How Would You Make This Sharpening Stone Holder?

[Derek Arita]

I made these originally with a lot of little pieces glued together. It just dawned on me that I could rout the slots, but I'm not sure how to make the template to follow. My thought was to use a 3/8" plunge bit. I wish I had a CNC or even a 3D printer. Each slot is 6 3/4" long x 3/4" deep x 3/8" wide. I can build the outer portions of the box and lid around the main slots box.

[Doug Garson]

I think the way you made it is probably better than routing all those slots and turning all that MDF into dust. Might take a bit longer but a lot less waste and mess. Also let's you use up a bunch of small scraps if you have them.

[Jim Becker]

I kinda agree with Doug here, at least with the material the existing is made of. There is an advantage with the method you used, too, in that you can, if you want, remove partitions should you end up with a particular stone that doesn't fit in a .375" wide slot due to a contour it's designed to support. A "pretty" version using hardwood would be built the same way. For a fully routed recess solution, CNC would really be the best as pattern routing it would require as much work to make the template as to just build it up from components. At least in my mind...

[Tom M King]

You're sure every stone you're going to buy is going to be that size? Mine sit out on the sharpening sink in bamboo lid holders. There are multiple different sizes.

[Derek Arita]

All of my diamond matrix, choseras, films and strops do fit and I add boxes as necessary. If I move to abrasives that are thicker, then I'll build new boxes. I'm just looking for an easier way. I just purchased a couple of printed stone holders from Gritomatic that may work, if I make a box and lid around them.

[David Utterback]

Thanks for this idea. Last month, my peg board shelf collapsed with my 5 water stones inside their plastic containers and fell bout 5' to the concrete floor. All cases were destroyed and the stones now have small chips on the corners. The shelf support broke loose on one end and down they came. I also now have 4 leveling stones instead of 2.

[Erik Loza]

I think that case would look really cool with mixed species of solid wood as the dividers.

Erik

[Roger Feeley]

To build on Toms suggestion, how about grooves in the side pieces and movable dividers?

[Derek Arita]

kinda want to keep the slots enclosed as much as is practically possible to eliminate any abrasive dust from getting under the dividers and contaminating adjacent abrasives. One stray diamond can ruin your day.

[George Yetka]

Saw this earlier today by chance
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-indexing-dado-jig
I would think you could make up something that works on the same principle

But I would keep the 2 sides together and dado it up, slice it in half and cut the dividers and glue it all up.

[Derek Arita]

Saw this earlier today by chance
https://www.rockler.com/rockler-indexing-dado-jig
I would think you could make up something that works on the same principle

But I would keep the 2 sides together and dado it up, slice it in half and cut the dividers and glue it all up.

Great minds think alike. I realized this morning that I have a Dado Wiz. The DW would allow me to easily cut the slots I need, as deep as I need. All I have to do is mark where I want the slots.

[Derek Arita]

So it worked out pretty well with the Dado Wiz. I may make a couple more while I'm at it. All I have left to do is to build a frame around it and slide in a lid, which was always the easy part. This way is a definite time saver and it looks clean too.