Mitch Cholewinski

What sharpening method do you woodworkers and turners use to sharpen your tools??For my turning tools I use this grinder and the Wolverine grinding jig with a varigrind jig for gouges. Let's see some pictures of your sharpening system, if you have them. In my gallery I show other methods I use. Mitch

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john lucas

Mitch I have the identical set up. I've tried a lot of different sharpening methods and that one works the best for me. The only thing that I might change, and I can't find one, is to try a narrow belt sander. I still want to rig up a jig like the Oneway but I would like to be able to instantly change belts to go from rough to finer grits for some applications.
I seem to remember seeing a system introduced in England but haven't seen it in the states. I've looked for good belt sanders but the only ones available that could easily be modifed are Knife making sanders that start out at $300 and up.

littlebuddha

Hi Mitch well my main grinder for turning, have another in the other workshop that is course whee for when needed and for rough grinding, the one you see suits me did not cost anything apart from a little time and gives me great results everytime. have thrown in a pic of an untidy workshop i have 3 of these all about the same size one of the shops is just wood storage.

http://www.shapewood.co.uk

Whatever you have just make sure you use it and always have sharp tools or you might as well give me your wood, its hard to turn with unsharp tools, sharpen them and its better than having a young woman.....yer i always have sharp tools. LB.

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Gerry KIERNAN

Hi;
Delta makes a nice little sander, with a one inch wide belt, and a four inch disc. I bought mine at Home depot. I think it was around $70.00 CDN. It is very handy for basic sharpening of my chisels.

Gerry

Mitch Cholewinski

John Lucas
It's tough to beat a narrow belt sander for a quick sharpening of your tools. I posted a picture of one I use for that purpose in my gallery the other day. Bought it from Grizzly for $30 when they came out new.I use 180 grit to sharpen and a 36 grit to change an angle on a cutter or sharpen a new cutter to a new angle. No effort. Don't spend big bucks, you don't need to. Mitch

Mitch Cholewinski

littlebuddha
Hi little b
Nice set up. Notice you use them pink wheels. They from Oneway? I am thinking of trying them. Sharp tools? One thing I do have is sharp everything. Since early 1970's I have had a sharpening business using Foley equipment, gave the business up when I retired, still have the equipment. Always loved to sharpen. Was doing carbide years ago then it got hard to make any money cause the blades were so cheap to buy new. LOL, you always got sharp tools, me too and a good old wife. Take a look at my gallery and see some other sharpening systems I have. Mitch

Mitch Cholewinski

Gerry Kiernan
Thanks for the reply and the info on the narrow belt sander. I use one too. Just posted a picture of mine in my gallery the other day. How is your turning coming along? Mitch

Mitch Cholewinski

little buddha
b I forgot to mention to you in my last reply , above, that I looked at your site. Very nice work b. You and John Lucas are what I call a turner. Course I don't know any other turners. lol, no seriously you are good at this, I'm just a beginner but loving every minute of it. Mitch

Daren

Yep the heyday of the sharpener is gone. The guy I bought my equipment from made a nice living with it several years ago (then it was in storage for some years). Now it is part time for me at best. I enjoy it and it works in a weird way for me. If I sharpen chainsaws I am meeting guys who cut trees, which means logs for the mill. If I am sharpening woodworking tools...they are coming to a sawmill (kids in a candy store ) I may do a $10 sharpening job and sell $200 worth of lumber on an impulse buy.

I would not have even considered getting into it if it did not tie together with the rest of my operation so well.

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Gerry KIERNAN

Hi Mitch

So far I have not gotten my wood lathe up and running. I find that having moved in here in March there are so many things to do that it is pretty hard to knuckle down, and concentrate on one thing. Plus I seem to want to do so many different things. You know, "jack of all trades, master of none" It is kind of a curse, but life is interesting.

I have seen the "scary sharp" method of sharpening a number of times. Is there a thread somewhere that details the process?

Gerry

Gerry KIERNAN

Daren

I think you have definitely found your niche. I watched one of your sawing videos the other day. I thought that you had a big fancy automatic Woodmiser, so I was surprised to see you working a manual model. You're doing a lot with it.

Gerry

Gerry KIERNAN

Looking at your sharpening gear Mitch. The belt sander is almost identical to my little Delta, except the delta has a small disc and table on the side. The horizontal white wheel. Does it do a good job on planer/jointer blades? I have a planer and a jointer, and I know that someday I will need to sharpen the blades and reset them. I was wondering if that rig works well for that purpose.

