Has anyone written a book ...

Re: Has anyone written a book ...

John Lucas

>I know a lot of carvers use 1" belt sanders to sharpen their tools. I took a 1 day class with Frank Sudol and he uses one. It requires a different touch. I keep thinking I'll give it a try again. When I traveled I used to use a disc sander. It has the advantage of being a slow speed sander if you move toward the center or high speed if you move toward the outer edge of the disc.

Re: Has anyone written a book ... *LINK*

Brad Vietje

>I know someone who intends to write such a book, but it isn't out there yet. You might also look up Herm DeVries, who is a big advocate of this method. I am a big beleiver in sharpening on a belt sander, provided the belt is reversed to go up, away from the cutting edge, and I prefer a wider belt to give you room to sweep the tool or maneuver a jig without going off the side of the belt. The belt should go up (assuming the flute is upward, so you can see what's happening) so it rounds over the heel of the tool, and not the cutting edge.

Jon Siegel, in New Hampshire has a very nice sand & buff sharpening system that I like a lot (link attempt below).

Safe Spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT


Big Tree Tools

Re: Has anyone written a book ...

John Lucas

>I went back and looked at my sharpening book. The complete guide to sharpening by Leonard Lee.

It has a chapter on sharpening lathe tools using the strip sander. It also has a lot of good information on sharpening everything from axes to carving tools.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening

Bob Hackett

>is by far the best book I have found.

It tells you not only how but why.There are many innovations and new techniques explained.Leonard Lee and Lee Valley tools seem to always be looking for a better way to do something,or a way to improve the performance of tools.

You can`t go wrong with this book,well worth the money.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Has anyone written a book ...

Tom Thomas

>I have not written a book, but I have used 1" belts for sharpening for years. Since starting woodturning 5 years ago I have tried several different sharpening methods and have found that a 1" X 42" industrial belt sander and a OneWay jig setup is the best for my use and experience. I tried the reverse side of the sander (upward moving belt) but have gone back to using the front (belt into the edge).

It is the most controlable and repeatable sharpening I have found. Gouges are sharpened with the Wolverine and skews and scrapers are sharpened using wedged tool rests.

I normally use 60 or 80 grit blue zircon belts, but have 30 grit zircon belts for stock removal and 120 brown belts for smaller tools.

Just one guy in Texas, but I like my method, just be safe whatever you do.

Hey Tom ..... can you ....

MountainMan

>expound on your statement "skews and scrapers are sharpened using wedged tool rests" do you have any pics of that setup? Also, do you have your Wolverine permantly mounted under your 1X42 base? or what?? I have a Wolverine mounted in the traditional way on an 8" grinder - I can never seem to lay the flat stock of the skews down - "flat" on the stone... Arrrrrrrrrgh!! I can do this thing!!

Thanks in advance...

Regards

MountainMan

Re: Hey Tom ..... can you ....

Tom Thomas

>I use a Kalamazoo sander and the belt extends beyond the body of the sander and has enough clearance to mount the OneWay. It stays mounted to a block along with the sander. I have mounted a piece of wood to the tool rest that comes with the OneWay and keep it set at 90 degrees to the belt. To accomodate different angles I use bandsawn blocks of different angles and located to the tool rest with metal pins. Great for rough gouges and scrapers. Skews require blocks offset to the left and right and the tool presented to the belt wideside forward. Although sometimes the shews are hand guided on the belt without a jig. Sorry no pictures, I use digital equipment all day and try to stay away from it during personal hours.