re: Lathe Stand Modular Extension?

I don’t think you’ll ever truly regret purchasing high end tools. But they come with high end prices and that can limit the purchase of other tools…high end or not. Reshaping a not-destroyed turning tool take less than two minutes, especially if you’re sharpening station is well set up. More time is spent setting the tool in the jig than actually sharpening. When I am using the same turning gouge and sharpen it a couple times (ie- the jig remains set), I can put a new edge on it in less than 30 seconds and be back to turning.

If you freehand it, it’ll take even less (of course free handing has its own limitations). I prefer to use a jig for all sharpening so that I get consistent angles and know what I’ve got on the tool. 

That said, different tools are sharpened differently, using different angles or compound angles, and different grits. Changing angles or shapes changes how the tool works against the wood. Chisels and plane blade take a flat, fine edge (and sometimes a micro bevel) and can be revived just by honing them on a strop with some polishing compound. Turning tools take a less fine edge , often with compound angles, and need a tune-up sharpening, as opposed to honing. Honing is done freehand on leather  since it’s not actually removing material and is very forgiving…but a great way to quickly refresh a tool.

The reality is that the grinding wheel, of whatever type, is only one piece to the puzzle, although it has its own important considerations. While some guys freehand their sharpening, I find much better results with jigs (as I’ve mentioned), especially since I don’t do it all the time. If you’re using and sharpening the tools every day, sure, you’d probably get pretty good freehand. That’s not me.

My personal opinion on tools is that I’m willing to spend big(ger) money on tools I’ll use all the time, and less money on tools I’ll use less…sometimes, cheap chineseum tools are the way to go, especially for one-off uses. It’s hard to buy tools when you don’t know how much you’ll use them. While it sucks to buy a tool twice, (I think) it sucks more to drop double or triple the cash on a tool and then have it just sit unused while you can’t afford other tools as a result. I didn’t buy a Tormek because I don’t use hand tools all the time and wanted multiple grit CBN wheels…and couldn’t stomach dropping the coin on that model Tormek. That said, I did buy a middle-quality low speed grinder (Rikon) and spend good cash on CBN wheels and a jig because I do use my hand tools enough that I want them well cared for. I already own a standard bench grinder (so that would be the cheapest method), two actually, but the high wheel speeds will mess up the HSS and I use my tools too much to fiddle with that.

Like I said, each shop has its own needs (and budget) and only you can sort that out for yourself…at least you’ve got this site to help you along with that! Going at it alone just means wasting money and poor results, as me how I know!…