Chisel holder for sharpening?

[Mark Rios]

What do you folks use to hold your chisels while sharpening?

I have waterstones that I use and I might give the scary sharp method a try but the holder I have is kinda hokey. It doesn't have any way to really "dial in" an edge angle. You have to line it up to a certain place on a little flip out tang but it's kinda arbitrary at best.

Is there a really good holder out there that allows more precise settings for the angle?

Thanks very much for any help and advice.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I just hold the chisel in my hand.

[Steve Schoene]

I'll second avoiding the jig. If you don't have to set up a jig, it takes only 30 seconds to do a touch up honing of a chisel. That encourages doing it as soon as it is needed rather than putting it off to a better time.

The bevel angle is essentially determined when the blade is ground. A holder for this--Veritas makes a good one helps. Subsequently, the key to to apply the force very low, almost at the tip so the bevel doesn't rock off the stone. A half hour spend mastering this technique is very worthwhile.

[tod evans]

my fingers.. learn without aids, it`s like riding a bicycle once you learn..ect...02 tod

[Don Baer]

I'm with the others on this I keep paper on my granite plate and whenever I need a touchup I just give it a few swipes and I'm good to go. My neighbor is a cabinate maker and he loves to borrow my chisels cause he knows there always ready to use.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Veritas MkII honing jig works for me, especially for getting the initial bevel done. I don't have waterstones, but with a piece of marble tile from the Borg and a few grades of sandpaper I can get nice, consistent results. I usually go down to about 1500 grit, but I've also got "paper" that is something ridiculous like 0.5 microns. For a quick touch-up, I'd do it freehand on the marble tile and paper, but the Veritas jig is easy and quick to use.

- Vaughn

[Mike Henderson]

I use the Veritas Mark II jig. There's a lot of difference of opinion on this, but I feel I can sharpen more accurately with the jig, even if it does take a few more seconds to put the tool in the jig.

We use jigs for many things in woodworking - primarily to get the best accuracy and repeatability. For me, this is just another place where I use a jig.

Mike

[Joe Mioux]

Veritas MKII jig. It works fine for hand plane blades and chisels. I normally "grind" with the sandpaper method, then hone with a 800 then 4000 grit waterstone. It is fast easy and cheaper than Tormek (which I really want, but can't justify the expense).

For all my knives... done all by hand and not on my waterstones.

Joe

[peter kolb]

When using the veratas mk11 jig; do you use it directly on the sharpening stone? The reason I'm asking is that when using the jig you cannot get a full
storke on the stone due to the geometry of the jig. Or do you build a platform
for the jig to ride on at the start of the sharpening stroke to utilize the full
length of the stone? Thanks for your help. Peter in south central nj

[Joe Mioux]

Just on the stone for me.

[Howard Rosenberg]

I'm not ashamed to admit it - I need the training wheels!

I don't use hand tools regularly enough to develop enough facility with them so I need to go for the results because I'm not at a point where I want to acquire the expertise associated with freehand sharpening.

HTH
Howard

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I use the jig to set the angle on the old chisels I refurbish, but for the touch up, I like to freehand, yes it took some time to learn it but now I can do it as well as the jig, and in way less time, with ease of use.

Cheers!

[Bruce Wrenn]

I use home made grinder to hollow grind chisels when they need it. Flatten back with sandpaper on glass. Hold chisel in hand with both edges of hollow grind resting on paper, and work SIDE TO SIDE, not back and forth. Finnish up both back and bevel with some TORMEK paste on a piece of MDF. Some times I use a drop of light oil on mdf with TORMEK paste. I think current issue of one of WW magazines has an article on sharpening this way. They call it NEW, but I am fairly old and have used it all my life.

[Steven Wilson]

I use my hands as a guide, best thing I ever learned from my carving instructor. I find that the slight hollow ground imparted by the Tormek makes it very easy to reestablish the angle by hand for honing.

[Jerry Olexa]

Veritas...Ditto. I like mine

[Tom Andersen]

There was a test jigs in Fine Woodworking a few issues back and they chose Veritas

[Rob Millard]

I'm one who feels that jigs or holders just get in the way, of what should be a quick second, nature process. I'm fairly lazy, and always in a hurry, so I grind my tools on a hand cranked grinder with a 5" diameter wheel. This leaves a pretty pronounced hollow grind, and it takes only a couple of passes on each grit to achieve a sharp edge. I move wide tools side to side and not in a figure 8 pattern; for narrow chisels, I just drag them over the stone with the cutting edge trailing. This leaves a nice flat edge with little input from me. Honing this way is best done on sandpaper, or a hard oil stone, as I don't think a water stone is hard enough to stand up to it. After a couple of honings, the "flats" get too wide for a quick hone, so it is back to the grinder.
I usually takes my longer to get the grinder clamped in the vise and get the stones out, than it does to actually sharpen the tool.