sharpening

[Robert Forrest]

what is best sharpening system, Sorby Pro or CBN wheels

 

[hockenbery]

First off you will not get an absolute answer but a lot of different opinions. There is not an agreed to best among turners.
You should add The tormek and its knock offs. These have a lot of fans - I use mine for skews.

Few turners use the belt systems as their sole sharpening system.
Lots of turners have used belt sanders for some sharpening or shaping or until they can get grinder.

I use an 8” grinder with an 80 grit CBN wheel for the bowl gouge and a 180 CBN for most everything else
Now for another boat load of opinions on the grit wheels to use.
In favorable turning situations I can get a 320 sandable surface with a pull cut using my gouge sharpened on an 80 grit wheel - no honing.
I use the Ellsworth jig on my bowl gouges and freehand with the platform with other tools.


If you can’t decide between the belt and CBN
A friend of mine has a tradesman with a belt and a CBN - she loves it.

Packard Woodworks: The Woodturner's Source: Tradesman 8" Variable Speed Grinder

 

[Doug Freeman]

@hockenbery gave you a great response.

One thing he didnt really address is grinding. Def - grinding is major material removal to significantly change the tool shape. I’ve done a lot of this with scrapers and bowl gouges. 80 gr cbn is very slow for this. I use a 46gr stone wheel. Sharpening then follows grinding.

I think I’m one of the few that hasn’t changed to cbn, mainly due to getting a really good buy on stone wheels from someone who did convert.

I use a grizzly tormek knockoff, with tormek jig and tools, to sharpen gouges. I prefer it to cbn due to the slow material removal and control it provides (I’ve used 180gr cbn, much greater material removal). I use an 80gr stone wheel to sharpen other tools (mainly scrapers and skews), and hand hone those, and strop skews on the grizzly.

I considered belt sander types. I would go through a lot of belt swaps, which would get old fast for me. I like have the machine with the grit needed ready to be turned on and go. Personally I dont find the need to dress the stone wheels occasionally a big deal, one of the big reasons folks like cbn.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

I've had a 180 grit CBN wheel as my fine grit wheel now for a few years. Does a weekend hobby turner *need* one? Not in my opinion. For 25 years I used only white (sometimes pink or blue...) J or K hardness aluminum oxide stone wheels, 60 grit for course grinding and shaping, and 100 or 120 grit for sharpening, and they served me without any problems. I contend I can get as good of an edge with 120 grit AO as I can with 180 grit CBN. If something tragic happened to my CBN, I'd replace it with an AO wheel at 20% of the CBN price.

I am not knocking CBN. It's just another tool that has other advantages (very long life, no need to dress it, balanced from the factory, etc.) over AO but at a much higher initial cost. Before sinking money into CBN, learn to grind and sharpen, and invest in a jig system. (I'm a Oneway Wolvernie system guy personally. Other have come to market over the years that work just as well but are not worth me switching to.) Most grinders marketed to woodworkers/turners come with white aluminum oxide wheels. It's the gray silicon carbide wheels on hardware store grinders you want to avoid. Great for screwdrivers and mower blades, bad for hardened turning tools.

 

[Lyle Jamieson]

I like the wolverine system over the belt sanding systems for the versatility.

 

[Kevin Weir]

First off you will not get an absolute answer but a lot of different opinions. There is not an agreed to best among turners.
You should add The tormek and its knock offs. These have a lot of fans - I use mine for skews.

Few turners use the belt systems as their sole sharpening system.
Lots of turners have used belt sanders for some sharpening or shaping or until they can get grinder.

I use an 8” grinder with an 80 grit CBN wheel for the bowl gouge and a 180 CBN for most everything else
Now for another boat load of opinions on the grit wheels to use.
In favorable turning situations I can get a 320 sandable surface with a pull cut using my gouge sharpened on an 80 grit wheel - no honing.
I use the Ellsworth jig on my bowl gouges and freehand with the platform with other tools.


