Jim, Don't judge every turner by others that you meet, no matter what their ranking is. I do something that a few guys do, (bowl turners) and your AAW turner could not do without some honing. I am sure your AAW guy could do lots that I cannot do. But turning segmented wood and certain metals without a razor sharp honed scraper would only produce smearing. For him to say he needs a little sandpaper - that would destroy some types of turning. He would need to learn how to sharpen his tools more if he had to rely on a little sandpaper.
When turning pens with metallic segments in it, don't even THINK about sanding it. Some metallic dust will smear like pencil lead. The pen wood/metal blanks (with certain metals) MUST be turned down so fine that it does not need sanding. After I discovered that technique on my own - because a couple of long time bowl turners said I couldn't do that, - I learned that some other bowl turners did do that also - finished turning so fine that they didn't need sanding. A finely tuned tool can cut or scrape so smooth that even 400 sandpaper would actually rough it up.
The two pens below, with the contrasting wood and metal smears terribly with sandpaper. When confronted with the problem, most people accept a smidgen of smudge, but not me. I got my scraper out and I sharpened and honed and sharpened and honed and honed for about 30 minutes on an already shaped scraper. WOW, that thing was sharp. I put it to the pen blanks and it was smooth cutting the final .001 or .002 or .003", which cleared the smudges off and left beautifully smooth wood and shiny metal. No Sandpaper needed.
Later, I learned from a few others who were bowl turners that they did the same. There were a few who said that that kind of sharp was not needed. But if they didn't want to or need to, that was their problem.
BTW, like you, I primarily use HSS tools. I have some carbide insert tools but I don't like them because they don't seems as sharp as HSS gets. I primarily use the insert tools for roughing blanks out. I have lots of turning and other hand tools that I need to shape. If you see the Japanese chisels IN the box below, they were never shaped to an edge. I was given those about 14 years ago, but the edges need considerable grinding/shaping. After spending 30 full minutes on JUST one with the Tormek like Grizzly, I knew I was in over my head. CBNs are not a single use tool for me, SHAPING and sharpening.
Add in: the Japanese chisels were given to me by a fellow who made many of his own tools. He also used to go to San Diego yearly and teach Japanese woodworking techniques at a symposium. He taught me some sharpening techniques that I still use. He went once and Sam Maloof showed up to watch him. Sam gave him one of his books, wrote a letter to my Japanese friend and autographed the book. My friend came back to Japan and asked me: "Do you know a man named Sam Maloof?" Me: "Sam Maloof? SAM MALOOF? Wood worker?"
The green bar in the box next to the chisels is a rouge compound bar of sorts that My friend uses to hone his chisels. Rub some on soft wood and hone the edge of the chisels. Long ago, I posted a picture of a ribbon of wood Maeno cut just for me. It was a ribbon about 3 ft long 2 inches wide and so thin you could read the news paper through it. Some people say you don't need that sharpness on lathe tools, but that is their problem.
Lastly, there is a guy on the pen forum that has worked in a machine shop all his adult life. Great at what he does. However, when it comes to sharpening drill bits, 90% will recommend Drill Doctors. That guy will come on every time and chastise them saying it should be and can be done by hand. No need for such equipment; a wast of time. He can not comprehend that he has years of experience and the rest do not. No one will come up to his level of drill bit sharpening in a single day, or two time. For the occasional use person in the home shop, the Drill Doctor is a great tool. Experts prevent many newbies from pursuing great hobbies by chastising them on this issue. There is another guy that chastised newbies incessantly for doing things that he did by hand (with years experience - and he is excellent at what he does) and some people quit because of his rants about the old ways. I had a run in with him about telling newbies that they didn't need to do it a certain way. "Quit being so negative to new ways" I told him. As to the "new" ways these guys have pushed pen making designs way past our old ways because they didn't stop at the limits. New technology equipment allows people to do things old technology has limits on. In some cases, it IS the tool that limits ability to accomplish things in a timely manner. But to each his own, as as one fellow said on another woodworking forum - "Time doesn't cost me anything, so the time it takes to accomplish (make) something is irrelevant." Might be when one is retired!
