do i NEED a Power Hone with GRS Dual Angle Fixture?

[ouporblowup]

i have a diamond stone and was wondering if there was any way i could rig it up so i could only buy the Dual Angle System cuz Im kinda broke and cant afford a power hone right now

ooo

 

[Ray Cover]

Yes, I did that for years. Just set the base of the fixture next to the stone and rock the graver side to side manually. It is very doable. Slow but doable.

Ray

 

[Ray Cover]

There are other options to a power hone as well. Some guys have used a mandrel to hold the diamond disc in their drill press chuck and done it that way.

 

[arsterman]

I use a mandrel that I got from Steve's site set up on my drill press with a 260 grit diamond wheel for roughing my gravers and it works great. I was using the Lindsey template, and still am for that nmatter, before with a 600 and 1200 diamond stone and hand lapping and it would take me 2 or 3 hrs. to do one graver. now it's down to 30to45 min. and I added the 60,000 grit diamond solution to the back of the lap and get a great polish on the graver.

 

[tundratrekers@mtaonline.n]

Spend the effort,and learn to hand sharpen.

Also,what Ray said.mike

 

[Andrew Biggs]

before with a 600 and 1200 diamond stone and hand lapping and it would take me 2 or 3 hrs. to do one graver. now it's down to 30to45 min

Try purchasing a 100 grit wheel for roughing out the shape and finishing with a 600. It will only take a couple of minutes. The 100 grit makes a huge difference and the wheel lasts for a very long time !!!

Cheers
Andrew

 

[monk]

i got a grs power hone. i was flat broke when i bought it. i managed to get the money by stealing grocery money when my old lady wasn't paying attention to details. perhaps you could use some form of monetary juggling to do the same. seriously, these little hones are worth their weight. now, i must get toys with "honest" money. she watches the money like a doting mother goose.

 

[GTJC460]

Sharpening is by far the most important element of engraving. I personally rough out all my gravers on a very inexpensive ($59 lowes porter cable) bench grinder. It takes 5 minutes, if that to taper a HSS graver blank. This is by far the most time consuming part of making a graver.

I'd suggest getting a cheap bench grinder, the dual angle fixture, and whatever stones you can afford. Even India stones and Arkansas stones will work just fine. This will get you in the game for a minimal investment and give you a very repeatable way to sharpen your tools.

 

[Sam]

monk: you crack me up!

At one time I used GRS sharpening fixture and a bench stone. It worked quite well but obviously slower than a motorized Power Hone. If you're roughing out a new graver, then you need horsepower in the form of a bench grinder or Power Hone. After that, keeping a fresh heel & face on a graver can be done with a bench stone. I used a synthetic medium grit stone for the face and finished the heel with a hard black Arkansas stone.