Models for grinding HSS Lathe Tools

When I first started with this I didn't have either a bench grinder or a belt sander. The only thing I had was a Makita high speed grinder. My first attempts were beyond ugly and didn't work very well. Lucky for me that my lathe came with a bunch of already ground tool bits. Then came the bench grinder and things got a little better. Still very difficult to get the angles right. Stumbled onto a 1x42 belt sander in a consignment store. What a difference that made. I could set the table to whatever angle I wanted and combined with my combination square I could grind anything I wanted to. I tried honing for awhile. Not very good at honing. I was rounding off the edges. I have a 320 grit belt that polishes the scratches to a mirror finish in no time and keeps the edges sharp. No more honing.

My current sharping dilemma is trying to grind the 1/8" round tool bits for my smallest boring bars. Working on ways to hold the tool bit. I'll get it figured out.
 
Been keeping an eye out for a belt sander, but the ones I see are overpriced or too big.
 
Jim F said:
I don't have a belt sander, so bench grinder is a little trickier.
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I have a bench grinder too.

Somewhere in all these posts there was a suggestion of marking the angles directly onto the tool bit with a Sharpie. I've found that helped a great deal.
 
Aaron_W said:
I have a bench grinder too.

Somewhere in all these posts there was a suggestion of marking the angles directly onto the tool bit with a Sharpie. I've found that helped a great deal.
Click to expand...
Yup, if I'd been smart I would have blued it up and drawn some lines...
 
Protractor, and a thin sharpie too...
 
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