosely here, but still, it look
so simple compared to some others I found, and highly functional. So I
built one:

Basic station:
http://homepage.mac.com/paulkierstead/tmp/station.jpg

Anchored using 1/4-20 inserts in the table top, off-set holder to work
around issues with this grinder wheel.

I first put it to use on a roughing gouge; results:
http://homepage.mac.com/paulkierstea...ughing_tip.jpg

Worked pretty well; *Very* even grind. Mind you, the roughing gouge was
not in that hard of shape. Still, impressively easy to use.

Next up was to do a spindle gouge, a much more complex grind. First of,
gotta make a holder:

http://homepage.mac.com/paulkierstead/tmp/holder.jpg

And then the results:
http://homepage.mac.com/paulkierstea...pindle_tip.jpg

Marvy stuff; ok, totally awesome result.

Some lessons learned:
- Those white fine grit wheels really suck for removing a lot of HSS
steel. I wore a groove in it in record time. Grinding out the spindle
gouge required re-truing the wheel 3 times, and I am not talking about
being picky here; we are talking major tracks in the wheel. One of these
days I have to get a real grinder with a hard coarse wheel on one side.

- you don't need intricate plans. this was one of my most ad-hoc things
I have done and has been a hard lesson for me: Just do it!

- Home-made jigs do not have to be second class; this works amazingly
well.

- If I can smack this togather out of some shop scraps, anyone can!

PK