Really neat little jig for sharpening small chisels

[Bernie Daniel]

I think this is a clever little jig that is not too hard to make. Most jigs for holding chisels or plane irons at 25 or 30 degrees do not work for narrow chisels (1/8" or less width) or small planes (like thumb planes). This little tool does!

[Bill McCall]

To each his own.

For my part, learning the skill is simpler. If you learn to sharpen an 1/8” twist drill by hand, everything else is even simpler. No need to make a jig for each tool.

Same 1800 rpm grinder with a soft white wheel.��

[Bernie Daniel]

....Same 1800 rpm grinder with a soft white wheel.��

What make and model grinder do you use? Generally I worry about grinders on small tools -- tend to heat up and also grind away quickly?

[Bill McCall]

Baldor, 6”, 1800 rpm. Aluminum oxide wheel, open grit, soft. And not too fine, 80 grit is plenty, finer takes more skill. Hard wheels tend to burn, soft wheels wear a bit more quickly but save the tools from burning, although carelessness can overcome that��
You’ll need a dressing tool as well if you wear grooves in the face of the stone. You will.

Good wheels are at industrial supply shops, not strip mall tool shops.

[HoGo]

I still wonder why folks need all this unnecessary stuff. If I had jig for every cutting edge I own my workshop woulf be full to the roof.
Back as a boy I used to sharpen knives for every boyscout on the summer camps. I had two simple water stones (just broken halves of stones) and lots of time and every knife could shave after sharpening. I learned how to hold the blades steady at correct angle without any artificial jig.
The guy in the vide just holds the blade plain wrong for hand sharpening. Holding handle with fingers while standing behind the bench is not going to help him. Actually the posture alone makes it impossible for him to get consistent angle. It's like sports, if you want to pitch MLB your posture and every movement must go towards your target (perfect pitch) Anything that is off will throw off your results. Sharpening is simple test of ability to use laws of math and physics for your advance. You need fixed posture with as little free (uncontrolled) motion of body as possible you need to lock your elbows and other joints so your movement is fully controlled by your brain. Use anchor points for wrists and use circular path (around anchor point) on the stone instead of perfectly straight so your angle won't change.
And think about micro bevels before you start sharpening. You don't need the whole surface of the bevel be the perfect smooth plane you see in advertisements of jigs, you only need the very very tip of edge to be at the correct angle and perfectly smooth/sharp by the finest grit, what's further away doesn't count to the wood being cut. That makes your effort much easier.
I do sharpen drill bits (down to 1 mm diameter) freehand on stones/diamond or W&D paper on flat surface. Never needed wheel.

[Bernie Daniel]

I still wonder why folks need all this unnecessary stuff. If I had jig for every cutting edge I own my workshop woulf be full to the roof.
Back as a boy I used to sharpen knives for every boyscout on the summer camps. I had two simple water stones (just broken halves of stones) and lots of time and every knife could shave after sharpening. I learned how to hold the blades steady at correct angle without any artificial jig.
The guy in the vide just holds the blade plain wrong for hand sharpening. Holding handle with fingers while standing behind the bench is not going to help him. Actually the posture alone makes it impossible for him to get consistent angle. It's like sports, if you want to pitch MLB your posture and every movement must go towards your target (perfect pitch) Anything that is off will throw off your results. Sharpening is simple test of ability to use laws of math and physics for your advance. You need fixed posture with as little free (uncontrolled) motion of body as possible you need to lock your elbows and other joints so your movement is fully controlled by your brain. Use anchor points for wrists and use circular path (around anchor point) on the stone instead of perfectly straight so your angle won't change.
And think about micro bevels before you start sharpening. You don't need the whole surface of the bevel be the perfect smooth plane you see in advertisements of jigs, you only need the very very tip of edge to be at the correct angle and perfectly smooth/sharp by the finest grit, what's further away doesn't count to the wood being cut. That makes your effort much easier.
I do sharpen drill bits (down to 1 mm diameter) freehand on stones/diamond or W&D paper on flat surface. Never needed wheel.

But maybe the same thing could be said for things like capos and calculators? Many people need them but some don't.

