Over the years I was around and knew fairly well a few individuals who turned for a living. One was the turning specialist for a high end mill work company that did major restorations of historic homes, etc. Another turned wood forms for a metal spinning company. Yet another did general woodturning, whatever was needed, but his main deal was porch columns on his 16 foot lathe. I got to know these guys through my business where I had an automatic wood lathe.
Last week I was at the shop clean out of another local turner I only knew by reputation. All that was left were a few chunks of turning wood and his grinder. The grinder was a 6" Baldor, 3450 rpm, one grey wheel and a fine grit white wheel. This got me to thinking about the above mentioned turners, none of them had anything more than a bench grinder with no sharpening jigs, etc and a few hand stones.
Having been away from woodturning and woodworking in general for 25 years until recent retirement, I'm surprised at the current emphasis on sharpening equipment. Somehow turners seemed to do fine in the old days. (I will admit to being somewhat skeptical of the new sharpening equipment.)
Opinions, thoughts?