Ok...sharpening jigs

[Gregory of Sherwood Forest]

I was also fortunate enough to be a Beta tester for Jim's jig. I'll happily vouch for it!

First off, it is light, yet strong. Large enough to hold big blades, yet agile enough to hold narrow ones equally well.

When I first received it, I wasn't able to open the instructional video Jim made, but I quickly found out that the jig was VERY self-evident in its utility. There's nothing tricky about it. You don't need an angle guide, or a jig to set your jig, like the Eclipse or clones. I recently showed this to a couple small sharpening classes that I give, and they loved it above several of the other jigs that are commercially made.

It's so straight-forward that I'm surprised this method wasn't thought of previously, but I'm not surprised that Jim was the inventor. If you've seen some of his work, you know the man is capable of genius.

I was one of the testers who were able to try it on the Tormek, and it's easier to use with the Tormek than the Tormek jigs themselves are. I also tried blades of all sizes and angles, and found that there was a way to get them all done (sans the ultra short handled checkering or gravers tools). I even found a roundabout way to use it honing a monster lock mortise chisel!

I'm hoping he lets me buy my prototype, but I'll still buy one of his production models when they are available.

Now that Jim has his patent (Which I hope I helped talk him into), I can't wait show this off more. Any Woodnetters in the area who want to come take a look and a test-drive are welcome.

[dry heat]

Jim,
Yes, many carvers do know about the engraving tool sharpening jig and a few use it. Do you know the brand that you posted the picture of? It’s a bit different from the ones I have seen. Oar (spell?) also made a jig for gouges and vee tools that utilized a cylinder with set screws for legs that could be used for the wings of a vee tool. I’ll see if I can find a picture of it. This jig works to a degree but has a somewhat difficult learning curve. It worked much better with gouges. Most of the problems in sharpening a vee tool come from the blending of the bottom of the vee with the wings and keeping the wings even and at the desired angle. There have been several jig of various types developed for sharpening vee tools. A carver also makes a sharpening machine (Tomz) converted from a massage machine that utilizes two disks moving at slow speed and is reversible. It is probably the most popular around the area where I live. Several folks have tried to make a platform, for this machine, for resting various jigs, including the engraving one, on while using the abrasive disks. Got a bit off track but in meanwhile I look forward to using your invention. Ed

[Boatman53]

Thanks Greg, the jig is yours if you want it or when I the production jig is out we can trade.
Ed, there is no name on my graver jig but RioGrande sells one that looks the same. https://www.riogrande.com/Product/crocke...ner/118059

It was very easy to use with the palm handled tools.
I've seen the massager/sharpener I think on YouTube. Very clever.
Jim

[Boatman53]

Well I finally finished up the Demo model and today I sent it off for the first person to try out, in a couple of weeks he will send it on to the next and so on.



So much for the fun R&D work now I need to find a shop or two that can mill these things out for me.
Jim

[Martin S.]

Jim,

When you have these for sale, let me know so I can buy one.

I have a lot of 151 blades, and a couple of skew chisels and skew plane blades that need sharpening.

Your jig looks like a great solution.

Martin

[Bill Holt]

I'm not a big hand tool guy, but I do enjoy "sharp"!  The fact that your jig works on stone/diamond and the Tormek is amazing, at least to me.  I want one so I will be looking..........good luck in this next step.

[Boatman53]

What's going on? I made a post and can't find it. Bill Holt made a post and it's not here? When I posted earlier there was only one page with seven posts (I knew there should have been more) now there are two pages but the post counts don't match. Still software issues? 
Jim

[Steve Friedman]

Jim,

Nice job on the jig.  I'm just posting this to let you know why you can't see the other posts.  You need to view the thread in Thread mode instead of Linear mode.  There are over 100 posts, but if you're in Linear mode (which is what I use), you can only see the posts that responded to your initial post.  You can't see the ones that responded to other people's posts.

No idea why it's happening, but I'm responding to your original post so that you'll see this.

Steve

[Boatman53]

Thanks Steve the only way I found it was I saw you post, then the PM.
I don't like this mode, for some reason some of the text that extends to the righ is cut off for me. Wasn't sure how to reply till I touched the heading on your post and I get this tiny window that show only about six words at a time. Is there some othe way?
Jim

[Mike Brady]

The Lie-Nielsen guide addresses small or narrow blades very well. No need to look further.

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The Lie-Nielsen guide addresses small or narrow blades very well. No need to look further.