Bought a lathe today...

Gary

SE Kansas
Grinding the Gouges, at least the ones I have are a breeze to sharpen. First off ITS is exactly right, Grinder is a must, LOW SPEED Grinder (1725 rpm) IMO is the only way to go. I have mine decked out with a " grinding system" which greatly aids in precision grinding. Oneway Wolverine Grinding Jig and the Oneway Vari-grind Jig are the tools I use EVERY TIME I Turn. It takes seconds, not minutes to properly grind a tool. IF you have a grinder with a decent platform to rest the tool (cutter) upon to sharpen you could get by in a pinch. If you have Carbon Steel cutters, you IMO must have a low speed grinder or you risk ruining the edge. Woodcraft.com has the sharpening Jigs, but *bay probably does as well.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
ITS, the bottom pictured grinder is how I've found mine several times, as did my father, when "the boy" decides if it'll grind metal it'll surely grind wood. Who was I to know my home made arrows weren't to be sharpened on Dads grinder?!!

I have a gear reduction grinder, took me 40 years to find one. Just can't find a motor that turns in the right direction at a price I can stomach.

Lee Valley Tools has some real nice lathe (and other) tools.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I'm with ITS.

First, learn how to maintain the machine, get to know it so you know when it gets sick; knowing how it works helps make it easier to learn how to use it. Not that there's much to a wood spinamathingy. Second, get to know the tooling and how to maintain it. Doesn't have to be fancy but you need tool maintenance equipment and the knowledge to use it before you start making chips. Books and mentirs are invaluable for this. Correct tool angles (and knowledge to identify and put them correct when they aren't) is a critical part of operator safety IMO.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I rarely dress the wheels sine I changed to a white Norton wheel. They wear faster but don’t load up near as much. And cut fast? Holy cow!
 

Ian

Notorious member
I rebuilt a junk store antique Desmond cutting-type dresser and use it for the bench grinder where I grind all my tools. Not a fan of the diamond dressers for bench grinders but they're probably a necessity for truing tool grinders.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Oh dear. Just had a Jack Handey deep thought....why di we call them bench grinders if we don't use them for grinding benches?

The same question would apply to tool post grinders.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
My dad had a wheel dresser, the star wheel type. We used it so much over the years we wore the stars down to nothing. I looked for many years for a placcement wheel dresser with no luck, this being pre-internet era. I'd kind of forgotten about it and one day in my local auto parts store I see a box of replacement star wheels! I gleefully take them up to the counter and the counter guy asks me what they are and what they are used for? They'd found the box on a shelf in the back and stuck them out on the rack to make space. None of them had ever heard of truing/cleaning a wheel. No sooner do I get them on my dresser than I go to an auction and buy a box of stuff and in the bottom is another brand new dresser! When it rains it pours!

Gary has it right for sure, when you attack some turning project at the wrong angle you know right away!!!

For kicks some day, get on You Tube and look up "spring pole lathe". I think Roy Underhill of "The Woodwrights Shop" fame has some episodes with one too. Used to be, in Europe at least, that a "chair bodger" (sp?) would come into an area, find a likely looking spot in some trees and fashion a spring pole lathe right there. Then he'd turn chair legs and other turned ware for however long the market lasted in that area. Then on to another area where he could again set up shop. This is where the surname "Turner" came from according to some sources.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
A machine/welding shop near where I used to live had a grinder outside the shop. The wheels were probably 10-12" across and at least 3 feet in diameter, maybe 4'. The motor that ran it was a 3 phase job about the size of one of these electric cars you see now. There was a jib boom crane there to lift the stock up and get it over to the grinder. I believe it came from one of the General Electric locomotive shops in Schenectady NY. It was truly impressive thing to see if you dig old iron.