Skew chisel too big for my Tormek?

[GerryKmack]

Help!!

I just purchased a set (2) of Alan Lacer signature woodturning skew
chisels. These skews are very nicely made of substantial steel (3/8"
thick 2030 steel).

Last night I did the initial sharpening on the smaller of the two (5/8"
wide). My old Tormek 2000 & multi-jig did a great job (the skews have
a radiused edge) - though it took awhile (2030 steel is *hard*).

When I moved to the larger (1 3/8" wide) skew, I discovered that it
will not fit into my multi-jig - it's too big!  

Anybody have any ideas how I can use my Tormek system to sharpen this
bad boy??

thanks! - Gerry Kmack

[Hypotenuse]

Those are nice skew chisels!  I have a 1-1/8 P&N skew that barely fits in my multi-jig.

I suppose your best bet would be to use the scraper platform.  You could set it to the correct bevel angle and rotate the tool around keeping the tool flat on the scraper tool rest.  Not sure if the Lacer curved profile will work this way or not.  Time to experiment!

[Barkchipper]

I too have the Hamlet Alan Lacer signature skew  1-3/8' wide which I purchased from Alan Lacer.  Alan also sharpened it for me before sending it out.  I presently keep it sharp by honing it on a diamond stone.   I love this tool so much that I wish Jeff would provide specific advice as to how to jig-sharpen it on the Tormek.  If ever I have to touch up the grind, I'd love to do it right.  I'd also like to see some videos on sharpening  turning tools using the Tormek.  There are a lot of us turners out there and while Tormek advocates are increasing in number not many have been converted yet.  There could be a huge market if the right jigs are available for turning tools of this type.  

[kaptain_zero]

While I don't have a skew as large as you gents are speaking of, I can't imagine it would be hard to make a wooden jig to handle such a skew. Just take two pieces of wood, cut a groove in one of them that fits the skew and holds the skew at the right angle vs the front edge of piece you are using, glue the other same size piece of wood on top and add a screw to lock the blade in place and away you go.

In the meantime, I'm not sure about 1 3/8" but you might just be able to fit your skew in the Tormek jig if you remove the little brass plunger on the end of the clamping screw. It's just held in place with an o-ring and see if you can squeeze the skew in that way. The end of the clamping screw is square so if the blade goes in with the screw fully retracted, it should clamp fine without the brass foot if you are careful. All the jig does is set the protrusion of the tool and hold it at the correct skew angle so it shouldn't be hard to rig something up.

Regards

Christian

[Jeff Farris]

The Alan Lacer skew is the only commercially available skew that will not fit the SVS-50.  It must be sharpened freehand on the SVD-110 Torlock Tool Rest.

[T L Tjader]

This one is so simple I can't believe no one suggested it. All you got to do is gring the Skew down until it fits! LOL

[boehme]

I have the large Alan Lacer skew and it is a real heavyweight slab of steel.  When I bought it, the included angle of the cutting edge seemed rather fat for a skew -- it was somewhere around 60?.  Also, I thought that the amount of curvature was rather extreme and curved forward much more than what I have seen Alan use at a demo.  To me, it was more like having an axe on a turning tool handle so I reworked the profile to make it fall somewhere between Alan Lacer's real style and the style that I have been using which is the more traditional curved bevel.

My initial shaping was done on a dry grinder since a LOT of metal needed to be removed.  I also decided to go with the more common 40? included bevel angle which means that with a tool this thick that the bevel will be VERY wide.  There is a design tradeoff involving bevel angle between edge durability and how well the edge slices.  There is not a "right" answer, but I personally prefer narrower bevel angles which also means that I must sharpen the edge a bit more often.  Both approaches have their payoff.

It didn't take too long to figure out that the flat tool rest was about my only choice in existing fixtures and I managed to do it, but I should warn others that with such a long shallow bevel angle, it is very easy for the tool to run away from you.  After a few initial runaways, I refined my technique which included keeping fairly light pressure against the stone and being very careful to make sure that I have the tool held firmly down on the rest.  After a lot of practice and being extra careful, I managed to complete the task successfully.  The bad news is that it always felt as though I was on the hairy edge of an incipient runaway.  I think that I will look into coming up with a homemade fixture to use with the guide bar next time.

[Jeff Farris]

When sharpening a long bevel angle on the Torlock Tool Rest, try moving the Tool Rest to the vertical mount instead of the horizontal mount.  That will eliminate the tendency for the tool to run away from the tool rest.

[n7blw]

Hi, folks. This is my first time on this forum, although I've owned a Model 2000 for about 5 years.

I just sharpened my Lacer 1 3/8 inch skew last week, after having diamond-honed away all the original hollow grind. I, too, puzzled over how to use the Tormek for a while. I settled on using the platform with the stone turning toward the edge. Even with care, the blade wants to hydroplane on the stone. It took a while to get the bevel properly ground to the curve, mostly due to the difference between the original grind on the real big (factory) stone and the Tormek's 10 incher.

