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Wolverine sharpening system

Gene Gabriel

Gene Gabriel

Joined
Apr 6, 2025
Messages
15
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4
Location
Dracut, MA
I ordered a wolverine sharpening system that with any luck, will be here tomorrow. I’m trying to do a little preemptive planning as to how I want to mount my grinder. My question is this, how far beyond the back of the grinder does the v-arm stick out when it is in use? At almost twenty-eight inches in length, I plan to remove it completely when not in use. Also, any other suggestions on it’s mounting or use would be appreciated as well.
Thank you in advance for any help.
 
Gene Gabriel said:
I ordered a wolverine sharpening system that with any luck, will be here tomorrow. I’m trying to do a little preemptive planning as to how I want to mount my grinder. My question is this, how far beyond the back of the grinder does the v-arm stick out when it is in use? At almost twenty-eight inches in length, I plan to remove it completely when not in use. Also, any other suggestions on it’s mounting or use would be appreciated as well.
Thank you in advance for any help.
Click to expand...
Assuming you well be using it only to sharpen gougess, you can chop off much of the V-arm. Mount your longest gouge (or skew if you plan to sharpen them)
and see what hangs out the back of the V-arm. A further tip if you are using two CBN wheels of the same fixed diameter: Position the motor and the wolverine mounts such that a tool can be changed from one wheel to the other without any re-adjustment.
 
Thank you for the responses. I’m looking forward to having nice sharp tools. Hopefully I’ll get better results on the wood as well.
 
The full length of the arm is for sharpening skews and roughing gouges. Do those on the platform and you can cut off quite a bit of the length. Did oyou get the platform and Wolvervine jig?
 
Gene Gabriel said:
I ordered a wolverine sharpening system that with any luck, will be here tomorrow. I’m trying to do a little preemptive planning as to how I want to mount my grinder. My question is this, how far beyond the back of the grinder does the v-arm stick out when it is in use? At almost twenty-eight inches in length, I plan to remove it completely when not in use. Also, any other suggestions on it’s mounting or use would be appreciated as well.
Thank you in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

I'm with Dennis. I have four wolverines and cut off most of the end of the v-arm. I think the intended purpose for the long arm 1) can be dangerous in certain situations, and 2), doesn't apply to me anyway since I keep most tools in handles where I can easily remove the tool. I sharpen both skews and roughing gouges by hand on the flat platform. I kept arm one long but never use it.
To use it with the Varigrind for bowl gouges and such only needs maybe a foot or so, didn't measure but I could.

Also, if buying the Varigrind, I have several of the original and bought one of the Varigrind 2 jigs to evaluate. My take: skip the Varigrind 2. Unless I'm missing something, the design seems to be to keep careless people from running the the gouge off the edge of the grinding wheel. This seems fine, but it keeps the tip of the gouge in the center of the wheel and wears it down more there. Besides, in years of using the original Varigrind I have not once let is slip off the edge of the wheel. I use the Varigrind to sharpen bowl gouges.

I like to mount the grinder and the wolverine base on a 3/4" thick square of plywood instead of to a workbench. That lets me move it over or even carry the whole thing somewhere for a demo or instruction. Be advised that some bench grinder base castings are irregular and need a bit of filing or grinding on the bottom.

Another thing, perhaps of only limited use. If your grinder configuration happens to restrict the locking lever handle movement for some reason, the thing can be taken apart and reconfigured so the handle will lock by swinging it the other way.

I did this on one grinder where I had also mounted a Tormek bar so I could use Tormek attachments with the bench grinder on occasion, mostly the gouge jig (not shown here):

tormek_B.jpg

My sharpening bench a few years ago, changed somewhat now.

Sharpening_small.jpg

Another thing that really helped me was when I discovered the Wolverine mini platform:

I find this more convenient for some things, especially for tools that are getting short from years of sharpening.
I like the small platforms so much I rarely use the large ones anymore.

JKJ
 
One seller had the two sides along with the vari-grind and two setup blocks so I went with that package instead of getting them separately. Obviously I’ll have to see how it will suit my needs and adjust accordingly. I can’t say I’ve never “modified” something to make it work for me, but, I usually don’t like shortening things because I know there will be that one time I will wish I have left it long and I will curse myself for having cut it.
 
There is a school of thought, and I agree, that the skews and spindle roughing gouges should be sharpened on a platform, and not on the long arm of that V arm. I do all of my sharpening on platforms, which was faster for me. Note, on the Oneway platform, many will cut a notch out of the front of it to fit around the 1 1/2 inch wide CBN wheels.

robo hippy
 
I can see where not having additional steps can be quicker and more efficient. I’m sure I will find “my groove” and find out what works for me. I’m still very much a newbie to wood turning so it’s still a learning curve. I’m no stranger to woodworking, but lathe work, I haven’t done since I was a kid in grammar school. Sadly, quite a few years ago.
 
If you ever plan to use the "traditional" grind on your gouges with fixed long wood handles.....you will be making a mistake to cut down the Wolverine V-arm. :(

I know I'm probably talking to a non-existent audience to speak of the traditional gouge grind......but, I'm convinced this grind will do things that the more popular swept back grinds can't! Besides that, it's so much simpler a grind to maintain! :)

=o=
 
I won’t be cutting the arm. And that’s why I got the system, so I can get quick, repeatability without a lot of fuss. Just want to make sure I have sharp tools during this learning curve for turning. Plus have sharp tools for the day that I (hopefully) know what I’m doing on a lathe.
 
Gene Gabriel said:
I won’t be cutting the arm.
Click to expand...
You might once you adopt methods of sharpening.
If you get to work with other turners, mentors, club members, teachers you’ll get exposed to all sorts of effective sharpening tips and methods.

For my bowl gouges I use a wonderful after market pocket on a device called the “verticle solution”
This has a short arm and a pocket that adjusts vertically making it a perfect fit with the Ellsworth jig.
Unfortunately my friend Don Geiger no longer makes and sells these.

Putting the handle end in the pocket can work if you are willing to let the handle length dictate your bevel angle and securely lock the arm in place and don’t put much pressure on the wheel. I personally use the platform to make any grind I could do with the handle in the pocket and I control the bevel angle.


I learned to sharpen the spindle gouge without any mechanical support from david Ellsworth in 1995. Fast, easy, effective.
Use the top hand to hold the tool in the center of the wheel. I sometimes rest it on the edge of the motor. I Use the thumb and forefinger of the lower hand to rotate the tool. Lower arm is locked into my sided and I lean forward and back to push the tool up and down the wing.
trim.BBC850EF-FAE1-46B2-BC82-2322F1EF3CB9.GIF
 
I managed to get some practice in with the system and I must say, it does make it pretty simple and idiotproof. Which in my case, both of those things are good thing. And, there is a whole different “feel” when you are using a nice sharp tool.
 
I have a couple of blanks from my father-in-laws machine shop that I will make into scrapers tomorrow. I made a handle for one of them with today’s freshly sharpened tools.
 
Gene Gabriel said:
I have a couple of blanks from my father-in-laws machine shop that I will make into scrapers tomorrow. I made a handle for one of them with today’s freshly sharpened tools.
Click to expand...

Do you know the kind of steel of the blanks? The grinder spark test may help.
Plenty of references. Here's one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_testing

Some steels are far better for lathe tools than others. Some are not useful and will not hold an edge for long.
 
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