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sharpening skews

C

cwearing

Joined
May 20, 2004
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Location
New Glarus, WI
:DI've heard the "experts " badmouth the oneway skew jig. I'm soliciting opinions on the better options of sharpening the terrible skew
 
Depends on the skew you use.

If you use an Alan Lacer like skew (flat sides, with or without a curved cutting edge) you can use the flat tool table at the bevel angle of your choice. (Like a scrapper but at a different angle.) If you have the curved edge, you arc the tool through on grinder surface. If you have the straight edge you do like a plane blade on a grinder.

IF you use a "Sorby" type with oval sides, I found the Oneway skew jig to work. I did not find I could use this type of skew for other than using the long point to score the spindle. I gave both the skew and the jig away.
Ann
 
cwearing said:
:DI've heard the "experts " badmouth the oneway skew jig. I'm soliciting opinions on the better options of sharpening the terrible skew
Click to expand...

I have one that is somewhere in the attic of my shop. It is probably a perfectly fine jig, but I just don't use it. Sometimes the "experts" have their own competing product or want their students to exactly mimic the way that they sharpen and use tools because any other way is not as good.

I have a Sorby oval skew. It is my favorite of the four or five various skews that I have. I use a Tormek for sharpening my skews (except for the Lacer billet of steel skew) and it has a jig that is a perfect fit for the oval skew. I put a slight curve on my oval skew. I like it because it is great for a continuous rolling cut.
 
The oneway Jig is a good one. The problems I had with it developed after using it for tons of sharpening and probably were my fault as much as the jig. The problem is there isn't anything that keeps you from rotating the tool while you grind it. So if you don't pay fairly close attention one bevel gets longer or kind of crooked compared the the other side. this doesn't seem to hurt the performance of the skew because I used the jig for years. However I prefer the one I built which still uses the Oneway Tool rest. Here is a video showing how I sharpen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJYNLkPh_LM
 
Gr8 video John! I had seen it before, but forgot about the jigs. What width is your milled slot? How deep is it? I may have to get someone to machine my rest like yours. What do you think would be a fair price to mill it? Does it interfer with any of your other sharpening needs?

Thanks,
Glenn
 
Glenn YOu don't need to mill a slot. I did simply because I'm trying to learn to use my milling machine. The slot is slightly less than 3/8" wide and a little deeper than the 1/8" aluminum I used for the the guide.
Simply cut your jig to the exact dimensions of your tool rest. The glue a piece of steel to the front and rear of it. this will keep it positioned on the tool rest the same as my slot does. I have also built a jig just using steel on the edge that is toward the stone. The slanted tool rest pretty much keeps it from riding up as long as you put downward pressure on the jig as you sharpen.
 
I have the Veritas tool rest. It is good but doesn't lock down as well as the Oneway. However if you don't have the Oneway sharpening system I would highly recommend the Veritas. I used it for years to sharpen all sorts of things and I believe I still have it somewhere.
 
Sanding discs work fine. That's how I started sharpening when I first started turning. However I used it on the handwheel side of the lathe because I don't want to stop turning just to sharpen and putting the chuck on the lathe requires removing the other work. Of course if that's all you have it works very well and I did exactly that for years although I had a seperate faceplate with disc screwed to it so it was always ready and always ran true.
It was during this period that I mounted my 3" belt sander up side down and used it to sharpen my lathe tools. Be sure and remove the cloth dust collector bag from you sander if you do this our yours will have little burned holes in it like mine now does.
 
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