When turning pens with metallic segments in it, don't even THINK about sanding it. Some metallic dust will smear like pencil lead. The pen wood/metal blanks (with certain metals) MUST be turned down so fine that it does not need sanding. After I discovered that technique on my own - because a couple of long time bowl turners said I couldn't do that, - I learned that some other bowl turners did do that also - finished turning so fine that they didn't need sanding. A finely tuned tool can cut or scrape so smooth that even 400 sandpaper would actually rough it up.
The two pens below, with the contrasting wood and metal smears terribly with sandpaper. When confronted with the problem, most people accept a smidgen of smudge, but not me. I got my scraper out and I sharpened and honed and sharpened and honed and honed for about 30 minutes on an already shaped scraper. WOW, that thing was sharp. I put it to the pen blanks and it was smooth cutting the final .001 or .002 or .003", which cleared the smudges off and left beautifully smooth wood and shiny metal. No Sandpaper needed.
Later, I learned from a few others who were bowl turners that they did the same. There were a few who said that that kind of sharp was not needed. But if they didn't want to or need to, that was their problem.
BTW, like you, I primarily use HSS tools. I have some carbide insert tools but I don't like them because they don't seems as sharp as HSS gets. I primarily use the insert tools for roughing blanks out. I have lots of turning and other hand tools that I need to shape. If you see the Japanese chisels IN the box below, they were never shaped to an edge. I was given those about 14 years ago, but the edges need considerable grinding/shaping. After spending 30 full minutes on JUST one with the Tormek like Grizzly, I knew I was in over my head. CBNs are not a single use tool for me, SHAPING and sharpening.
Add in: the Japanese chisels were given to me by a fellow who made many of his own tools. He also used to go to San Diego yearly and teach Japanese woodworking techniques at a symposium. He taught me some sharpening techniques that I still use. He went once and Sam Maloof showed up to watch him. Sam gave him one of his books, wrote a letter to my Japanese friend and autographed the book. My friend came back to Japan and asked me: "Do you know a man named Sam Maloof?" Me: "Sam Maloof? SAM MALOOF? Wood worker?"
The green bar in the box next to the chisels is a rouge compound bar of sorts that My friend uses to hone his chisels. Rub some on soft wood and hone the edge of the chisels. Long ago, I posted a picture of a ribbon of wood Maeno cut just for me. It was a ribbon about 3 ft long 2 inches wide and so thin you could read the news paper through it. Some people say you don't need that sharpness on lathe tools, but that is their problem.
Lastly, there is a guy on the pen forum that has worked in a machine shop all his adult life. Great at what he does. However, when it comes to sharpening drill bits, 90% will recommend Drill Doctors. That guy will come on every time and chastise them saying it should be and can be done by hand. No need for such equipment; a wast of time. He can not comprehend that he has years of experience and the rest do not. No one will come up to his level of drill bit sharpening in a single day, or two time. For the occasional use person in the home shop, the Drill Doctor is a great tool. Experts prevent many newbies from pursuing great hobbies by chastising them on this issue. There is another guy that chastised newbies incessantly for doing things that he did by hand (with years experience - and he is excellent at what he does) and some people quit because of his rants about the old ways. I had a run in with him about telling newbies that they didn't need to do it a certain way. "Quit being so negative to new ways" I told him. As to the "new" ways these guys have pushed pen making designs way past our old ways because they didn't stop at the limits. New technology equipment allows people to do things old technology has limits on. In some cases, it IS the tool that limits ability to accomplish things in a timely manner. But to each his own, as as one fellow said on another woodworking forum - "Time doesn't cost me anything, so the time it takes to accomplish (make) something is irrelevant." Might be when one is retired!
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