As someone very new to woodturning as well I can sympathize
Visiting a few wooturning clubs helped me a lot. I have been to three actually, and members were so helpful and willing to give advice.
I also bought a second hand bowl gouge, and butchered it quite a bit to give it an Ellsworth grind. Same with my second hand skew. I gave it a domed bevel following the advice from a video, didn't liked the result and also spoiled the radius of the edge, so I ground it back to the normal concave bevel and fixed the radius too.
They are both really good steel and they came from a retiring woodturner who made them razor sharp before selling them. I felt a bit bad for having butchered them, the gouge was short to start with and now there is little left of the flute for the jig to clamp on. But hey, it's just steel, and I learned a lot.
If I were you, I'd shamelessly call a club up and ask if you could show up early at a meeting with your tools, and have someone give you a quick demonstration on how to sharpen.
Typically they'll have a demonstration on the day, so they might set up the grinder anyway.
I am really not the best person to give advice, as I know so little, but, based on my mistakes:
1) I see many experienced turners don't really measure the angle, just grind to what they need. But if, like me, you want a protractor to give you a starting point and knowing what you are starting with, get one in metal
Plastic doesn't like warm tools just out of the grinder..
2) Take a photo or two of your tools before you grind, it makes so much easier to rectify mistakes
3) At first, stick with the normal grind for the gouges, if that's what they come with. In the end, I am appreciating the Ellsworth grind, but it's still far from perfect and got me really frustrated at first.
4) Many don't find it all that useful, but I like honing the tools often. The skew at least. The small diamond stones with handle work better than other types for me, and taking the tool rest off and using the banjo to support the butt of the tool helps a lot keeping it straight while honing.
5) If you want a jig but don't feel like making it yourself, there is a guy on ebay, a turner from cornwall, who makes them. A large platform and the jigs for normal grind and Ellsworth grind are around 50 or 60 pounds I think. They are not perfect, mine requires some shims to stay truly perpendicular to the wheel, but they work ok.
Obviously, some of the above suggestions might not be all that great after all, hopefully somebody experienced will correct me if that's the case, but that's what works for me right now.
Happy turning!
Aldo