If you can’t decide between the belt and CBN
A friend of mine has a tradesman with a belt and a CBN - she loves it.

Packard Woodworks: The Woodturner's Source: Tradesman 8" Variable Speed Grinder

Interesting that you use an 80 grit CBN for your bowl gouge. I’ve always used 600 grit for my bowl gouges. My thinking is that it takes so little off the gouge, I should get much longer life from it. Your thoughts?

 

[Don Stephan]

A local woodturning group can be invaluable - opportunity for discussion rather than back and forth text; opportunity to see and hopefully try others' sharpening systems before making a purchase.

First, I would suggest becoming knowedgeable on the importance of shape and the recommended shape(s) for individual tools and situations; the concept of "floating/gliding/riding" the bevel and relieving the heel; what is a sharp cutting edge. A sharp cutting edge on a poor shape for the situation will not work any better than a dull cutting edge.

 

[Robert Forrest]

@hockenbery gave you a great response.

One thing he didnt really address is grinding. Def - grinding is major material removal to significantly change the tool shape. I’ve done a lot of this with scrapers and bowl gouges. 80 gr cbn is very slow for this. I use a 46gr stone wheel. Sharpening then follows grinding.

I think I’m one of the few that hasn’t changed to cbn, mainly due to getting a really good buy on stone wheels from someone who did convert.

I use a grizzly tormek knockoff, with tormek jig and tools, to sharpen gouges. I prefer it to cbn due to the slow material removal and control it provides (I’ve used 180gr cbn, much greater material removal). I use an 80gr stone wheel to sharpen other tools (mainly scrapers and skews), and hand hone those, and strop skews on the grizzly.

I considered belt sander types. I would go through a lot of belt swaps, which would get old fast for me. I like have the machine with the grit needed ready to be turned on and go. Personally I dont find the need to dress the stone wheels occasionally a big deal, one of the big reasons folks like cbn.

Thank you for the comparisons. What is a Tormeck knock off?

 

[Robert Forrest]

I like the wolverine system over the belt sanding systems for the versatility.

Does the Wolverine system handle an Irish grind?. The Sorby system seems pretty easy to use and can accomodate everything from skews to long grinds. since i don’t have a lot of experience with tool sharpening, I bought the Sorby system because it seems very intuitive.

 

[Robert Forrest]

A local woodturning group can be invaluable - opportunity for discussion rather than back and forth text; opportunity to see and hopefully try others' sharpening systems before making a purchase.

First, I would suggest becoming knowedgeable on the importance of shape and the recommended shape(s) for individual tools and situations; the concept of "floating/gliding/riding" the bevel and relieving the heel; what is a sharp cutting edge. A sharp cutting edge on a poor shape for the situation will not work any better than a dull cutting edge.

Thank you. I am a member of a local club and have had several offers from members to provide advice on sharpening, which I plan to follow up.

 

[Robert Forrest]

I like the wolverine system over the belt sanding systems for the versatility.

What is the cost of the Wolverine system? Is there a learning curve for it? My Sorby system is pretty much self explanatory and the angle guide makes lining up the tool for sharpening very easy. It is a belt system and the belts do wear out fast but replacing a belt is very quick and easy.

 

[William Rogers]

I use both the CBN 180 & 80 grit wheels. I also have a white wheel on a scond grinder. For all my bowl and spindle gouges I use the 180 CBN and the Hannes jig. I also have the Sorby Pro and this is used for all my skews, scrapers and roughing gouges.
The Hannes jig has an advantage over the OneWay as you can sharpen all the way down to 1/2" of remaining flute. It also provides a grind that is different from OneWay that reduces the possibility of a catch.
The Sorby Pro is the best solution for skews, scrapers, and roughing gouges IMO. It can do bowl and spindle gouges, however the protrusion is a lot more than the OneWay. The Sorby Pro does produce a flat grind vs a hollow grind from a wheel. I prefer the flat grind on my skews.
I use to have the Jet knockoff of the Tormek wet grinder. While it produce a nice shinny edge was more involved and slower than other systems.