[darylcrisp]

thanks Bernie, I like that guys channel, some neat videos there. where I don't sharpen my tools a lot(due to not using them), I could definitely benefit from a jig like this. stewmac shows a wooden jig to hold the larger chisels and I've been meaning to make one of those as well.
there's no way I could get the nice flat bevel like this video shows, by hand holding.
thanks for posting
d

[tonydxn]

I still wonder why folks need all this unnecessary stuff. . . . Sharpening is simple test of ability to use laws of math and physics . . .

Some of us have very limited ability with laws of math and physics - I have failed that simple test so many times. Maybe you could make a video for us, Adrian . . .

[Bill McCall]

There are several YouTube videos of plane blade sharpening

[pops1]

I am with HoGo, learn the technique. When I learned to sharpen plane blades and chisels I was told to not move my hands or arms. Doing so will make it hard to keep the same angle. Instead use your large muscles. Stand with the blade in your hand, on the stone, at the proper angle and move forward and back using your legs, NOT your hands or arms. This will make a huge difference on your sharpening technique and how flat you can keep the edge.

[HoGo]

Some of us have very limited ability with laws of math and physics - I have failed that simple test so many times. Maybe you could make a video for us, Adrian . . .

I have failed so many times at making vids and even pics of my work...

[Bernie Daniel]

I am with HoGo, learn the technique. When I learned to sharpen plane blades and chisels I was told to not move my hands or arms. Doing so will make it hard to keep the same angle. Instead use your large muscles. Stand with the blade in your hand, on the stone, at the proper angle and move forward and back using your legs, NOT your hands or arms. This will make a huge difference on your sharpening technique and how flat you can keep the edge.

As was noted earlier in this thread -- to each his own -- I agree!

I'm not suggesting that sharpening a normal sized chisels and plane irons is something that most cannot learn to do if they choose to. I've honed chisels and planes on a set of traditional water stones with generally acceptable results.

But I have a 1/4" and couple of 1/8" chisels and as well as irons for 10 mm and 20 mm wide finger planes. I simply don't want to spend the time and effort -- going through trial and error learning to get a consistent razor sharp edge on these small items. Dis-assembling and assembling finger planes and adjusting them is not something I enjoy doing too much. I understand others might find it pleasing to do so but I don't -- to me sharpening is a necessary evil that I have to do in order to use my tools and do the carving I want!

Now let me tell you about how I feel about sharpening gouges!

[Stephen Perry]

I'm glad I never realized that the small ones were difficult!

[Bill McCall]

This is a pretty good video, at least the first 3 minutes I watched. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KljbyeueOtE


The trick with small blades is that its takes very little pressure on the stone and time on the grinder to remove the small amount of metal necessary. My 1/8" japanese chisel or my 1/8 fingernail turning gouge just take a quick run by the grinding wheel, probably less that 2 seconds, after the tool rest is set appropriately. If you were grinding a 2" chisel blade, it might take a bit more time given the thickness of the blade.

[Bernie Daniel]

I thought about this a bit and came up with my own jig for sharpening my finger plane irons. All I needed was as short (~6") piece of 1/8" X 3/4" flat iron stock, a couple of 1/8" stainless steel bolts each with a washer and wing nut, a 9/64" bit and my drill press. Took all of 10 minutes to make it at a cost of < $3.00.

These pictures are horrible-- for some reason I don't seem to have good light in that part of my shop where I set up a sharpening station.

But its pretty simple to use. Just get the plane iron between the screws and under the washers and then lightly tighten and square it up. Then tighten it down snugly with the wing nuts -- it does not move.

Then insert the other end of the flat iron in the chisel sharpening jig and adjust it so the sharp tip of the plane iron is 1 7/32" (31 mm) from the leading edge of the jig. This forces the plane iron meet the water stones at the desired 25 degree angle.

Finally, just run it through the set of water stones (400, 1000, 3000 & 6000) then strop it and done.

When done the plane iron cuts paper like it isn't even there. I have not tried it on maple yet though.

[Bernie Daniel]

But this one is really neat!

[pops1]

Tool junkies have TOS---tool acquisition syndrome. Most of us like tools like we like instruments, etc.

[Bernie Daniel]

Tool junkies have TOS---tool acquisition syndrome. Most of us like tools like we like instruments, etc.

Nothing like making tools to service other tools! LOL! Of course we take care to call it a "jig" in that case? JAS?