I was just watching over Andy Dear's Wood Lathe DVD again and am planning on ordering some new wheels for buffing wood(been using my Dremel for this until now) as well as sharpening lathe tools.I have a rather large selection of very nice Bellinger and Venneri reel seats(most have stabilized wood inserts) that I've collected over the years so I probably won't be turning too many seats.Most of my turning will be cork,burl cork,and birch bark handles with wood trimmed ends to match the seat inserts.

I've managed to purchase 2 of each 3/8" & 1/2" spindle gouges,parting tools,and round nose scrapers that are Penn State's brand(Benjamin's Best I think),as well as a full set of Windsor Design tools(a cheap set of HSS tools) on sale cheap to practice sharpening on and to limit the amount of sharpening I will need to do at a time.All the tools are new and given the minimal serious wood turning I will probably be doing(most grips will be made of relatively easy to turn materials and small sections of wood) I don't want to go too overboard on the sharpening end where money is concerned(I know everyone says a sharpening system is as important as anything but I am on a seriously small budget at this time so getting a killer system like a Tormek is just not going to happen).I will probably be looking for a cheap slow speed grinder or using my variable speed lathe to hold the aluminum oxide wheels if I can do it that way.

I noticed that systems like the Tormek use 220 grit wheels at slow speed while Sorby recommends wheels of 80 grit with their sharpening systems.Andy Dear's DVD mentions using a white aluminum oxide wheel for sharpening with a slow speed grinder but it doesn't mention the best grit choice or the brands of wheels to look at.I'm looking at brands like Norton which have fairly inexpensive white wheels in 60,100,and 150 grit,as well as more expensive pink and blue models in similar grits.

I was wondering what grit wheels most others out there,who are using bench grinders as sharpening systems,are using and would recommend getting,and if there is any reason not to go with the cheaper white wheels for someone who probably won't be turning out a lot of hard wood right away?

Also,I am about to order some buffing wheels and polishing compounds for doing wood and nickle silver pieces.I know what compounds to get for wood(Matchless White,White Diamond,and No Scratch Pink) and will be getting several thick loose cotton wheels for the grips and probably some thinner,sewn wheels for doing my nickle silver components from the same place.On Andy's DVD he mentions using a canton flannel wheel for the final wood buffing but the place I plan on getting the cotton wheels and compounds from doesn't sell them.

I was wondering if most others are using that same set up(2 loose cotton wheels and a canton flannel wheel to finish) or if a loose cotton wheel used in place of the canton flannel wheel would leave a nice enough finish?

I'm just trying to decide if I should order a canton flannel wheel from another source or if getting a couple more loose cotton wheels would work fine(with the proper compound of course).I don't really like placing really small orders like a simple wheel or two as the shipping(I'm stuck in a little town in Canada) will probably cost a lot more than the wheels but if the canton flannel wheel will make a noticeable difference over a standard loose cotton wheel then I will definitely get one.

Thanks for the help everyone,
Tony



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2009 09:30AM by Tony Dowson.

The smoother you get your tools, the longer the edge will last. Guys that are serious woodturners may start with 80 grit, finish with 150 grit, then hone on a leather wheel with polishing compound. But you don't need to do all that for now. Just keep your tools sharp and when they're no longer sharp, resharpen them.

Delta, Jet, Grizzly, etc., all offer slow speed water stone grinders for about $150. While they don't offer the range of accessories for helping you to sharpen specific tools, they do have a miter and offer you some means of fair precision when sharpening. There is no danger of overheating a tool and they turn slow so mistakes aren't quick to happen. I go directly from the 100 grit water stone back to the lathe. A little more work and some honing and my edges would last longer, but I don't find a quick touch up on the water wheel to be very time consuming so that's about all I do.

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Tony something to consider, if you sharpen frequently the water stones are great, however if you allow the tools to become somewhat dull it may be better to opt for a slow speed grinder-- see Wood Craft-- they have one at a good price and the wolverine sharping system.
note the better the grinding wheel the better the finish that can be achieved but the ones on the Wood Craft grinder are pretty good for the price.
John

Last summer I bought the Beall three wheel buff (I seem to recall that is one in the Andy Dear video) and the three large soft floppy wheels do a great job for buffing and polishing. I got the buffing system primarily for finishing irregular shapes not related to rod building. I tried some other makeshift arrangements but the three wheel functions the best and produces the best buffing results IMO. Wood handles, reel seat inserts, wooden pieces etc which are turned on a mandrel can be sanded/polished to a high shine with micro mesh. For sharpening I have a variable speed smaller 6 inch grinder (Craftsman--Sears) for sharpening as well as the lathe mounted sanding disks (PSI), I did not like Aluminum Oxide wheel as it seemed to load up and need frequent cleaning and truing. I have found over the last few years I prefer using scrapers more than gouges after roughing the cylinders. I prefer scrapers to turning tools for cork handles as well (less tearing out).

John
God bless the troops and USA

I am not an advocate of using lathe tools for turning cork (regular, composites and burl) as I find using various grits of sand paper work very well with good cutting control and NO tear outs.

I do grips with virtually all materials and use the lathe tools only on wood and acrylics.