EDIT: I used the Wolverine with the white wheels for years before switching to the Hannes and Sorby Pro. I sold my Wolverine. I never liked the grind for my skews using the OneWay skew attachment.

 

[hockenbery]

Interesting that you use an 80 grit CBN for your bowl gouge. I’ve always used 600 grit for my bowl gouges. My thinking is that it takes so little off the gouge, I should get much longer life from it. Your thoughts?

My thought is the 80 grit gives a slightly serrated edge that cuts nicely and is relatively durable.
A lot of the turners I discussed sharpening with prefer a coarser wheel for bowl gouges.
I’ve use some fine grits in demos haven’t seen the edge perform better.

You are probably right that the gouge lasts longer with a 600 grit sharpening.

Not sure it’s significant. Every few sharpenings, I need a second pass on the 80 grit wheel to get sparks breaking over the whole edge.
Would this be 2 passes on a 600 grit wheel or more?

 

[Kevin Neelley]

Interesting that you use an 80 grit CBN for your bowl gouge. I’ve always used 600 grit for my bowl gouges. My thinking is that it takes so little off the gouge, I should get much longer life from it. Your thoughts?

I also use a 80 grit CBN wheel for my bowl gouges and a pocket CBN stone for between wheel sharpenings. Not much steel is removed in the sharpening process using a Wolverine sharpening rig.

I use a 220 grit CBN wheel for my skews and a CBN pocket hone for between wheel sharpenings. I have a Wolverine platform set for only skews so I never need to reset it.

 

[hockenbery]

What is a Tormeck knock off?

Tormek is a water wheel sharpening system..
Jet makes one. Delta used to make one. I think there are several others probably grizzly…..

 

[Brian Gustin]

Thank you for the comparisons. What is a Tormeck knock off?

As Hockenberry said, And, There's also Wen (Easy to find on Amazon) which is quite cheap but I find the brand is usually pretty reliable (I have 3 wen products and have had no trouble with any of them)

Does the Wolverine system handle an Irish grind?. The Sorby system seems pretty easy to use and can accomodate everything from skews to long grinds. since i don’t have a lot of experience with tool sharpening, I bought the Sorby system because it seems very intuitive.

Yes Wolverine (With the Vari-Grind jig) handles irish grind (AKA Ellsworth Grind, which is similar but not as long of a wing) quite well - It is what I use. However since you say you already have the sorby and are happy with it, I'd say stick with what works - There are several versions of grinding jigs and platforms (even for the Tormek and its knock-offs) and any of them have their own pros and cons, just like the Sorby belt system does. Wolverine system I believe runs less than $200 USD , but does not include a grinder (I have a Rikon 1/2 HP at $160, the wolverine system w/ Vari-grind at $190, and 2 CBN wheels at around $150 each, so cost wise , little different from the Sorby system, which I presume comes with all the needed stuff in one kit) I recently upgraded my grinder with a new Kodiak platform to replace the relatively flimsy wolverine (which was still FAR better than the standard tool rest that comes with the grinder!)

 

[Richard Coers]

Best is always subjective. No proper answer. I used a 1725rpm grinder and aluminum oxide wheels long before your options were even available. Once the Wolverine jig came out, the bench grinder is pretty much fool proof no matter what wheel you put on it. .

