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Lathe fingernail gouge sharpening

srjdsmith

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
23
I have some questions about sharpening wood lathe gouges.

(caveat: some day I will buy a slow speed grinder and a proper attachment for gouges, parting tools, skews… but right now I have to use what I have. It the moment I’m coveting the 8” Rikon grinder with either a complete set of Wolverine or PSI sharpening attachments.)

So, I have a WorkSharp 3000 and I built a workstation for it, on Stumpy Nubs basic design. And over on LumberJocks, there’s an excellent design for some jigs for gouge sharpening. (https://www.lumberjocks.com/SPalm/blog/36151), which I’m working on.

The question is, is there an advantage to having the support post run at an angle to the gouge more obtuse than 90°? Ultimately, I want the bevel to be 45° or 50°, but I‘m too green to know what angle will work best for me. I’m pretty sure, however, that I want swept back wings in a fingernail or modified fingernail profile. From the pictures in LumberJocks, the pics that Steve Palm posted make it look like his design does a pretty traditional 45° grind.

Would a different angle on the support post give me the right angle with more wings? Or do I have to do a traditional profile and be patient until I can afford a regular grinder?
 
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RTM

Well-known member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
13,092
Location
SF Bay Area
I think changing the height of your post will change the angle of the grind. Changing the angle will also change the height, but at a loss of strength. My sharpener does the opposite, it raises a bar, and then I set my extension with a Jet clamp. I just change the amount of tool sticking out of the clamp to change the angle.

You might be able to make something similar for a fixed abrasive media to let you play with angles.


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