New to turning, chisels and sharpening

[Skeety]

Hi All,

Fairly close to buying my first lathe and have had a go so fairly happy with that side of things.

Have had a look at the FAQ but can't find an answer thus far.

Looking for an entry level set of chisels, initially purely for pen turning so any recommendations would be welcome.

My main concern is sharpening the chisels and how to do it on a budget? A Tormek would be lovely but costs more than my budget for a used lathe, chisels, mandrels etc.

Any advice for sharpening on a budget would be very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A Tormek wouldn't be particularly good for turning tools anyway. Any six inch grinder will do, there are plenty of plans about for jigs. If you have a really cheap one or a second hand abused one you will need to put a better quality wheel on it and get a diamond dresser or devil stone.

 

[marcros]

you could do a pen using just a skew. You could sharpen a skew on a bench stone quite easily. so that is the cheapest option. Some people struggle wit the skew, but with a bit of practice on scrap, you would get the hang of it reasonably quickly. Rarely used, the bedan is easier to sharpen, and has a bigger bevel to ride. I find it easier to use and this is my go to tool on pens about half the time. the other half, I pick up a carbide tool, depending on my mood!

if you get a few catches, turn the wood off the pen tubes and put them into another blank. no financial loss other than a bit of time.

When you buy some pen kits, buy half a dozen extra tubes. Then drill and glue the whole batch up. If you ruin on for two, you will have enough left to finish your batch of pens and do not have to stop and wait for glue to dry.

 

[CHJ]

<<<<This is what I started with 12 years ago to meet my sharpening needs, very basic but it did the job until I'd learnt enough about wood turning to know what I wanted to improve.

 

[Glynne]

A Tormek wouldn't be particularly good for turning tools anyway. Any six inch grinder will do, there are plenty of plans about for jigs. If you have a really cheap one or a second hand abused one you will need to put a better quality wheel on it and get a diamond dresser or devil stone.

+1
I have a Tormek but don't use it for turning tools. You obviously can use one but it takes ages (for me anyway) so I use a 6" grinder with pink wheels.

 

[Skeety]

Thanks guys

Jogged my memory that I bought one of these ages ago when they were on offer:

https://www.aldi.co.uk/bench-grinder-an ... 9007504600

Assume this would be suitable for sharpening? Still brand new in the box, knew it would come in handy sometime lol.

Cheers,

Jon.

 

[graduate_owner]

Skeety,
What lathe are you thinking of getting? There are a few makes that are generally not well respected, such as Clarke ( or identical machines, differently badged ). If you think you may take up turning as a serious (?) hobby then it might be a good idea to look at quality used lathes. Makes such as Record, Myford, Union ( graduate or Jubilee) can be relied on to perform year after year. There are some makes such as Tyme and Arundel that were well made but discontinued now and have uncommon threads, making accessories a problem. Myford and Union are also no longer made but their threads are more common. I have an old Myford ML8, still going strong after about 60 years, and a union graduate bowl lathe, again about 40 - 50 years old. I also have a Viceroy educator from the 50's to 60's, again going strong, although the threads are a bit odd.
Take a look at the website lathes.co.uk for information on these and many others.

K