 

[robo hippy]

I use slow speed grinders with CBN wheels, the Baldor and the 1 hp. Rikon grinders. I have wheels from 80 to 1000 grit, but mostly use the 180 grit wheels and the 600 for softer punky woods. As for how much metal you take off with each sharpening, the difference is mostly in how you sharpen. I use platforms only, which is not for every one. If you 'grind' then you are taking off too much metal/sharpening. If you just kiss the bevel to the wheel, the wear is minimal. I do not hone my tools since it is simpler to go to the wheel. Repeatability is the key, and there are many ways to do that. I have a couple of sharpening videos up on You Tube, as well as other turning videos, mostly bowl related....

robo hippy

 

[Bill Alston]

I’ve been using a Belt Grinder for sharpening tools for many years. I also have a Bench Grinder which rarely gets used.
The beauty of belt grinders is that you can run anything from a 40 grit for reshaping tools belt up to 2000 grit to get a polished edge. It takes only a few seconds to swap belts. You can use Alox belts, Ceramic, Zirconium, Trizact and even Diamond. You can also get a Leather honing belt. Belts are cheap but obviously wear out after a while.
I bought this machine when it was on special offer at £399.95. I bought it over the Sorby because you can use most of the jigs made for whetstone grinders on it. It also has variable speed and forward and reverse, both lacking on the Sorby. Some Sorby owners have modified their Pro Edges to enable the use of whetstone jigs, it’s not difficult.

Axminster Professional Ultimate Edge V/Speed Sharpening System - 230V

Woodwork without a keen edge simply ends up in tears. The Axminster Professional AP50UE Ultimate Edge offers a controlled, repeatable and effective method for sharpening, linishing or polishing on all your edge tools. No one takes up sharpening as a...

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[Randy Heinemann]

The best system is the one you use repeatedly and get good at. For maintining a sharp edge on my gouges, scrapers, and the miscellaneous tools like my parting tool, I use Tormek equipped with a diamon wheel and gouge jig and flat plate. It's fast, easy, and the results are completely repeatable.

I also own a standard grinder with CBN wheels for other tools I can't easily do on the Tormek or for reshaping (or am better at sharpening on the grinder).

However, these have become the standard for me because I've repeatedly used them, developed the necessary habits and skills for each tool, and I get great results. Others will recommend other methods and equipment, but the fact is that picking one and using it repeatedly to sharpen is the best way to get the results you want.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Thank you for the comparisons. What is a Tormeck knock off?

It is made by Grizzly Industrial. Mine is the previous model but very similar

10" Variable-Speed Wet Sharpener - Grizzly Industrial

<h1>T32720 10" Variable-Speed Wet Sharpener</h1> <h2>Sharpen just about any cutting tool to a razor sharp edge.</h2> <p>The T32720 10" Variable-Speed Wet Sharpener is so versatile and simple to use, you’ll wonder why you ever put up with sharpening by hand before.</p> <p>The 2-1/2" wide...

www.grizzly.com

Wen makes one as well as others.

 

[Kevin Weir]

My thought is the 80 grit gives a slightly serrated edge that cuts nicely and is relatively durable.
A lot of the turners I discussed sharpening with prefer a coarser wheel for bowl gouges.
I’ve use some fine grits in demos haven’t seen the edge perform better.

You are probably right that the gouge lasts longer with a 600 grit sharpening.

Not sure it’s significant. Every few sharpenings, I need a second pass on the 80 grit wheel to get sparks breaking over the whole edge.
Would this be 2 passes on a 600 grit wheel or more?

I’m going to try my 180grit CBN next time and see if I notice a difference. I can usually get the gouges sharp with either one or 2 passes with the Wolverine setup on the 600 wheel. Thanks for the info.

 

[Steven Forrest]

Lots of good info/advice here. A few more thoughts:
"Best" is dependent on your situation. One of our club members loves his Tormek because of how quiet and clean it is, as he lives in an apartment. We tend to picture woodturners as having a shop space, but that might not be your situation.
What is your budget? A Wolverine system (or equivalent) with a grinder is a very functional setup for a relatively modest cost. AO wheels are much less expensive up front than CBN, but I have been so pleased with CBN. (I do keep a grinder with AO around for legacy carbon steel tools, heavy grinding, etc.) The Tormek with all the jigs is pretty costly - even the lower priced clones add up. The Sorby system has lots of pluses, but it is relatively expensive, and the belts are proprietary. (I don't know what their expected life is, but you'd have to factor that into the overall cost.)
So the takeaway is - think about your situation, your budget, your skill level, your preferences - and then see what will fit best. Absolutely take advantage of your club members' generosity and check out the options. Good luck!

