Got tired of ragged freehand grinding

[steven c newman]

As it always left a less than square edge on the plane irons. Little rest on the grinder just wasn't getting it done. Edges were either a cambered type, or a reverse cambered type. When I need a straight edge across the iron, this just won't do:mad:

Got to looking things over, and doing a bit of thinking ( dangerour stuff right there) And decided to take that little rest off for a rework. Found some scrap pine laying around. Dug up a few bolts. The bolt holding the tool rest to the grinder was starting to get stripped, anyway. For that bolt, I modified an old Carriage bolt to fit in the recess the old bolt sat in. And, hacksawed the new bolt to length. Might someday change out that wing nut for a normal nut ( leaves me out, I ain't a Normal Nut)

Drilled a hole in the pine scrap for a second bolt, that bolt was a might too long as well. Back to the vise and hacksaw. I leave the nut on these bolts when a hacksaw is used. Cleans out the cut threads better. Next, drill a hole into the rest. Or, that was the plan. :rolleyes: First drill bit got too hot, even sitting in some oil. Got to checking the speed setting........:eek: too fast! Dropped the speed down to "Granny Gear" and a second drill bit. Walked right through the 1/8" thick tool rest. :D Bolted things up, now about a slot for the grinder's wheel? Simple, turn the grinder "On" and rotate the new rest into place. Wood burning on purpose! A look so far289779About as high tech as I get. Not sure how old that grinder is, either. Bolt is lined up with the slot from the wheel. Angle is about 25 degrees. So, need a way to keep an iron straight to the wheel.:confused: Ah, found a piece of 1x1 pine scrap. Found a couple "C" clamps sitting around, doing nothing. Placed the pine 1x1 in place, grabbed an iron as a test piece. Place the iron as close to the edge of the grinding wheel as I could, and clamped one side, using a c clamp. A square to square things up. recheck the iron's edge to the wheel, and clamp it in place with the second c clamp. ( for the next photo, I clamped everthing in place, so i could step back and take a picture)289785Yeah, something like that. Use it: A thumb or two up near the edge ( temp controlers) and the rest to slide things along the rest's edge. That blue cup is full of water. A few swipes, and a dunk, repeat as needed. have to keep the slider tight to the rest. Don't want to get sloppy here. A look at two irons (so far) that went through this "ordeal" 289786One used to be a reverse camber ( higher on the corners than the middle) the other had the "Wave effect" going on. Medium grit wheel on that side of the grinder. Didn't take all that long to make. :D

[David Weaver]

The trouble is grinding all of the way to the edge and then past. the stones (or your use of them) maintain squareness on an iron. The grinder just makes using the stones easier.

The only exception is a fresh iron out of a used plane that is in need of repair, and in that case, you take a square, scribe a square line on the back of the iron and grind it blunt and then reestablish a bevel.

It shouldn't be possible to grind the iron out of square or with camber, etc, if you're maintaining an iron, because grinder should reach the actual edge, or of it does, only just (and not enough to raise a large wire edge). Eventually jigging things up to grind will start to irritate you because of the time it takes and how it restricts your touch.

[steven c newman]

The slider part does come in handy, for those UGLY edges that come in to my shop on them rust bucket planes. Trying to get the iron back to a usable starting point, before wearing meself out on the stones. Not sure how that one iron got the wave effect going on, almost like this ~? Istarted that one at the left side, and slowly work across until it looked like this - then I could go to the stones, as it had a nice hollow grind on it. On a cambered iron, I can just use the rest, no slider. While a bit free handed, at least it will be a consistant angle. Could even have a pattern ala Schwarz, to grind that Magicial 8" Radius every time out.

I'm not exactly the best with a grinder anyway, so a little bit to help me along works well. Jig is only on the right wheel, Lefty is left alone. Need it for other things...