Phil the purpose of using the tools a scrapper is the preferred is simply to get the cork concentric sandpaper alone generally won't do that, if one is careful using the scraper you only touch the side that is a little higher.
John

John, I get your point, but have not experienced a problem getting a grip concentric using only sandpaper if I am careful at the start and take down any high spots first. The key is in how one addresses the turning material (cork). Wood and harder materials are a different subject, and as I mentioned I use scrappers and gouges on these.

In my experience tools can be a real problem on materials like Birch Bark, if not used very very carefully, sandpaper provides much more margin for error without possibly destroying a project.

In the hands of one with a lot of experience either way works fine, but I believe this is a person new to the game.

Sandpaper will "float" over the cylinder. To get the cylinder concentric with the bore requires cutting of the cylinder. This is best done on cork with a round nose scraped held mid-point to the cylinder on the tool rest. One or perhaps two passes is generally enough. There are no doubt other ways to do this, but for a beginner this is about the easiest method I know of.

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Everyone is right with respect to both the use of the turning tools as well as the floating problem of unbacked sandpaper pointed out by Tom.
I hear your hurt when you speak of tools gouging out pieces of softer material like cork.

To help your situation, you can use coarse sandpaper, that is backed by a wood block. This method really simulates the gouge without the tear out issues that you can get by the use of a sharp tool.

Remember, use a backing board on your sandpaper. Cut up a series of different width boards so that you can work in both narrow and wide spots of the handle and still have a solid backing for your sandpaper.

Tom is right - even the use of a backing board can still allow the sandpaper to float. It has just minimized the effect to some extent.

Another thing that also helps is to do a bit of initial "rounding" of the grip and then stop the lathe and check. If you have a significant high spot on one area, or a hard glue line in one area, just use a solid backing board with coarse paper on a stationary handle to knock down the high spot. Then resume your turning - and after a few seconds stop to recheck and insure that the high spot has been eliminated and is working into the rest of the grip contour.

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With respect to sharpening - I use either a disk sander or a 1 inch wide belt sander with various grits of paper on the sander to put a razor edge on my tools in just a few seconds. I dislike using round grinding wheels because the surface is not flat, and for many tools which require a flat edge, the wheel is tough to get the necessary flat edge. In contrast, with the use of the disk sander or the belt sander, the flat surface is easy to obtain.

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With respect to polishing - I use an industrial polisher and I have a stack of various types of wheels along with a stack of various types of polish and cutting materials.
For heavy metal polishing, I use a tight weave, tight spiral cloth disk. Then, as I build the finish and get closer to a higher polish, I go to a gradually looser spiral with a finer polish material. As I finish, I am using a loose cloth disk with a very very fine polish material. The buffer that I use is an 8 inch buffer with extended ends so it is easy to get into the various nooks and cranies of a work piece. The disks change quickly so that I can initially use two different disks and as necessary replace them with two different disks. It sounds like your selection of disks and polish are about right for what you are trying to do.

Good luck
Roger

You must use a tool rest to get the cork concentric around the hole. You can use a round nose scraper as Tom suggested or a coarse file or a stanley surform tool to remove the high sides, as long as you use the tool rest and hold the tool firmly. Any of these methods will remove the high side and leave you with a cylinder concentric around the hole.

Terry

Terry
I agree with the use of the tool rest.
But, having said that, you can easily use coarse sandpaper with a board backing to remove material.
Again, the advantage of using sandpaper as opposed to using either a scraper or a file is that you are less likely to gouge out unwanted material.

Take care
Roger

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I've made plenty of grips out of cork and/or burl cork,using various kinds of other burl cork,gasket material,and foam for trim rings,mounted on some of Andy Dear's cork turning mandrels.I used a rough file to get the grip concentric and then used sand paper from there like most do.I started by using a home made drill lathe set up at first and then my Pac Bay power wrapper but purchased a small lathe a couple of years ago and after slowly obtaining the pieces I needed for it,as well as obtaining the pieces of wood to accurately match my reel seat inserts(that has been a VERY slow process) I will now be using that.Wood turning will be something new but I am looking forward to it.

I wasn't planning on using the lathe tools for turning the cork or birch bark,although I do plan on trying the 1/2 round scraper on them to get the grips concentric.The lathe tools I have will be pretty much wood turning only,and the wood pieces will only make up a small part of the grips(due to the weight of stabilized wood I don't want to add too much of it).

I'd like to get a decent sharpening system eventually but can't afford much at all at this time and shipping anything over 20lbs to my area in Canada is pretty pricey.UPS and Fed Ex aren't an option for shipping due to the crazy price of their broker fees to here so it's USPS only for anything shipped from the US and once an item is over 20lbs,the shipping amount doubles.I really like the look of those wet wheel units but after the exchange rate and shipping costs of something that heavy,the price of them are well out of my range.I am hoping I can find a slow speed or variable speed 6" grinder that I can get to my door for under $150 Canadian funds,especially if I also have to buy an aluminum oxide wheel or two for them as well.

Regarding the buffing set up,are most guys just using loose cotton buffs for the final finishing or are they getting something a little softer?

I also recently picked up a wood turners kit of Micro Mesh so I am eager to try playing with that given many here and on other forums speak so highly of it.