PS I had the good fortune to visit the Sorby factory in Sheffield several years ago. Their sharpening system is basically a well made consumer version of what they actually use in the factory.

PPS A jig has been well worth the money. I have the Oneway jig, the Ellsworth jig, and several aids for setting platform angles. Precise/repeatable is a great way to go, even if you do develop the hand sharpening skills.

 

[Mike Shannon]

Does anybody else ever have an issue with the wolverine/varigrind system not hitting both wings equally? One or two passes for one wing and several passes for the other wing. I try to make certain the gouge is snugged up and level in my depth jig (and the screw-down clamp should make it level/even anyway).

 

[David Shombert]

Does anybody else ever have an issue with the wolverine/varigrind system not hitting both wings equally? One or two passes for one wing and several passes for the other wing. I try to make certain the gouge is snugged up and level in my depth jig (and the screw-down clamp should make it level/even anyway).

I had that problem some years ago. I finally decided it was because I hadn't set up the Vari-Grind carefully enough - the "arm" was not perfectly centered on the wheel, if that makes sense. I redid the whole thing and it was much better.

 

[Steve Tiedman]

David is correct, get those bases dead parallel with and centered on the wheels. Take the wheel covers off and use a square of some kind to transfer the plain of the side of the wheel (from the 3 and 9 o'clock areas of the wheel sides) to your grinder mount surface and strike a reference line, then you can work the mounts from those lines. I hope this description makes sense.

 

[Richard Coers]

Does anybody else ever have an issue with the wolverine/varigrind system not hitting both wings equally? One or two passes for one wing and several passes for the other wing. I try to make certain the gouge is snugged up and level in my depth jig (and the screw-down clamp should make it level/even anyway).

Do you really use both wings? Do they really have to be perfectly identical? I always consider that I can spend a little more time on one side or the other to get them very close.

 

[Brian Gustin]

I kinda agree with the rest - First, yeah you need things to be squared up in every dimension when setting up the wolverine (Kodiak system has its own grinder mounting base that I *think* sorts out that issue... if you buy the whole system.) and as Richard Coers said, do you really need both wings to be equal? I'd suggest having a peek at Richard Raffan's Asymmetric grind - I did such a grind on an old gouge (It has to be done freehand but do-able) and considering I'd never done a bowl gouge grind freehand before, it worked & cut beautifully as advertised. I need to wait 'til I get a new replacement bowl gouge sometime down the road before I can retire one of my 1/2-inch (U.S. Dimension) Ellsworth grind gouges to make it into a Raffan Grind (Which I liked for a few select situations, but not something I wanted to use all the time, as I *LIKE* the results I get from my Ellsworth grinds.

 

[Mike Shannon]

I had that problem some years ago. I finally decided it was because I hadn't set up the Vari-Grind carefully enough - the "arm" was not perfectly centered on the wheel, if that makes sense. I redid the whole thing and it was much better.

David is correct, get those bases dead parallel with and centered on the wheels. Take the wheel covers off and use a square of some kind to transfer the plain of the side of the wheel (from the 3 and 9 o'clock areas of the wheel sides) to your grinder mount surface and strike a reference line, then you can work the mounts from those lines. I hope this description makes sense.

Thanks, David and Steve. Very helpful. I'll give it a closer look.

