Question for lathe users ?

[wle]

 want to sharpen my knives what do ya recomend  ? any stones or sharpeners for this?

[Burlkraft]

Are ya sharpening turning tools or knives... ??? ???

If you are sharpening bowl gouges or scrapers a grinder could be used or you could even use a belt sander.....(not recommended by most, but works) clamp the sander in a vise with a 120......er.....so grit belt and then you can "sand" your profile on the tool.

The best most effective way is an 8" grinder..The new Delta's and others have variable speed..(NICE  ;D) and you can dial in the correct speed, the slower the better. You can also make or buy some type of jig to get a consistent grind time after time. Take a look at OneWay's Wolverine Jig. That's a good one and you could build something if ya don't wanna buy one.

Sharp turning tools are good turning tools.... ;D ;D ;D

[metalspinner]

Boy, that is a question that can be answered a thousand different ways. :D

I have a slow speed grinder with the Wolverine jig system.  A slow speed grinder with white wheels lessens the chance of taking the temper out of your tools by over heating.  The Wolverine rig let's you put special grinding shapes like fingernail profiles on your tools with repeatable results.  
If you need to do some serious shaping of your tools, then a more aggresive grinder would be faster, but watch out for overheating the edge.  I consider the slow speed grinder more of a slow speed sharpener.

The water cooled sharpeners like the Tormek put finely honed edges on your tools.  Edges that can be scalpel sharp, but if you need to remove or reshape any amount of steel, these are slow.  But the edge can't be beat.

...Yeah, what Burlkraft said. ;D

[DR Buck]

I use the Tormek sharpener.   It has jigs and fixtures available for all most all cutting tools that help keep the right bevel angles on the blade.  Did I mention that it is a water wheel and turns at 90 rpm?   Keeps your tools from heating up and loosing temper.

[Burlkraft]

Jet now makes a copy of the Tormek...Has variable speed on it and all the Tormek accessories work on it. It's also a bit cheaper than the Tormek.....I had a Tormek and it's a good unit. Just too slow for my tastes... ;D ;D

[Part_Timer]

turning tools ??? ??? ??? You mean there are special tools for that.  Somebody better tell Katie, she uses a 1/2" wood chisel for everything.

[Burlkraft]

Well..ya know Tom....Katie is special that way.... ;D ;D ;D