Sharpening, Once Again

I have been catching up on my emails to be answered and one question that comes up over and over again is that of sharpening. Really this is not surprising. After all, dull woodturning tools make for lousy and frustrating woodturning. Add to this the prevailing argument over free hand or jig sharpening and you either get a frustrated newbie who

1. can not get the hang of freehand sharpening that we who have turned for a while learned after only two or three years
2. decides the only way to go is to get a jee whiz bang jig and then finds out that it adds a hundred or two to his after lathe cost of tools, grinder, special wheels, sanding pads, and whatever else

Years ago I built my $2.50 sharpening jig with the understanding that if it worked well for me, I would get a commercial one. You see, I was not convinced that I wanted to go from free hand to jig sharpening. The jig worked so well that I never got around to replacing it. One of these days I may, in a fit of energy, remake it in metal, but I doubt it. It works so well, why fix it?


jig with spindle gouge

There are not so much plans since every grinder is a bit different, but rather a discussion of building with photos over at sharpening jig. If you keep going to the last page there are videos of it working. For a couple of bucks, it is worth a shot.

Hope it helps. Keep turning.