Safety and Wolverine

[Kurt Whitley]

This is a spin off from the "sharpening a roughing gouge" thread. Since it is safety related, I thought it best to open its own thread.

I sharpened a roughing gouge once with the Wolverine V-arm and met with very unpleasant results. The "short" bevel on the tool caused the wheel to want to grab it. I then used the platform and no more problems. The platform gives support where it's needed for that type of tool.

I run 45 to 55 degrees on my roughing gouges, so I haven't had any problem with them.
But I did had the same problem with a scraper - I should have "thought" before I "did".
Fortunately my fingers were not under the tool when it happened. I think they could have been broken or certainly severly bruised if they were underneath.
I retired the wheel because of the divot in it.

I think a good, conservative safety rule is to go to the platform if your bevel angle is greater than 65 degrees. Otherwise the edge of the tool can bite into the wheel and slam the tool down (which could probably do serious damage if your fingers are in the wrong place).

Just to be sure that the hazard is understood, envision sharpening a scraper at 89 degrees using the V-arm.
The tool is almost normal or perpendicular to the surface of the wheel.
If you laid your tool in this position and rotate the wheel, only very slight flex is required in the v-arm system to allow the wheel to grab the tool tip and carry it down past the center of the wheel so it drops the tool. As you decrease this angle, the v-arm system gets flexed more and the event is more violent.
Once you decrease the angle so far (as is the intended use of the wolverine), the tool is less likely to bind between the wheel and the v-pocket, and the v-arm could never flex that much if it did.

[Gordon Seto]

That is a very good point. Especially on smaller tools; the "short" bevel becomes super short in a heart beat. I have seen that happened twice at Woodcraft. Big chunk of wheel broke off, very scary.

Gordon

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kurt on my scraper I only have a 10 to 20 degree bevel on it. So I use the platform every time I sharpen a scraper. If that was tried on the V arm that would be a accident waiting to happen. I would be afraid to sharpen anything with the V arm that had a 30 degree bevel or less. It is a good point you brought up.

[Michael Armstrong]

Kurt:
Glad you didn't seriously injure yourself!

The vee arm is only for use with gouges or with the extra attachment to sharpen skews. Oneway's instructions refer to sharpening scrapers using the platform.

Michael

[Bob Hallowell]

I lost a good blue grinding wheel when my roughing gouge caught an edge and slamed down.

Bob

[Phillip H Smith]

Some really good advice here!!!!

Don't ask how I know this....But imagine watching your roughing gouge go flying off the wheel doing cartwheels toward the ceiling and then back at you before hitting the floor. When you hear that very loud, "WHAP"....get out of the way...F-A-S-T!!!!! Then (after a quick change of clothing!) you read the manual and it DOES say not to use the Vee arm for such tools.

OH..and BTW...guess how much dressing you have to do to get rid of the gouges in the sharpening wheel.

Never AGAIN!!!! Vee arm for bowl gouges (maybe skews)...but platform for most everything else.

[Pat Salter]

I have a set of "sticks" that I use to quickly setup my wolverine jig for the differant gouges. the one for the spindle roughing gouge is in place. it's a simple matter of loosening the handle, slip the arm out a bit, put in the right "stick" for whatever gouge i'm sharpening, slide up the arm, tighten the handle, and then I'm ready. I then start the grinder, drop (carefully) in the gouge, and softly sharpen. I also have some "guides" for setting up the platform for differant grinds I do with it. I hope the picture is good/big enough. I can usually sharpen a gouge in about 45 to 60 secs even if I have to change the settings.

[Mark Pruitt]

I have a set of "sticks" that I use to quickly setup my wolverine jig for the differant gouges. the one for the spindle roughing gouge is in place. it's a simple matter of loosening the handle, slip the arm out a bit, put in the right "stick" for whatever gouge i'm sharpening, slide up the arm, tighten the handle, and then I'm ready. I then start the grinder, drop (carefully) in the gouge, and softly sharpen. I also have some "guides" for setting up the platform for differant grinds I do with it. I hope the picture is good/big enough. I can usually sharpen a gouge in about 45 to 60 secs even if I have to change the settings.

Pat,
Your idea of a measuring stick is great, but the grind angle changes as you dress the wheel with that method (because you are reducing the wheel diameter with each successive dressing, which adds up over time). A more precise method would be to measure the distance between the end of the V-arm and the wheel (not the Wolverine base as in your pic). That way, your grind angle remains precisely the same.

Now having said that, I really ought to get my butt out to my shop and make a set of sticks. Instead, I'm too lazy to do that and just use the eyeball method instead.

ADDEMDUM: I should also state that IMHO I would use the platform for the setup you are showing in your pic. Maybe the resolution isn't giving me a good enough view, or it may be the angle of the camera, but what I'm looking at in that pic appears to be very, very close to the grind angle that I was using when my wheel was "grabbing" my roughing gouge.

[Jim Becker]

Mark beat me to it, Pat...it's important to index of the face of the wheel if you want to keep your grinds consistent. Same idea, but you need to use a piece of material that is tall enough to engage the front of the wheel.

[Kurt Whitley]

I'll go ya one better, I just got a Beal angle gage (equivalent to Wixey, just a new product). I put my roughing gouge in the Wolverine/wheel and after I sharpened it, I laid the angle gage on the tool steel and used a Sharpie to write the angle in the flute for future reference.