Models for grinding HSS Lathe Tools

I usually do about the same thing Mikey does. 36 ceramic to shape, then a 80 or 120 AO, quick touch to get most of the marks, then hone with 3 grades of diamond cards.

Watch the angles when you switch belts or reposition, dip in water, etc.. It's easy to make the tool look like you're cutting a gemstone. I find it helps to line up and firmly press into the platen. It's more about practice than anything else. And HSS being harder to grind helps a little there.

I have belts to 800 I believe, but I bought them for polishing knife blades, not tool making. I tried it once, but it wasn't really useful. The time spent swapping didn't save enough time honing for tools. One of these days I should make a knife... :)
 
Do you recommend switching belts to finer grits while practicing on keystock, or only on HSS? I'm thinking of saving these for a shape reference since I seemed to have gotten them right.
 
I would switch grits for your HSS bit's. Stick with keystock until you're comfortable with grinding, then switch to HSS.
 
Mikey, thanks for the advice. This has been such a helpful and informative thread.

Grinding keystock seemed pretty easy - modifying the grinder and making the table extension was a lot harder for me. Controlling the keystock wasn't difficult. Nonetheless, I'll grind another keystock set, just to see if was just beginner's luck. ;) Have to hook up the vacuum cleaner to the grinder, it's making a mess.

All that will have to wait until the next decade. Umm, I mean tomorrow. Happy New Years everyone!
 
WobblyHand said:
Mikey, thanks for the advice. This has been such a helpful and informative thread.

Grinding keystock seemed pretty easy - modifying the grinder and making the table extension was a lot harder for me. Controlling the keystock wasn't difficult. Nonetheless, I'll grind another keystock set, just to see if was just beginner's luck. ;) Have to hook up the vacuum cleaner to the grinder, it's making a mess.

All that will have to wait until the next decade. Umm, I mean tomorrow. Happy New Years everyone!
Click to expand...

When I need practice or any time I grind bits getting the angle to continue grinding is probably the hardest part ( Like after a belt change ). That for me was the toughest thing.
 
WobblyHand said:
Mikey, thanks for the advice. This has been such a helpful and informative thread.

Grinding keystock seemed pretty easy - modifying the grinder and making the table extension was a lot harder for me. Controlling the keystock wasn't difficult. Nonetheless, I'll grind another keystock set, just to see if was just beginner's luck. ;) Have to hook up the vacuum cleaner to the grinder, it's making a mess.

All that will have to wait until the next decade. Umm, I mean tomorrow. Happy New Years everyone!
Click to expand...

You're welcome.

Even after all this time, I still grind on keystock when I'm considering a new tool. Sometimes I just need to see the tool angles and keystock helps me to do that.
 
tweinke said:
When I need practice or any time I grind bits getting the angle to continue grinding is probably the hardest part ( Like after a belt change ). That for me was the toughest thing.
Click to expand...

I used to have a tough time with this, too, until I figured out how to align the flat I was grinding so it was parallel to the platen. Then all my alignment issues (and facets) disappeared.
 
This thread has brought a lot of us together to share and learn and appreciate how we've all grown. I want to thank you all for making this thread so much fun and I hope 2020 is a great year for all of us.
 
I wish to thank everyone involved in this thread the experts the beginners everyone ! With all the information, questions and comments this has turned into a very informative source of info for us beginners. Thank you to all and wish all a happy 2020
 
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