Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood. So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

What am I missing here?

Vic

--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't

On Mon, 3 Oct 2011 19:33:49 -0700, "Vic Baron"
wrote:

Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood. So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

Not if you're only roughcutting to shape, then finishing up with
really sharp tools. Some people think sandpaper is the only way to a
nice finish on a turned piece. shrug sigh


What am I missing here?

The fact that those authors you cite know nothing about writing,
carving/cutting wood, or sharpening tools. Keep Scaryin', Vic.

P.S: Either that or the authors don't mention that they use a much
finer wheel on their grinders.

--
Worry is a misuse of imagination.
-- Dan Zadra

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 3 Oct 2011 19:33:49 -0700, "Vic Baron"
wrote:

Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get
back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the
tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my
wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood.
So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

Not if you're only roughcutting to shape, then finishing up with
really sharp tools. Some people think sandpaper is the only way to a
nice finish on a turned piece. shrug sigh


What am I missing here?

The fact that those authors you cite know nothing about writing,
carving/cutting wood, or sharpening tools. Keep Scaryin', Vic.

P.S: Either that or the authors don't mention that they use a much
finer wheel on their grinders.

OK, that makes more sense! I figure if you're cutting something, you will
always get a better result if your tools are sharp. Even a scraper is sharp,
in a way.

Vic Baron wrote:
Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood. So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

What am I missing here?

Vic

It depends. If you are turning some types of wood--pecan bowls, for
instance--the edge will be dull in less than 10 minutes. So why spend
10 minutes scary sharpening, honing, stropping, polishing and checking
nose hairs when it will make no difference 8 minutes later? If you
enjoy sharpening, that's fine. If you'd rather make shavings give it
a shot on a wheel or belt sander and back to the lathe.

There are always exceptions. Finish turning or turning tiny objects,
may require a nicer edge.

--
Gerald Ross

What's a nice girl like you doing in a
dirty mind like mine?

"Gerald Ross" wrote in message
...
Vic Baron wrote:
Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get
back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the
tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my
wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening,
I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood.
So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

What am I missing here?

Vic

It depends. If you are turning some types of wood--pecan bowls, for
instance--the edge will be dull in less than 10 minutes. So why spend 10
minutes scary sharpening, honing, stropping, polishing and checking nose
hairs when it will make no difference 8 minutes later? If you enjoy
sharpening, that's fine. If you'd rather make shavings give it a shot on
a wheel or belt sander and back to the lathe.

There are always exceptions. Finish turning or turning tiny objects, may
require a nicer edge.


OK, now that makes sense also. So it really boils down to an individual
thing depending on what is being turned, wood type etc.

I can live with that - learn and adjust as I go. Right now I'm just
practicing on some oak and redwood cutoffs I had lying around. Seemed like
the softer wood liked it sharper than the oak.

Thanx!

Vic

On Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:34:34 -0700, Vic Baron wrote:

If you
enjoy sharpening, that's fine. If you'd rather make shavings give it a
shot on a wheel or belt sander and back to the lathe.


OK, now that makes sense also. So it really boils down to an individual
thing depending on what is being turned, wood type etc.

There's a lot of personal preference involved in turning - what I like is
to use a carbide tool like EasyRougher or its ilk to do most of the wood
removal - no sharpening required. Then a nice sharp conventional tool to
finish with.

--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw

On Tue, 04 Oct 2011 08:08:19 -0400, Gerald Ross
wrote:

Vic Baron wrote:
Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my wood
chisels razor sharp. Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood. So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

What am I missing here?

Vic

It depends. If you are turning some types of wood--pecan bowls, for
instance--the edge will be dull in less than 10 minutes. So why spend
10 minutes scary sharpening, honing, stropping, polishing and checking
nose hairs when it will make no difference 8 minutes later? If you
enjoy sharpening, that's fine. If you'd rather make shavings give it
a shot on a wheel or belt sander and back to the lathe.

There's Scary and then there's Scary. One needn't go all the way up
through the grits and honing to keep a fairly sharp edge on the tool.
And touching it up before it gets too dull lowers the time spent
sharpening, too. Half a dozen strokes across a 600 grit diamond hone
works wonders as well, and takes significantly less than ten minutes.


There are always exceptions. Finish turning or turning tiny objects,
may require a nicer edge.

Ayup.

--
Worry is a misuse of imagination.
-- Dan Zadra

Sandpaper sharpening, or stropping, or finely honing of HAND tools
makes sense. They travel very slowly with minimal force behind the
blade. Your arms are the force. The rate of travel is like 1 foot
for 3 seconds with a handplane. Even slower with a chisel. So they
have to be razor sharp to cut. Mirror polish.

Machine cutting tools do not have to be that sharp for a couple
reasons. One is they have 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 3 horsepower electric
motors turning either the cutting tool or the workpiece. Lathe turns
the workpiece while a planer, jointer, tablesaw, shaper turns the
cutting tool and you feed the workpiece into it. These electric
motors have more power than you do. So they don't need razor sharp
cutting tools. Have you ever touched your table saw blade's teeth?
The teeth are not razor sharp yet a table saw will easily cut through
wood very cleanly. And the other reason is speed. The cutting tool
or workpiece is turning at 1000, 2000, 3000, or more rpm. At these
speeds the wood can literally be ground away smooth.

Most turners will sharpen their turning tools with either/or a 60 and
120 grit grinding wheel. 6 or 8 inch diameter. Friable wheel to cut
cooler. Use the 60 grit for shaping the tool. Use the 120 for
resharpening.



On Oct 3, 9:33*pm, "Vic Baron" wrote:
Last time I tried to use a lathe was over 40 years ago. Decided to get back
into it so I bought a little mini lathe from Rockler . I still had the tools
from years ago.

My puzzlement - as a woodworker I use the scary sharp method to keep my wood
chisels razor sharp. *Reading various articles on lathe tool sharpening, I
get the impression that you just do a coarse grind and have at the wood. So
no honing or stropping etc? My grinder stone is 150 grit - now for a wood
chisel this would be awful.

What am I missing here?

Vic

--
There are 10 kinds of people - those who understand binary and those who
don't