What do you guys use to keep your lathe tools sharp? Do you sharpen them yourself or is there somewhere that can do a quality job... I ask because I recently aquired a set and some are nice and sharp while others are, not so sharp :rollem:...can't afford to go out and buy a big dollar set..That just isn't gonna happen..Thnx
-Chris RE

I use my beltsander :hihi:

I use a 1" belt sander for my gouges and a wet grinder for the skews. Just don't overheat the tool on belt sander and you'll be fine. Most turning tools are made out of High Speed steel so light pressure on a sander won't hurt them.

I learned alot about sharpening my lathe tools by buying a CD-rom from the Lee valley tools web site. The CD goes over sharpening many types of knives, chisels , wood turning tools etc.

I use two wet stones for the skew : 800 & 4000 and a jig they sell at Lee valley. The inside edge of my gouges is sharpened with a dowel with 320 wet sand paper rapped around it. The machined outside edge of the gouges is sharpened on the 1 inch Delta belt sander with a 320 grit belt.

What a difference how easy the tools worked after I sharpened my lathe tools with these principals from the CD-ROM ! The CD_ROM only cost about $ 15.00

Here is how to sharpen the outside edge of the gouges.

dowel with # 320 wet paper on the inside edge.

With the skew you use the japenese wet sones #800 and # 4000 and the angle jig to get the correct angle in degrees. You lock the skew onto the jig and work the tools on the two stones.

Here is the skew locked into the angle jig . The japanese wet stones are held securely in what Lee Valley sells as a wet stone " pond ".

Just another look at the holder.

Nice set up and thanks for sharing BC:kewl:

Do ya need the cheerios for the strength to sharpen,or just a snack:huh::D