[Ken S]

This problem has been floating around for a long time. I finally have my lathe set up. I have an almost comlete set of turning tools. The one tool I plan to add is a large Alan Lacer skew. I do not have the tool yet, however, I see no reason why It won't fit in the closed seat with some filing.

Ken

[Ken S]

I just looked at the number of views for this topic. 8294. This makes me think there must be many viewers who have become discouraged because a favorite lathe tool does not seem to fit in a Tormek. I suspect many of them look elsewhere for sharpening equipment.

This seems senseless to me. The closed seat could easily be modified to accommodate the Lacer skew and keep these potential Tormek buyers happy. This modification will be my next Tormek project (or at least one of them     )

Ken

[Ken S]

Several members have suggested using the platform jig to sharpen the Lacer skew. To the best of my knowledge, No one has posted successfully doing this. I decided to try.

I used the DC-250 coarse diamond wheel. At first i tried using the horizontal position. This did not work well; the blade kept jumping. It was an improvement, but only partially.

I switched to the vertical position and reversed the direction of the platform jig. The long end of the platform extends toward the grinding wheel. The locking knob is on the left side of the platform, allowing clearance with the grinding wheel.

Grinding progress is slower than hoped, however, unlike the SB, the diamond wheel has not glazed and continues to cut. It is now cleaning up the bevel to be one continuous bevel. I still have a flat spot on the edge at the end of the radius. I think further grinding will correct that. Once the flat is gone, I will switch to the 600 grit DF-250. In his video, Alan Lacer states that there is no practical value in honing beyond 600 grit, so I may stop with the 600 grit wheel.

I am using my one inch skew. I think the actual sharpening process would be the same with the 1 3/8" Lacer skew. Future sharpening (not reshaping) should go more quickly, especially if the skew is sharpened before becoming deadly dull. I am convinced that the Lacer skew can be sharpened well with the Tormek.

The bevel angle with the platform can easily be reset using the Anglemaster and a plastic gift card on the platform. The gift card allows the point of the Anglemaster to touch the grinding wheel.

Borrowing an idea from Jeff Farris, since I have several support bars, I will dedicate one with my platform jig and microadjust left preset and labelled "Lacer"? That will make set up very quick.

Ken

[Ken S]

Help!!

I just purchased a set (2) of Alan Lacer signature woodturning skew
chisels. These skews are very nicely made of substantial steel (3/8"
thick 2030 steel).

Last night I did the initial sharpening on the smaller of the two (5/8"
wide). My old Tormek 2000 & multi-jig did a great job (the skews have
a radiused edge) - though it took awhile (2030 steel is *hard*).

When I moved to the larger (1 3/8" wide) skew, I discovered that it
will not fit into my multi-jig - it's too big! 

Anybody have any ideas how I can use my Tormek system to sharpen this
bad boy??

thanks! - Gerry Kmack

Gerry,

After much study, some failures and a long time with the final grinding, I feel confident is writing that the big Alan Lacer skew can successfully be sharpened using the Tormek.

Let me state up front that I do not yet have a Lacer skew. I hope to soon, as soon as my tool budget recovers from purchasing the Oneway live center. I was able to reshape my one inch Bodger flat straight skew to the Lacer grind. The reshaping took a while, especially since I had to devise a way to do it, however, the end result is satisfying.

I will start with just sharpening, which goes quickly:

I inserted the platform jig in the support bar reversed. The long side of the platform extends toward the grinding wheel. I used the vertical position (important). In this position, the platform locking knob is on the outside of the support bar.

I set the bevel angle using the Anglemaster and two thicknesses of plastic gift cards, This let me position the Anglemaster pointer with one side touching the grinding wheel. Lacer uses a 1 to 1.5 ratio with the thickness of the chisel and the length of the bevel. In Anglemasterese, that's very close to 20º.

With the Anglemaster reversed, the thumb placed under the rear part of the platform gives good support. The other fingers hold down the front of the chisel. Reshaping was a lengthy process, however, I ended up with two nice single facet bevels. Future sharpening will go much qo much more quickly. Your initial sharpening may take longer to allow your chisel to match the radius of your Tormek a
I plan to leave one of my support bars and platform dedicated to my skew. I will leave the platform mounted on the support bar and the microadjust preset. That way, future set up is just dropping the support bar into place and having the water trough ready.

Incidentally, Alan Lacer hones with a 600 grit diamond hone. In my case, I used the new diamond wheels. With the "Original" grinding wheels, the SG could be graded in between ("600 grit") and used for honing. It would be very quick and accurate.

I will update this when I eventually get a big Lacer skew. By the way, how do you like the smaller Lacer skew?

Ken