Gerry

Mitch Cholewinski

Gerry
Yes the Delta grinder does a great job on joiner and planer blades. There is a learning curve at first, but with practice you pick it up quick. It surprised me at first just how soft the brown wheel was but with the water applied it makes a slurry that does a fine job on your blades. Tormek sells a jig to do the same job if you have a Tormek. I read Darens reply to you above here where he said you have a video ? Where do I go to see it? Mitch

Mitch Cholewinski

Gerry Kiernan
Yes, I am sure if you put up scary sharp in your search engine you will find an explanation of the scary sharp method of sharpening. I used it for years with my own version. You can do an excellent job of sharpening with a minimal investment and time. I usually honed my blade or cutter on each of the sandpaper grits then when finishing, would hone it on my leather wheel on the Tormek using green Chromium oxide powder to polish. This is a killer of a sharpening.

Daren

I am confused ? (what's new) I think he was talking about my video of my little sawmill.

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Gerry KIERNAN

Hi Daren

Yes, I was referring to your video of you running your Woodmiser. I don't remember where I saw the link. Can you pass it along to Mitch?

Thanks

Gerry

Gerry KIERNAN

Thanks Mitch

I'll see if I can find it.

Gerry

Daren

I don't remember if I posted these here. (I hate to derail a thread...ok, maybe I don't )
Here is that sawmill video, everybody needs a sawmill, even a cheapo like mine (less than $5k)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZH6LWq3fuY[/youtube]

Mitch, you were a sharpener...here is one for you. 60 second knife sharpening (I strop them on leather after for a real razor edge, even though it does shave in the video)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_KceD0e_WY[/youtube]

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Mitch Cholewinski

Daren
I enjoyed your video on You tube, of your sawmill. At first I didn't realize it was your mill but one on You tube. then I saw it was your video. Very nice. A Sawmill was always something I always wanted to get but never did, mostly because I wouldn't have a ready, close source of the trees to mill. Yours runs good. What kind of blades do you use and mostly, how do you sharpen them if you do? That Foley retoother brings back memory's of times past for me. I gave mine to my son a couple years ago.I think I told you I have a bunch of good handsaws here that over the years guys never picked up. Looks like the knife is pretty sharp Daren if it shaves but if your using a leather strop or leather wheel, do you mind if I make a suggestion of something you should try?When you strop put a little lanolin on the table and add some chromium oxide, green, to the lanolin and make a slurry to put on the strop. Keep honing lightly and untill the metal gleams, then you will see what sharp really is. A razor won't compare to your knife. Hold the blade to the light and if it doesn't reflect the light it is a winner. Really enjoyed your videos. thanks for sending to me. Mitch

Daren

Thanks for the tip on the knife sharpening, I am always open to suggestions (and will usually take them from someone who has "been there and done that") My strop has 2 sides I swipe with each knife a few times. The unfinished leather side that has jewelers rouge worked into it and the smooth side that is my last couple strokes. I am not afraid to use the wet stones to sharpen a knife, that is how I learned. I just made the video to show really how fast an edge can be put on a knife with a good eye and steady hand on that machine I was using.It was extremely dull before, and like you saw sharper than most peoples knives a few seconds later.
I imaging you have seen that system. 2 wheels one is coated with fine grit (400-600...finer, I make my own) the other is coated with jewelers rouge to take the bur off.

To your question about bandmill blade sharpening. I do sharpen my own. I use an old Foley chainsaw grinder I modified. I don't remember the model number, but it has forward and reverse and is almost limitlessly adjustable for pitch. To be honest it would be tons cheaper to send them out. I know a couple guys who do a great job for $6-$7 a blade that I have used in the past, before I started sharpening. It takes me forever to set and sharpen them manually (they are 144"). I have 100 (?) bands around I just sit down and sharpen a few at a time when things are slow around here. Since I set my own I have some with very little set for real hard wood furniture grade sawing and some more aggressive for just blasting out softwood framing or whatever.

I know your thread was about turning tool sharpening, sorry for getting off subject. Maybe we can talk sharpening in general in another thread? I would enjoy it, and I bet I may learn something. I think my tools are similar to the ones you put down several years ago.

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