 

[robo hippy]

My grinds are never 'perfect'. My noses are seldom perfectly centered, and the wings also may be longer or shorter on one side. It doesn't make any difference on how they cut. I do use scrapers for all of my shear scraping, mostly because I consider them better for the job than gouge wings.

robo hippy

 

[Mike Shannon]

My grinds are never 'perfect'. My noses are seldom perfectly centered, and the wings also may be longer or shorter on one side. It doesn't make any difference on how they cut. I do use scrapers for all of my shear scraping, mostly because I consider them better for the job than gouge wings.

robo hippy

It isn't that the wings aren't perfectly matched. It's that upon contact, the grinding wheel hits the heel too much on one wing and excessive grinding has to be done before the wheel hits the cutting edge. So, more time but also much more steel has to be ground away on one side before an edge is achieved on that wing.
Apparently a bit hard for me to be clear about because others also seem to think I'm hung up on some sort of perfect evenness of the wings. It should make fairly equal relative contact on both wing edges within a couple (maybe even a few) passes and it isn't. I'll be checking my setup alignment closer as suggested. It seems a likely culprit.

 

[hockenbery]

It isn't that the wings aren't perfectly matched. It's that upon contact, the grinding wheel hits the heel too much on one wing and excessive grinding has to be done before the wheel hits the cutting edge. So, more time but also much more steel has to be ground away on one side before an edge is achieved on that wing.

Something is changing your geometry between sharpenings so that one wing is closer to the wheel than the other from the last time you sharpened.

It sounds like the tool is tilted in the jig, or the tool is locked in at a slight angle or the jig isn’t turning smoothly on the pivot point.
Make sure you are locking the tool squarely in the jig. You might be putting pressure on the jig as you tighten the lock. Inconsistent pressure can change that angle off true.

Also I had a varigrind with really square edges. It didn’t turn smoothly in the vee pocket.
I gently rolled the tool on the grinder.
I took no metal off the end of the varigrind just softened the 4 edges so it spun 8n Planck n8cely.

 

[Mike Shannon]

Something is changing your geometry between sharpenings so that one wing is closer to the wheel than the other from the last time you sharpened.

It sounds like the tool is tilted in the jig, or the tool is locked in at a slight angle or the jig isn’t turning smoothly on the pivot point.
Make sure you are locking the tool squarely in the jig. You might be putting pressure on the jig as you tighten the lock. Inconsistent pressure can change that angle off true.

Also I had a varigrind with really square edges. It didn’t turn smoothly in the vee pocket.
I gently rolled the tool on the grinder.
I took no metal off the end of the varigrind just softened the 4 edges so it spun 8n Planck n8cely.

The tilting in the jig is what it seems like so I've been certain as I can that it sits flat under the locking "screw". I've considered putting a metal washer on the bottom of the screw lock to ensure even pressure/flatness. I will also check the varigrind edges. Thanks.

And sorry about hijacking this thread. I've had this issue since the beginning and have wondered about it and was hesitant to ask. This thread titled "sharpening" finally pushed me over the edge (so to speak).

 

[Kent Jaffrey]

Does anybody else ever have an issue with the wolverine/varigrind system not hitting both wings equally? One or two passes for one wing and several passes for the other wing. I try to make certain the gouge is snugged up and level in my depth jig (and the screw-down clamp should make it level/even anyway).

I found a similar situation when I started with the Vari grind jig, not super bad but definitely annoying. I figured out that it was due to the plastic clamp pad in the Vari grind jig getting slightly deformed/grooved by the edge of the gouge. If the old grooves in the pad didn’t match edges of the gouge I was putt8ng in, the gouge would twist a little (do to the lumps in the pad) leading to the uneven passes.

To solve the problem I simply used a sharpie to mark a spot on the plastic clamp pad and now always make sure this mark is in the same spot when I tighten it down. Since doing this there has been very little trouble with uneven sharpening.

 

[Jaramiah Severns]

I like to use a CBN for major shaping / reshaping, but prefer a Tormek for regular sharpening. Tormek is super consistent and gets my gouges incredibly sharp

 

[Mike Shannon]

I had that problem some years ago. I finally decided it was because I hadn't set up the Vari-Grind carefully enough - the "arm" was not perfectly centered on the wheel, if that makes sense. I redid the whole thing and it was much better.

