Detail gouge - sharpening

[cwearing]

Can a detail gouge (Halmet) be sharpened with the Wolverine jig and still maintain the profile?😕

 

[Dennis J Gooding]

Detail gouges can take many forms but generally are characterized by a long pointy fingernail grind on a shallow-fluted spindle gouge. I am not familiar with the Hamlet tool, but almost any common grind can be duplicated or approximated using the Wolverine Vari-grind jig as follows: Insert the gouge into the jig with 1-3/4 inches protruding (or whatever amount that you choose as your standard) and set the arm of the jig to about the middle of its range. With the grinder OFF, set the arm of the jig in the V-arm pocket, turn the jig to the side so that the extreme back of the fingernail touches the grinding wheel and adjust the V-arm in or out to make the existing grind match the wheel contour. Next, turn the jig so that the nose of the gouge is touching the wheel and re-adjust the arm angle until the existing nose grind matches the wheel contour. This will get you close, but the match can be improved by repeating the process just described, using the arm angle just found as the new starting point. As an aid to determining whether the tool grind is matching the wheel contour, you can blacken the the tool face with a marker pen and rotate the grinding wheel by hand. When the wheel scratches a long line you have a good match. If you get just a dot at the edge or the heel, you need to re-adjust.

 

[hockenbery]

Can a detail gouge (Halmet) be sharpened with the Wolverine jig and still maintain the profile?😕

I can set my veri-grind to sharpen my detail gouges and spindle gouges to the fingernail grind I get sharpening by hand.

not sure what profile you are getting out of the box.
Most of spindle and detail gouges I have bought came with a straight across grind which I find unsuitable for the turning I do. I want a fingernail shape with a continuous convex curve on the edge. this is a shape that will roll beads and cut coves as well as turn tenon profiles for chuck mounts and turn out the foot of a bowl or hollow form.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Can a detail gouge (Halmet) be sharpened with the Wolverine jig and still maintain the profile?😕

Depends on the profile you want to maintain, which in turn depends on what you do with the tool and how you do it. The problem with jig shaping is that you must accommodate yourself to the shape obtained. If you can't, you must change the grind to one which the jig will produce and will produce results for you.

Since the jig cannot adapt creatively, it has to come from you.

 

[john lucas]

Check out my sharpening tips video and you'll see how I do it. I show the Thompson detail gouge sharpening but my Thompson 1/2" spindle gouge is sharpened the same way I just have a different block in my Oneway V jig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbggxj2kgyc

 

[Dean Center]

Most of spindle and detail gouges I have bought came with a straight across grind which I find unsuitable for the turning I do. I want a fingernail shape with a continuous convex curve on the edge.

Can you take one of the shallow spindle gouges that come sharpened straight across and put a workable fingernail grind on them, or is it a silk purse from a sow's ear?

Dean Center

 

[Mark Levitski]

Thank goodness, someone who uses the Vari-grind the way I do (Dennis J. G.).
I agree, use the pocket to get the side grind angle correct, then adjust the angle of the arm that sits in the pocket (a wing-nut on my old one) to set the nose angle. I use my Vari-grind to sharpen my two detail gouges. Works fine. Don't get too obsessive about initially matching the stock profile. As Dennis states: "...characterized by a long pointy fingernail grind on a shallow-fluted spindle gouge." That'll get you close enough, then learn your gouge.

That's how I do it.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Can you take one of the shallow spindle gouges that come sharpened straight across and put a workable fingernail grind on them, or is it a silk purse from a sow's ear?

Dean Center

You can put whatever grind you wish on the gouge. They typically come with a generic shaped edge that nobody actually uses.

 

[hockenbery]

Can you take one of the shallow spindle gouges that come sharpened straight across and put a workable fingernail grind on them, or is it a silk purse from a sow's ear?

Dean Center

Absolutely. That is what I meant to convey.

If I have straight across ground gouge. I start by turning it upside down so that the flute faces the wheel.
I set the platform so the top edges of the flute touches it to keep the gouge square to the wheel.
I keep the tool handle low and gently grind the corners back. My goal is to get the profile around the edge of the flute close to profile I want on the gouge. There will be a flat where you want the cutting edge with wide spots where the corners used to be.
I now grind the bevel, working the widest parts of the flat first. Whether by hand or in the jig I grind the wide parts of the flat gradually working the flat to single cutting edge.
This grinding to the cutting edge can be done in a jig set for the grind you want.

If I don't grind the flat there is no edge for the grinding of the bevel to meet up with. Often a thin wafer of metal develops where the edge should be and just bends instead of grinding away.

Have fun, Al