Wolverine System + Tru-Grind jig?

[Allen Mattsen]

I'm buying my first sharpening jig system very soon and want to dial it in. Just concerned now about the specific jigs to go w/ the grinder and cbn wheels.

Does anyone use the Wolverine system with the Tru-grind jig rather than the Varigrind jig? Seeking advice on which way to go here. Thanks.

[David Walser]

Allen -- Using the Tru-Grind jig with the Wolverine base would eliminate two of the advantages of Woodcut's sharpening system over Oneway's. First, the Tru-Grind base is much shorter in length than Oneway's Wolverine base. (The Wolverine base is extra long so it's V-arm can be used to sharpen roughing gouges and parting tools by placing the end of the tool in the V-arm's pocket. The V-arm has to be long to sharpen tools with long handles. Woodcut's Tru-grind's base doesn't need this length because it uses another method for sharpening these tools.) Wolverine's base requires a lot of extra room behind the grinder. That's fine for large shops that have plenty of room. It's not so nice if you don't have the room.

Second, Oneway's system uses the V-pocket to position it's Varigrind jig. Obviously, this works. Turners have had good results with it for years. However, I believe Woodcut's method is more accurate and easier to use. Instead of a V-pocket, Woodcut's base has a small cup. The Tru-Grind jig has a round ball that fits snugly in the cup in the base -- perfectly positioning the jig as you sharpen. Oneway's Varigrind jig can more easily slide forward and side to side as you sharpen. To prevent this from happening, all you need to do is provide a little backward pressure on the Varigrind jig to keep it firmly planted in the back of the V-pocket as you sharpen. That's NOT difficult to do. It is, however, an extra effort that Woodcut's design eliminates.

Other than that, the two sharpening systems are very similar and work the same. I don't think I'd buy the Tru-Grind jig for use with a Wolverine base.

[Jeffrey J Smith]

I agree - the two systems do the same thing in only very slightly different ways. I doubt there's much benefit to mixing the two. By the way, I was a little annoyed at having to dodge around the extra length of the Oneway pocket jig - a hacksaw solved the problem quickly and efficiently. Since I use the varigrind with tools removed from their handles for nearly all tools there was no purpose for the extra length.