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Thread: Do you hone your gouges?

  1. #1
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    Do you hone your gouges?

    Both of my "go to" 3/8" bowl gouges are nearing the end of their useable length ... I wonder how much longer they may have lasted had I honed the cutting edge a couple of times between trips to the grinder. So I ask ....

    Do you hone?

    What honing tool have you had success using?

    Thanks,
    Tim

  2. #2
    I do not hone my gouges so I cannot speak to your second question but your first raises an interesting implication, I'm not sure it's a given your gouges would have lasted longer by honing. If by honing the idea is to make them sharper it also suggests a finer burr and/or edge...meaning they'd actually dull faster relative to type of wood, technique and any number of variables. I am certainly not a 'metal' guy so would be interested to read what others more apt at this end will chime in with. I platform sharpen my gouges and rarely ever make more than two swipes to either side so in the end I would think honing or otherwise would fall into the category of being statistically negligible. Other thoughts???

  3. #3
    I don't hone, but.... If your tools are wearing faster than you think they should, it can be because of a couple of reasons. Most common one is that we all tend to 'oversharpen'. There is a big difference between 'sharpening' and 'grinding'. Properly done, all you need to do is a quick kiss on the wheel. The coarser grits will wear the tools away faster than the finer grits, of course. I do have 600 and 1000 grit CBN wheels. The edges from them are great for fine finish cuts, but the edge is not suited to heavy roughing as they go dull more quickly. The 180 grit wheel is great for most use, from heavy roughing to fine finish cuts. The difference is with 'difficult' woods which are either punky and want to tear no matter what you do, or ones with interlocking grains like crotch wood which can be difficult to cut no matter what you use.

    robo hippy

  4. #4
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    The whole world is going to CBN wheels which work great. Just before they were offered i discovered 6" diamond lapidary discs on E-Bay. Mounted 4 of them(back to back) on a 35$HF double ended buffer. Now i have 4 grits fron 600 to 180 to hone my tools when I need scary sharp. By grinding gouges on a blue rock grinder I obtain a hollow grind which exposes the cutting tip. This just lightly brushed several times between grindings makes a long lasting tool. Hollow grinds and honing were made for each other and reduces time and metal. Not perfect but a good cheap result.

  5. #5
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    You don't mention what brand or type of steel you gouges were made of. Some stay sharp longer than others, also important to keep the same angle which hardly removes any steel per sharpening. I hone sometimes but not as a habit on gouges.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim Boger View Post
    Both of my "go to" 3/8" bowl gouges are nearing the end of their useable length ... I wonder how much longer they may have lasted had I honed the cutting edge a couple of times between trips to the grinder. So I ask ....
    Do you hone?
    I hone a little, less than I used to. I hone with a blue superfine EZE-lap paddle hone.

    hones.gif

    I can be more accurate with control by putting my forefinger on the back of this hone than anything else I've tried. But since honing changes the geometry of the bevel a little each time I only hone a few times before resharpening. This might not affect a bowl gouge as much as a spindle gouge used for detail. I also hone the inside of flutes with a round tapered diamond hone - this hones the edge without changing the bevel.

    However, I found out long ago my tools lasted nearly forever by sharpening on the Tormek water stone instead of the grinder. With the jig set for a repeatable cut only the barest wisp of metal is removed. Gouges 12 years old are still about as long as new.

    Then, as Reed did, I went to CBN wheels on everything. With a 600 grit wheel on the Tormek, sharpening still removes hardly any metal IF I use a light touch. (Even a 600 CBN can be quite aggressive.) I put other CBN wheels on bench grinders and use them with the Wolverine/Varigrind jig for some tools and also with very little metal removal. A 600 grit CBN on an 8" 1/2 speed bench grinder is my preferred way to sharpen skews freehand.

    The problem with the Tormek with either water wheel or fine CBN is it takes forever to remove a lot of metal to reshape a tool, especially a big scraper. For that I use a coarser CBN wheel on a bench grinder with either a Tormek guide bar and jigs or the Varigrind. Very fast, then I move to the 600 wheel for a better edge. Sharpening this way is so quick and easy I don't hone as much as I used to.

    I like to strop the tool cutting edges as well to knock of the grinding burr, either on a flat piece of leather or on the Tormek leather wheels, both with the Tormek honing compound.

    JKJ
    Last edited by John K Jordan; 08-25-2016 at 12:01 AM.

  7. #7
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    Thank you gentlemen for your feedback.

    To answer a couple of questions, my gouges are both Sorby 3/8" with a fingernail grind.

    I do have a CBN on my grinder, a remarkable difference indeed. I do feel like most of my wear occurred "pre" CBN ...obviously.

    John, I have the same hones as you've shown above, I'm wondering if something larger might be a bit more effective.

    Time to start looking around for a new bowl gouge and perhaps a detail gouge as well.

    Tim

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim Boger View Post
    John, I have the same hones as you've shown above, I'm wondering if something larger might be a bit more effective.
    When I first started turning Mike Lee from Hawaii showed how he uses credit card sized diamond hones to touch up turning tools. I got some and used them until I tried the little paddle hones. I found I could control the smaller hones much better than the larger meaning I am less likely to tilt the hone too far lifting it off the heel of the bevel and changing the angle of the edge even more or even rounding it over. This is probably due to several things: the narrower paddle, the feather weight, the handle, and the way I hold it with the handle in my palm and my forefinger pressing near the tip to keep the hone in tight contact with both sides of the bevel.

    I've bought several different brands of these paddle hones and I like the EZElap the best. The metal plate with the diamond grit is flat and has grit all the way to the square edges unlike another brand that uses bent sheet metal. The sharp corner on the edge lets me touch up other things easier like router bits and drill bits.

    BTW, these little hones are usually way more expensive than they "should" be. Some years ago I discovered I could buy them in quantity directly from the mfgr at a fraction of the price. I have a multi-lifetime supply now, mostly the super fine but also some of the very coarse.

    If you do want some bigger hones at a fair price, Ken Rizza (Woodturners Wonders) sells two-sided CBN hones with a choice of grit on either side. I bought two giving me four grits from 350 to 1200. They are 2.75"x8" and great for knives, chisels, etc. but I haven't tried them on a bowl gouge. He advertises these CBN hones on his web site but he can custom order other sizes in any grits you want. I special ordered some with diamond grit specifically to sharpen ceramic cutters for shearing my llamas. Ken can also provide custom CBN wheel configurations if you want something not advertised. (And, no, I don't get a commission - I just like dealing with him!)

    I think this is the tapered hone I use on the inside of the flute: https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/D...FY89gQodcgQMLA Looks like it anyway.

    JKJ

  9. #9
    My bowl gouges are about the only tools I don't hone much, although I have on occasion when I feel like it would help with a particularly fine cut.

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