Setting Grinding Angle

[Michael Fross]

Hello all,

When sharpening, I usually freehand sharpen on water stones. However, I do use a 6" grinder with an Oneway platform to grind my primary bevels and then the stones do the secondary and tertiary bevels.

However, I always struggle setting the bevel angle on the grinder. I normally end up just mirror the bevel that the tool has as closely as I can, but I thought I would ask how others do this.

I normally like a 25 degree primary bevel. I've thought about different jigs (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iHCtMIDKWmCf2mnjV7UoLzjRMntBihs3EJlNiLbY_tU/edit?usp=sharing) I could use to quickly, reliability, and consistently set this but haven't come up with anything that works yet.

Any thoughts or ideas? I feel I'm missing something very easy...

Thanks!

Michael

[Daniel Rode]

I mostly try to match an existing bevel. In that case, I set the tool on the rest (not running) and by eye check to see if it's about right. Then I turn the grinder on and lightly touch the blade to the stone. Based on where the grind marks are, I'll adjust the tool rest. If I want to change the angle I go through the same process but purposely tilt the rest in the direction I need.

I don't measure anything. I hone with a steeper secondary bevel as the working edge, so as long as the primary grind is at least a degree or two shallower, that's accurate enough. I don't measure the angle of my secondary bevel either.

When I stopped measuring and started working by eye and by feel, things improved. I got sharper tools with much less effort.

[Dave Cullen]

I use a 1/4" plywood gage to set the tool rest angle. It has to be touched up once in a while as the wheel gets worn, and for reference I have a "golden sample" plane iron that's exactly 25° that I use to set the grinder platform.

[Ron Patrick]

I saw a nifty trick on youtube about this, you set the bevel by eye, then put maker on your blade and put it on your platform touching the stone. Then you manually turn the stone and you can look at where the maker is removed, telling you exactly where the stone is grinding without the worry of doing any damage.

Ron

[Derek Cohen]

I wrote about this several years ago: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTechniques/AngleSettingJigForDryGrinder.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Michael Fross]

Thanks all. I'll have to make the gauge that Derek and Dave discussed. That sounds like a great solution.

Cheers!

Michael

[Brian Ashton]

How good is your eye. Double the thickness of the blade for the bevel will give you about 30 degrees, so if you want 25 degrees go a bit more than double. We work with wood that is so variable from inch to inch and species to species anything more precise than that isn't necessary.