Pete Staehling
04-03-2020, 8:21 AM
I built a new sharpening jig to use for chisels and plane irons after long being unhappy with the manufactured one I have been using. The shop built one seems much nicer to use IMO. It is based loosely on one from the ibuildit.ca guy.
I have never really figured out a sharpening station that suits my needs though. I have mdf bench tops that I want to keep dry and not a lot of room for a dedicated sharpening bench. I find working with Japanese water stones to be a wet sloppy mess without some kind of setup that contains the mess. I have worked over a bucket or a dishpan, but the setup was really inadequate. I have considered something that folded up and stowed away when not in use and maybe drained into a bucket that the stones could soak in.
I have a piece of marble that is bigger than needed that could be the work surface or I could make something just big enough out of scrap countertop material.
Whatever I do I want it to be quick and easy to deploy and to put away and want it to stow out of the way without taking up too much space.
I'd be curious what others have done to solve this problem in their shop.
Attached are a few pictures of the jig. It isn't anything fancy, but it seems to work very well, much better than the little metal one I have used in the past. I actually intended it to be a quick prototype to just test out the concept, but after using it I figured that good enough is good enough. So the nicer one I planned to build probably won't be built.
The height of the HDPE is set using a piece of 1/4" ply as a spacer on top of the stone. My stones are currently all the same height so I do not have to mess with that at each use. If they were at different thicknesses I think I'd make shims for them rather than mess with changing the jig when switching stones. Next the chisel or plane blade is set to stick out the appropriate amount for the angle using the little block in the picture (so far I have only made the 25 degree one, I'll probably make at least a 30 degree one).
Pardon me for not sharpening the chisel before taking the pictures :)
I find it easier to clamp the chisels or blades properly into my jig than the manufactured one. I am not sure how well they show up in the picture, but there are pencil lines to line up the blades squarely.
429448
429449
429450
I have never really figured out a sharpening station that suits my needs though. I have mdf bench tops that I want to keep dry and not a lot of room for a dedicated sharpening bench. I find working with Japanese water stones to be a wet sloppy mess without some kind of setup that contains the mess. I have worked over a bucket or a dishpan, but the setup was really inadequate. I have considered something that folded up and stowed away when not in use and maybe drained into a bucket that the stones could soak in.
I have a piece of marble that is bigger than needed that could be the work surface or I could make something just big enough out of scrap countertop material.
Whatever I do I want it to be quick and easy to deploy and to put away and want it to stow out of the way without taking up too much space.
I'd be curious what others have done to solve this problem in their shop.
Attached are a few pictures of the jig. It isn't anything fancy, but it seems to work very well, much better than the little metal one I have used in the past. I actually intended it to be a quick prototype to just test out the concept, but after using it I figured that good enough is good enough. So the nicer one I planned to build probably won't be built.
The height of the HDPE is set using a piece of 1/4" ply as a spacer on top of the stone. My stones are currently all the same height so I do not have to mess with that at each use. If they were at different thicknesses I think I'd make shims for them rather than mess with changing the jig when switching stones. Next the chisel or plane blade is set to stick out the appropriate amount for the angle using the little block in the picture (so far I have only made the 25 degree one, I'll probably make at least a 30 degree one).
Pardon me for not sharpening the chisel before taking the pictures :)
I find it easier to clamp the chisels or blades properly into my jig than the manufactured one. I am not sure how well they show up in the picture, but there are pencil lines to line up the blades squarely.
429448
429449
429450