Hand Sharpen

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rayzir

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
5
Location
Montana
I finally able to purchase my first lathe (Jet 1014 VS) :biggrin:. It should arrive tomorrow (Yay!). But unfortunately, I'm broke again. I have a chisel set I bought from HF, but I don't have a bench grinder or jigs to sharpen with (not even a belt sander). Could anybody give me some advice for sharpening by hand? Is there a good article on how to hand-sharpen that I could read? I'm wondering if I could use some files or a cheap sharpening stone until I can scratch enough funds together to get a grinder.

Thanks for the advice.

BTW. I'm not sure if this is the right forum to ask newbie questions like this. As far as I can tell, its the closest thing to a General forum I see here. If I posted it in the wrong place, please let me know and I'll do better next time. :tongue:
 
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You can with practice get a nice edge on your tools with files. A way I use is a piece of marble or glass with sandpaper glued to it, blacken the tip of the tool with a markerand stroke it A couple times on the paper or with the file and make sure you are hitting the correct contour. You will be able to tell where it wore off the marker. With files I would perhaps put the tool on a vice and use the file on it. Another Idea is a sanding pad on a drill or lathe. or if you can scrounge up a belt sander turn it upside down and use it....be creative!!! There are some other things you can use like a small home floor buffer turned upside down put round wood on both and mount it in a box. Glue sandpaper on one and a piece of leather on th other for a strop.
 
Harbor freight has some cheapy plastic diamond hones that I think cost about $5 or so for a set of three. I use these for putting edges on all sorts of stuff in my shop. I can even sharpen carbide router bits with them. since they are diamond hones they work pretty fast on turning tools without much danger of changing the profile of your edge. I have one setting next to all of my lathes to keep my skews sharpened. it is faster than setting up the sharpening machine. just a couple of swipes with the hone and I am good to go. when edges start getting to rounded off I go back to the grinder.
 
If you have a disc sander attachment and the right chuck, you could mount that to your lathe and freehand it that way...
And grinders can be found pretty cheap, it's the sharpening jigs and aluminum oxide wheels that'll bite you!
 
I don't sharpen much but I buy good metal tools that hold a edge. I do touch up alot with a little diamond hones by hand. I'll touch up 10-20 times then put on a new bevel at the tormek or grinder. You don't need to sharpen every time you can just touch up the cutting edge.
 
I still really don't sharpen unless I'm changing a profile. I just use a diamond hone to keep a sharp edge on it. It's a much finer edge than a grinder anyway.
 
Travis,
Congrats on your new lathe! I have the same one, purchased used for use as a second lathe, and I like it a lot.
If you got a faceplate with it you could mount a piece of mdf to it and glue some sandpaper to that to create a sanding disc that would work to sharpen your chisels.
oh... welcome to IAP.
 
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