Sharpening system advice

[vyvsdad]

Hello all,

Some advice regarding sharpening systems would be greatly appreciated.
Up until now I have been using a homemade linisher (similar to the sorby system) but its time has come and I fancy an upgrade, and a move away from a linisher towards wheels. So, my question is this: What is better in your opinion, a bench grinder, say 8" with a whitestone which i'll upgrade to CBN wheels (and what is everyones opinion on these?) or a whetstone system a-la tormek etc.

I know this has the potential to be a can of worms but just googling it has me going round in circles...

Many thanks

Dan

[David Buskell]

i have a Creusen bench grinder with white wheel plus a Creusen honing/polishing grinder. Both work well  for me. I have had one of my tools sharpened on a CBN wheel and that gave a good edge - mind you, it was sharpened by the tool manufacturer so it should be!

We had a sharpening session at our club a few months back, with my Creusen stuff, a Sorby Pro-Edge and a Tormek on show and available for use. General consensus was: you pays your money and takes your choice. Each member who tried out the kit, had a different favourite and for different reasons.

David

[fuzzyturns]

I have a simple B&Q bench grinder with a pink wheel (and a standard grey wheel) and an older Tormek 2000. I use the bench grinder for my skew chisels and scrapers, and the Tormek for everything else.
The Tormek does give an excellent grind, and removes only little steel (when set up correctly), so you get a lot more mileage out of your tools (in Nick Agar's words: you should sharpen your tools, not shorten them). OTOH, it requires regular dressing of the wheel, and you can't leave the wheel in the water for any length of time, so there is a bit more faffing around involved.
For a pure hobby turner I'd say the Tormek is not worth buying, unless you can get a second hand one. Otherwise you just never get your money back.
The CBN wheels are excellent, but you can end up losing a lot of steel very quickly. If you only turn a few pieces now and then, a setup with a normal (or slow) bench grinder, a decent jig, and a pink or white wheel will definitely do the job.
BTW: why are you doing away with the linisher? This will give you very good results if set up properly.

[Paul Hannaby]

If your intention is to go for one or more 8" CBN wheels, I suggest you get a slow grinder. The CBN wheel cuts more than fast enough at 1400 rpm on an 8" wheel.

I have both grinder and whetstone system and I sharpen all my turning tools on the grinder. If I sharpen them on the whetstone the edge doesn't last as long because it's ground finer.

[Lazurus]

Creusen slow grinder with white wheels and a Sorby deluxe sharpening jig, dome me well for 20 years. The wet stone systems are in my opinion way to slow for turning tools, a couple of seconds on the grinder and I am back at the lathe. Fast repeatable grinds every time.

[seventhdevil]

the tool, Record 8" bench grinder with a 40mm white wheel

the method, Skill.

[Twisted Trees]

I have just moved to the ProEdge from the Tormek, and I started with a white stone on a standard grinder, I also use some diamond files / plates.

My reasoning.. All get things sharp, Diamond files have their uses on some tools.

Fast grinder eats metal too fast, tools are expensive, so I don't want them getting short too soon! but is great for re-profiling
Tormek gets most tools sharper than any other method. but it requires quite a bit of faffing about to make it work for me.
ProEdge is the best compromise between preserving the tool ease of use and sharpness, which works for me.

[Tim Cornwall]

I have just moved to the ProEdge from the Tormek, and I started with a white stone on a standard grinder, I also use some diamond files / plates.

My reasoning.. All get things sharp, Diamond files have their uses on some tools.

Fast grinder eats metal too fast, tools are expensive, so I don't want them getting short too soon! but is great for re-profiling
Tormek gets most tools sharper than any other method. but it requires quite a bit of faffing about to make it work for me.
ProEdge is the best compromise between preserving the tool ease of use and sharpness, which works for me.

i would 2nd that, pro edge is the best compromise  , i got 1 and love it, quick, clean , no water to muck about with and doesn't eat the steel away to quick

[Simon_M]

I have the 8" Record grindstone with the supplied wheels. I don't use the grey wheel except to grind steel e.g. grinding the grindstone's case when adding a sharpening jig. The white aluminium oxide wheel provided is all that I need for sharpening tools.

I also don't have much skill so I have a simple jig (which I bought from Andrew Hall). So my total cost wan't all that great and results are good - I have no need to look at anything too fancy/expensive as an alternative. He also provided a video on using the jig and now I know that I didn't have the skill to sharpen the tools just that I I did have a great ability to shorten tools. Hence "shape and not shorten tools" is the big idea (as mentioned).

Andrew recommended a 6" Record because the motor spins at the same rate as the 8" so the cutting speed is slower. It's also cheaper and new wheels cost less. Too late for me because I had already owned the bigger one. His second piece of advice (why he's a professional woodturner of course) is that you don't need to have it powered up to sharpen e.g. turn it on and then power it off and do the sharpening whilst it spins down. This works surprisingly well as the Record takes about 3-5 minutes to spin down by itself and putting an edge on a tool takes seconds with his (supplied) jig. His other (good) piece of advice was to put the jig (setup and available) close to the lathe and use it often. I have it permanently mounted nearby on a workbench I made for other tools.

A 8" CBN wheel is currently too expensive for my needs or until my white wheel needs replacing. Could I use this machine with a smaller wheel e.g. why not replace it with 6" CBN to get the benefit of lowering the cutting speed and less expense? If you only have CBN wheels do you also need the sides on the grindstone as this type of wheel won't shatter?

[michaelb]

look at Glen Lucas DVD for sharpening gives all the pros and cons and demonstrates the different advantages, easy to understand then you can make an informed choice , well worth the cost of the DVD.