Honing Jointer Blades

[Barry Mabery]

Stephen - Not Ben, but I would certainly like to see your 3-up jig.
Barry

[Mark Wooden]

Woodworkers Tool Works also has the last of the Foster jointer knife grinders that will sharpen the knives right in the head of any jointer. Not cheap, but well worth the cost if you need to get your knives done frequently. I'm very pleased with mine and with the support from WTW.

[marty shultz]

Does anyone have the 3 knife jig they could post a pic of?

[Andrew Hughes]

Here Ya go.

[marty shultz]

It's so simple but I couldn't get my brain to think about the problem correctly.

thanks!

[Dani Carbajal]

(Bumping this back up...)

Does anyone have pictures of one of these jigs that would do 3 blades at a time?

Not sure I really see the benefit of doing all 3 blades at once though.

Ben

I realize this is an old post but I too was looking for a 3-blade sharpening system. I ended up taking the idea for a jig from someone else who posted in this thread. It was a great design and I was able to make it so I could set 3 knives in. It would be more ideal to have metal tracks the blades fit into but I'd rather sharpen 3 blades then swapping blades out every few minutes.

I posted a tutorial on my website for anyone else interested in making one. I was very impressed with the results. The blades were badly knicked so I had to take a lot of material off - but now they cut like new!

http://www.theprojectlady.com/2017/0...g-jointer.html

[Warren Lake]

never sharpened them figured the pros could do it well. In the old days what came back was ground fine and also hollow ground. Id hone them as taught before they went in and they were wicked sharp. I mean wicked you slice into your self without even knowing it blood dripping out on the machine. Just oil and a hard Arkansas slip stone. When they were dull change them.

At some point I started to hone them in the head, in that case they had a double bevel but it has to be done so there is no heal striking the wood. Guy I knew who had a moulding company said some woods will plane better with a double bevel than even raiser sharp knives. Not sure yet I still think the cleanest cuts ive seen are off the shaper high speed steel hollow ground and single bevel that is honed first. I think its easier to hone hollow ground stuff. Certainly the double bevel should stand up to longer runs of material. Doesnt seem like anyone will hollow grind them anymore. Havent considered grinding knives myself. Figure a pro with a 20ik machine should be doing a good job.

[Mel Fulks]

Warren, I have not seen a grinding machine for those close up. A friend,now gone on, bought one years ago marked down to
$60,000. From $100,000. The one he had been using was worn slam out. Don't think the new one made a hollow grind,but it did make knives nice and straight.

[Scott McFarland]

I have the Duelen 6" jig, I had 2 issues with it.

1. I don't think it presents the leading edge of the knife to the stone effectively. Leading to requirement to remove excess steel in order to obtain a sharp edge. Maybe my knives aren't 45 degrees.
2. I have to waste time rotating 3 knives into two spots. An issue clearly addressed by this 3 knife setup.

I created a jig, that I mounted to the Duelen jig that enables me to sharpen one knive at a time, at any angle I want.
STM Jointer Jig.jpg

it is two pieces of scrap, joined at a right angle. The horizontal scrap is screwed to the top of the Duelen jig. The Vertical scrap has two slots for adjustment, bolts join the vertical scrap to the horizontal scrap via t-nuts. The slots allow me to vary the angle the knife is presented to the stone.

What isn't shown is I added two nylon wheels to the bottom of the vertical scrap so it glides smoothly on the workbench.

Now I mount one knife, go from grit to grit until that knife is sharp, then do the other 2 knives. No more rotating knives in and out of the jig! Saves tons of time.

My knives are so sharp, jointing is almost silent!