Just picked up on this thread, and had a comment about sharpening. I'm not real patient, and lathe tools can take a bit of time to sharpen. I've found that a "worn out" belt on a belt sander does nice work at sharpening lathe tools. Mostly I make pens, but I've used some fairly hard woods, and the belt sharpens enough to make the tools adequate for anything I do...... les bartlett houston On Sat, 20 Feb 1999 00:02:02 -0600 Charles E Faulk <cfaulk2@juno.com> writes: >John, > >The wood you are describing is closely akin to a specie called lignum >vitae which is extremely dense having a specific gravity of 1.23. The >chunk you have is worth a bit of money on today's market. > >The best advice I can give you is to keep a rough sharpening stone >next to your lathe and touch up the edge of your turning tools >frequently. The most common finishing tool you will use is the skew; >it looks like an angled chisel and is easily sharpened on a stone. >Also these exotic woods are extremely oily and clog sandpaper very >quickly. Keep a good supply on hand and change your sandpaper out >frequently. > >I really don't know of any carbide turning tools. Do you know of a >source? > >Charles Faulk > >On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 18:23:17 -0700 John R Fortiner ><pianoserv440@juno.com> writes: >>Charles, I am just curious. Have you ever tried turning Mexican >>Ironwood? That stuff, I would think, would make a great tuning lever > >>as it is very dense and strong (sinks in water). I have a piece here > >>that I have been saving to make a lever with, but have never done so > >>as I only have a small piece - roughly 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 15 inches. It > >>is certainly well aged as I acquired the wood in 1969. The only >thing >>that I know for sure about it is that it is really tough on steel >>tools. I have seen my piece take the edge off HS steel jointer >blades >>in about 2 seconds ( OUCH ! ). The "natives" where it grows use >tools >>made of stone to work it. I suppose that carbide would hold up to >it, >>but you know the price of carbide turning tools. If you have any >>thoughts about this, please respond. >> >>John R. Fortiner >>pianoserv440@juno.com >>___________________________________________________________________ >>You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. >Get >>completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html > >>or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] > >___________________________________________________________________ >You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get >completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html >or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]
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