David is correct, get those bases dead parallel with and centered on the wheels. Take the wheel covers off and use a square of some kind to transfer the plain of the side of the wheel (from the 3 and 9 o'clock areas of the wheel sides) to your grinder mount surface and strike a reference line, then you can work the mounts from those lines. I hope this description makes sense.

Something is changing your geometry between sharpenings so that one wing is closer to the wheel than the other from the last time you sharpened.

It sounds like the tool is tilted in the jig, or the tool is locked in at a slight angle or the jig isn’t turning smoothly on the pivot point.
Make sure you are locking the tool squarely in the jig. You might be putting pressure on the jig as you tighten the lock. Inconsistent pressure can change that angle off true.

Also I had a varigrind with really square edges. It didn’t turn smoothly in the vee pocket.
I gently rolled the tool on the grinder.
I took no metal off the end of the varigrind just softened the 4 edges so it spun 8n Planck n8cely.

I found a similar situation when I started with the Vari grind jig, not super bad but definitely annoying. I figured out that it was due to the plastic clamp pad in the Vari grind jig getting slightly deformed/grooved by the edge of the gouge. If the old grooves in the pad didn’t match edges of the gouge I was putt8ng in, the gouge would twist a little (do to the lumps in the pad) leading to the uneven passes.

To solve the problem I simply used a sharpie to mark a spot on the plastic clamp pad and now always make sure this mark is in the same spot when I tighten it down. Since doing this there has been very little trouble with uneven sharpening.

Okay. It's over 100 degrees today and I've no heat/air in the shop but I had to go try all of this.
As far as alignment goes there was a small of amount of tweaking to be gained.
I also smoothed the end of the varigrind and can tell that it rotates much more nicely now.
I had noticed some small grooves in the plastic pad due to cranking it down trying to get a level seating so I inserted a quarter-sized washer between the pad and gouge top and don't crank as hard. Then I came in and saw Kent's post!
Bottom line is it all added up to a much, much more acceptable tolerance for hitting the cutting edge of both wings. Thank you all very much!
I hope it holds up and that it isn't just the heat effecting my perception! =]

 

[Kent Reisdorph]

Something is changing your geometry between sharpenings so that one wing is closer to the wheel than the other from the last time you sharpened.

It sounds like the tool is tilted in the jig, or the tool is locked in at a slight angle or the jig isn’t turning smoothly on the pivot point.
Make sure you are locking the tool squarely in the jig. You might be putting pressure on the jig as you tighten the lock. Inconsistent pressure can change that angle off true.

Also I had a varigrind with really square edges. It didn’t turn smoothly in the vee pocket.
I gently rolled the tool on the grinder.
I took no metal off the end of the varigrind just softened the 4 edges so it spun 8n Planck n8cely.

Another factor might be how the gouge is used. If you use the left wing 90% of the time, and then sharpen both sides equally, the right wing will be a little proud vs. left. Maybe. /shrug

 

[odie]

My grinds are never 'perfect'. My noses are seldom perfectly centered, and the wings also may be longer or shorter on one side. It doesn't make any difference on how they cut. I do use scrapers for all of my shear scraping, mostly because I consider them better for the job than gouge wings.

robo hippy

^^^^^ Robo is exactly right.

Too many turners get way too concerned about perfection.....when what really matters isn't the tool at all.....but what YOU can do with it!

Now, that.................takes practice.

-o-

 

[robo hippy]

Well, since I only use a platform to sharpen, being slightly off center is normal. I can see that with some jig set ups, it is possible to get a bit sideways. Once my angle is set, it is a matter of laying the tool shaft flat on the grinder platform, and rolling the tool. Simple for me. Also, I grind off half or more of the heel of the tool, even with my scrapers so the heel is not an issue.

robo hippy

 

[Doug Freeman]

suggest having a peek at Richard Raffan's Asymmetric grind - I did such a grind on an old gouge (It has to be done freehand but do-able)

Actually I am able to do it with a jig. One wing is Ellsworth like and the other is 40/40 like, both of which I can do with a tormek jig. Just a matter of grind time.