Lathe Tooling

ragbug74

ragbug74

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When your carbide tooling (rh bits, etc.) get dull, do you re-sharpen them or just toss them? What about boring bars? Any info/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
Resharpen everything but the inserts. buy a cheap grinder and good grinding wheels and dressing stone. Also buy a machinery's guide it will tell you how to sharpen tooling and a ton of other useful info. I have the 27th addition my machining bible.
 
> Tool grinding is a skill taught early on in machinist courses,even before you ever get to turn the lathe on. Most cutters can easily be re-sharpened with the correct grinding wheel. Others,such as fly-cutters and saw blades that are often used in a toolpost router,have to be sharpened carefully to maintain concentricity,so one wing isn't longer than the others,and probably done on a machine specific to that task. Tommy D.
 
ragbug74 said:
When your carbide tooling (rh bits, etc.) get dull, do you re-sharpen them or just toss them? What about boring bars? Any info/ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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Everything needs sharpened now and then. I have a Balder type grinder with two reversible direction wheels with adjustable plates for setting the correct angles. To sharpen carbide you need to use either a diamond or a green wheel. These wheels should not be used on steel tooling. When grinding carbide a lot of dust is created and should never be inhaled as it causes lung cancer. Don't be fooled into saving money by buying cheap brazed carbide tooling. Tungsten Carbide is actually fine balls of the material glued to form a solid piece and then brazed to a soft steel holder. The better, more expensive carbide, is a finer grain so that the tool can be ground much sharper than the cheaper, coarser carbide.

Dick
 
I stink at sharpening carbide so I usually just toss the small tooling and send out saw blades to a sharpening shop.
 
cueman said:
I stink at sharpening carbide so I usually just toss the small tooling and send out saw blades to a sharpening shop.
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Speaking of saw blades what are people paying to get em sharpened up?
 
RocketQ said:
Speaking of saw blades what are people paying to get em sharpened up?
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I have paid 10.00 for years but I think the last time I got one sharpened it was like 14.00. This is for 12 inch 72 tooth blades.

Dick
 
Man thats not even worth the headache of doing it yourself. Forrest products did suff for me when I built furniture. It was closer to 80$ a blade. But man they were sharp.
 
RocketQ said:
Man thats not even worth the headache of doing it yourself. Forrest products did suff for me when I built furniture. It was closer to 80$ a blade. But man they were sharp.
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It would be very difficult to re-sharpen a saw blade without the proper equipment which is rather expensive. I re-sharpen and change the profiles on my lathe tooling.

Forrest charges that much to re-sharpen? I just bought a new table saw and was considering getting a Forrest blade for it as they don't cost much more than that price new but I believe I'll defer now.

Dick
 
Forrest blades are incredible. You will not be sorry you spent the money. Hands down the best blade I have ever used.
 
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