my stone just doesn't seem to be cutting!

[miles]

I have spent about 40 mins tonight and about 2 hours yesterday attempting to sharpen my new skew to the Tormek grind.  I still don't have one side done!

I have
1) trued the wheel a number of times (3, taking around 1mm off the wheel in the process) as if you do this fast it creates a rougher surface
2) held the black block against it (course side) for a long time (say around 1-3 mins each time)
3) tried the vertical and horizontal positions
4) put one hell of a lot of weight onto the tip - more so in the horizontal position however I put a lot o force onto it in the vertical one

I expected it to be slow, say an hour at most, but this absolutly daft.

Questions to all you Tormek types
1) Is there a dummy thing I'm doing here
2) have i missed some magic step out in the process
3) can stones just be faulty and not cut? 

Many thanks all

Miles

[n7blw]

If you have a magnet in the water tray you can easily tell if the stone is cutting the metal. The 220 grit of the stone doesn't take metal away very quickly. I, too, have spent lots of time reshaping my skews to the curved "Raffan" grind. The Tormek is not well suited to reshaping turning tools, that's why they recently introduced a way to use the jigs on a dry grinder. Before that setup became available I had bought a Wolveine system so I could reshape my tools some time before I passed on to that great shop in the sky 

[Jeff Farris]

Miles,

Are you trying to make a significant change in the shape of the tool?

[miles]

Jeff

Yes

Miles

[Jeff Farris]

Jeff

Yes

Miles

Then, as Jim suggested, you might consider roughing the shape on a dry grinder, and then moving to the Tormek.  Still, the time you've indicated is more than it should take.  Here are a couple of important things to try.

Use the coarse side of the stone grader every few minutes (5 - 10).  When you use it, tip it so that only the corner of the grader is on the grindstone, and lean on it a little.  You should visibly scour the surface and completely remove any discoloration on the stone surface.

Use the vertical mount for shaping.

Skews have an enormous contact area between the tool and the grindstone.  The largest of any tool most people would try to sharpen. You can speed the process up a bit by cutting the contact area in half.  That is, by working with one half the tool off the grindstone.  Do each section at the extreme outside edges of the tool, and then move to the middle and blend the two grinds together.

[miles]

Then, as Jim suggested, you might consider roughing the shape on a dry grinder, and then moving to the Tormek.  Still, the time you've indicated is more than it should take.  Here are a couple of important things to try.

The trouble is that I don't have a dry grinder however I fear I may need to buy one.  I have been looking into other wheels (diamond, new black one and one from Child) however for the price of these I could get a grinder so I guess it makes more sense to do that!

Use the coarse side of the stone grader every few minutes (5 - 10).  When you use it, tip it so that only the corner of the grader is on the grindstone, and lean on it a little.  You should visibly scour the surface and completely remove any discoloration on the stone surface.

Interesting - I was trying to keep it as flat as possible, I'll try the edge thing!

Use the vertical mount for shaping.

Skews have an enormous contact area between the tool and the grindstone.  The largest of any tool most people would try to sharpen. You can speed the process up a bit by cutting the contact area in half.  That is, by working with one half the tool off the grindstone.  Do each section at the extreme outside edges of the tool, and then move to the middle and blend the two grinds together.

Interesting ideas - thanks!

Miles