I bought a set of pin vices a while ago for sharpening short pieces of tungsten.
They work great.

Just thought I'd share something useful lol

 

You can also put it in the end of a drill and boom, it spins and gets a very nice and consistent sharpening

 

I know but some drills won't clamp down to 1/16th or .040 tungsten. Like the ones here at work. And for $5 for a pack of 4....

I just like that they're no where near as bulky as a drill...
And you could grind a 1" long piece with a nice pointed tip. Nice if you stubby gas lenses and short backcaps.

 

Ohh well there you have it lol. The smallest tungsten I ever use is 3/32nd.

 

Im the opposite. The biggest I use is 3/32nd.
I think I've 1/8th 2 or 3 times in the 8 years or so I've been welding, lol

So I've found these very useful lol
I hope someone else does to!

 

My biggest has been 1/4"

Welding some super thick aluminum parts for oil company running 500+ amps for hours. My black welding shirt was brown/grey within 30 minutes!

I imagine the skin would have just melted off from that uv light had not been in long sleeve.

 

That's disgusting! 1/4"!!
I've never even seen anything above 1/8th!

 

I actually have one off those that I got when I first started welding thats was made for this purpose. Also the handle is hollow to hold scrap peaces of tungsten in.

 

a friend of my boss just gave us a tweco black gold tungsten grinder. that thing is sweet! it uses a tungsten holder just like that. makes sharpening super fast and i can change the degree of the point. i don't think i will ever use my hand held sharpener again, except out in the field.

 

i use a architect lead holder for really small stuff. but i also sharpen on a 1" belt sander so i can still hold pretty small tungstens.

 

I always use my cordless dewalt or our tungsten grinder. Drill usually is much nicer.

 

This is exactly how I do it, chuck it in the dewalt cordless drill and spin it against the belt sander, sharpens it to a point and concentric.. saves getting your fingers close to the belt.

 

My pops uses his drill and a belt sander works great and fast

 

I've found that I usually go too fast with the drill.

My instructor made his own tungsten holder that is totally awesome. I always borrow it from him! I'll try to snap a picture of it when I start classes up again.

 

I never sharpen tungstens to be honest, but the lad that does them can probably do a whole pack in the time it takes to get the drill and put a couple of tungstens in it.

 

I use a soapstone holder, nice and small like a pen and fits in your pocket if you wanted to carry it around .