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transporter Super WRT Addict

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Ok guys, I’m struggling abit here with my gravers. I start on a course (ish) stone, then onto a fine oil stone then onto Arkansas stone, all using 3 in 1 oil as lube, I get reasonable results, very sharp but only for about 5 -10 minutes of work on blued steel. Not working them hard either, just getting a little despondent with the amount of time im sharpening as to time spent turning.

How do you sharpen and how long does the sharpness stay??

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nickelsilver Distinguished Member

nickelsilver

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That time is not out of the ordinary on blued steel. You get used to doing a quick touchup every few minutes on the arkansas. Before I switched to tungsten carbide gravers I would have several ready to go, rough, semi finish, finish, could make it through a staff or stem without sharpening usually. Then hit them all on the stone(s) after.

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measuretwice WRT Addict

measuretwice

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I was complaining about the same thing to couple of watchmakers I know.  One pointed out there be a big variance in the quality of the steel and temper so that might be part of it.  I agree with nickelsilver, life is a lot easier using carbide cutters....but imo the easiest is to harden and temper the part after machining.  Your HSS cutters will last a lot longer in annealed O1.  Which ever route, sharpen a bunch at time,  get them really really sharp, and grab a fresh one when it starts to feel dull

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transporter Super WRT Addict

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Cheers for the replies guys, I was wondering if I was being to heavy handed, I was taught by my father how to use a lathe many years ago (machinist) that obviously had a cross slide on it. Never once did a dull a tool on that.

I think I will try some of the carbide gravers and see how they fair, I think I’ve had enough practice on sharpening gravers now

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measuretwice WRT Addict

measuretwice

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Two things, on your fathers lathe odds are you weren't trying to cut hardened tool steel, and secondly, how sharp or how fine the edge needs to be a is a function of how small the depth of cut is.  taking a few tenths of a thou DOC needs an edge magnitudes finer than ten thou....and it also only stays that fine for a while

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vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

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On ‎10‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 11:15 PM, transporter said:

Cheers for the replies guys, I was wondering if I was being to heavy handed, I was taught by my father how to use a lathe many years ago (machinist) that obviously had a cross slide on it. Never once did a dull a tool on that.

I think I will try some of the carbide gravers and see how they fair, I think I’ve had enough practice on sharpening gravers now

  "compound  lathe" - turning with a threaded feed.  gravers  ---  totally difernt .   carbide should be sharpened on a "green stone"  grinder.    vin

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vinn3 Distinguished Member

vinn3

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On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2019 at 5:32 AM, measuretwice said:

a green wheel is only for very rough work and will usually leave an edge with lots of chips that you'll need a diamond wheel to get rid.  Best to start with the diamond wheel imo....that's one area where low cost imports are really a great thing.

   green wheel works fine for me.

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teegee Watch Enthusiast

teegee

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Just adding that making carbide gravers yourself is quite easy, from broken drills or endmills etc. There are apparently many types of carbide, and the commercial ones that I have are of a darker color than the homemade ones. 

In the picture below, the two on the left are commercial, by Eternal tools -- pretty expensive. The rest is home made. They may look rough and crusty, but that's just the non-acting surfaces. The far right one was an experiment (very easy to make), and is actually my go-to graver for hogging hard steel. It is very hard to damage.

If you start using carbide gravers, you need to be reasonably adept at using normal gravers, since any mistake will chip the graver or snap the tip right off. You can regrind it of course, but that's more troublesome because of the diamond tooling.

carbide-gravers.thumb.jpg.b31ebf7f57dbcddc42c9190e1b91de09.jpg

 

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