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Thread: Tapered chisels & honing guide

  1. #1
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    Question Tapered chisels & honing guide

    Hi all,

    Got the lovely honing guide from LN which is great for plane irons.
    However, most of my (old / second-hand) chisels are tapered...
    Are there any tricks for putting the tapered chisels into the honing guides?

    Bram

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Columbus, Ohio, USA
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    If your chisels are not square, it is difficult to sharpen them in a side clamping guide.

    My opinion, if you want to sharpen something that is tapered, you should use a guide that clamps on the top and bottom, not on the side.

    I sharpen with a Tormek, which clamps on the top and bottom, but, usually, I push it against the side to line it up. I cannot do this with my "tapered chisels".

    Side clamping guides are (again in my opinion), the easiest and most reliable way to clamp a chisel or plane blade that does not taper and is square.

    I think that you will also have problems with any skew blades without the specialty clamps based on your skew angle.

    Hopefully others that actually own the same LN clamping guide will chime in.

  3. #3
    Tapered which way? Thinner thickness from tang to edge or thinner width from tang to edge (like a fishtail?)

    #1 is conventional and almost every chisel ever tapers in thickness from behind the bevel to the tang... Should not be a problem....

    #2 - would be fairly easy to handle with a top/bottom clamping unit like the Veritas... You just mark the bevel with magic marker and use that to get everything all squared up properly.

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Bram de Jong View Post
    Hi all,

    Got the lovely honing guide from LN which is great for plane irons.
    However, most of my (old / second-hand) chisels are tapered...
    Are there any tricks for putting the tapered chisels into the honing guides?

    Bram
    Bram,

    As far as I know there isn't a side clamping guide except maybe one of the "skate" types that will work with tapered irons. The top/bottom clamping guides like the Veritas tend to allow the blade to shift and go out of square. I know this doesn't answer your question but the best answer is to freehand your tapered chisels. If you don't freehand sharpen now after a month or two of doing it you will wonder why you ever went with the guides.

    ken

  5. #5
    All of the chisels in my shop have taper - whether new or vintage - so not an old versus new thing. The closest to flat taper are the AI round backs, and even they show 0.030" or so taper. All work well in the LN guide...load and tighten. The guide references the back of the chisel for angle, so the angle is consistent when set with just distance, versus a top clamping jig that needs to be set with an angle jig. I have a few single-bevel carving chisels that show some reduction in width, but it's outside the area where the tool clamps.

    As usual, some spring-butt will pop up with a suggestion to learn to hand-hone, so it might as well be me. Worth practicing, and I am glad to have mastered the skill, but 99% of the time modern abrasives and good jig design make it easier and faster to use the crutch.
    Last edited by Todd Stock; 05-22-2018 at 8:07 PM.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Maybe this would be satisfactory.

    https://www.woodcraft.com/products/v...hoCDVIQAvD_BwE

  7. #7
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bram de Jong View Post
    Hi all,

    Got the lovely honing guide from LN which is great for plane irons.
    However, most of my (old / second-hand) chisels are tapered...
    Are there any tricks for putting the tapered chisels into the honing guides?

    Bram
    Hi Bram

    There is a simple solution - just make a couple of angled shims for each side of the chisel blade (I assume that the blade tapers along the length \ / and not its thickness). These will then enable even clamping pressure to the sides of the chisel blades.

    If the chisels have similar tapers, then one set of shims is all that is needed.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  8. #8
    The LN mortise chisels have a taper. They require a different set of jaws. Perhaps that set would work with your chisels as well. I would order a pair and try them. If they do not work, you can return them.

  9. #9
    LN def tailored the guide to their own tools in terms of the jaw pairs, but all of my mortise chisels - Ray Iles, Sorbys, Marples - have noticeable taper. The reason that most mortise chisels won't fit the standard jaws is more the case that the near-square sides and the deeper profile will not fit the standard jaw set...the standard jaws will accommodate a maximum blade thickness of about 0.375" (less for square-sided blades and limited by the cross-bar to jaw 'registration ledge'), versus the 0.550" max of the mortising jaws (limited by the distance from base plate to jaw) .

    The shots shows the jig with standard and/or mortise jaw(s) installed, and a 3/8" Ray Iles pigsticker at about 34 degrees when registered on the mortising chisel jaws and about 39 degrees when registered on the base of the jig.

    IMG_6781.jpg

    IMG_6782.jpg

    IMG_6783.jpg

    IMG_6784.jpg

    IMG_6785.jpg

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    I don't remember ever having such a problem with an original Eclipse. I use some setup jigs that work with any guide, and key off the backs of the tool, so the cutting angle is always exact, regardless of the jig, or tool. Someone will always come along, and say to be a real man, and sharpen by hand, but I needed to come up with a system that almost anyone (my helpers) could walk up to, and get consistent results, without screwing things up.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  11. #11
    Join Date
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    One advantage of the LN jig is you can buy an extra set of jaws and customize them.
    A few minutes of file work and you have custom jaws.
    AKA - "The human termite"

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Chuck Nickerson View Post
    One advantage of the LN jig is you can buy an extra set of jaws and customize them.
    A few minutes of file work and you have custom jaws.
    Let’s see I would guess a set of jaws for each chisel because each has a different taper.. Could be interesting.

    ken

  13. #13
    There's no issue with standard chisels - the only fit issue is with deeper section mortise chisels like 7/16" & 1/2" RI pigstickers, Refreshing memory re: the original Eclipse-style guide and deeper section mortise chisels...they sorta fit, for values of fit that involve some serious mojo on the knob (aka, ViseGrips). Registration is off the front or top of the blade versus the back, so needs an angle guide versus just a ruler or stop block to set. The LN jig is a big improvement, IMO, but quite expensive in the way that well-made things usually are.

    IMG_6786.jpg

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    I keep the LV plane screwdriver on the sharpening sink. It gets used for irons, and caps, but also to tighten and loosen the Eclipse screw. You don't even have to torque on it very hard. My setting jigs, in the pictures earlier, work with any shape chisel, and any guide.
    http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/pag...11&cat=1,41182

  15. #15
    Going over old round here, but the LN website says the following in the description of their honing guide: "We have designed these jaws for our blades and chisels, not other makers'." I know we are discussing trying to use other profiles of chisels in the LN guide and some do ok , others nada. If someone comes up with a solution I hope to see it here, but Ken is right; that could be an expensive experiment.

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