Cheap Vari-Grind clone

[Terry W]

I have the Oneway Wolverine sharpening kit on my bench grinder, but I did not have the Vari-Grind attachment for sharpening gouges.  I, being cheap, was thinking of making my own.  But during my search for plans I came across a clone that was so cheap it was hard to pass up, so I ordered one.

First the good news.  It’s cheap. Only $20 and that included delivery. It has three preset indents.
 Also, it’s pretty well made.  Probably not quite as good as a true Oneway model  but for only $20, I’m impressed.  

Now  the bad news. It comes with no instructions.  The supplied bolt-knob combo is a little too short to make contact with small gouges.  Also the bolt and set screw are metric.  I would recommend installing a longer one. I had a longer metric bolt in my spare bolt container so now I’m good to go.  Another small thing is that the three indents are not marked. I don’t think the Oneway model is either but I thought I would mention it.

You can order it direct at Vevor.com.  Just go there and search for “Vari-Grind jig”. I paid $19.95 and it arrived in less than a week.  You can also find them on Ebay for $25. They also make a clone of the Wolverine kit for grinders. It's less than $70.

[EightFingers]

Needs a washer under that wingnut too

[iclark]

Needs a washer under that wingnut too

+1

The best instruction for that tool (for me) was the pdf on Doug Thompson's website: print it, lay the tool on the paper, and set the angle.

[AHill]

If you go to the Oneway website you can pull up instructions on how to use the Vari-Grind jig. It's not very useful without the extension / tool rest that you use to place the base of the jig on. They make that too, but that's part of the entire system that they sell for $81.99. Oneway calls that base with the extendable arms the Wolverine Grinding Jig.

Vari-Grind Instructions:
https://oneway.ca/pdf/Part%202480%20Vari...202010.pdf

[Terry W]

+1

The best instruction for that tool (for me) was the pdf on Doug Thompson's website: print it, lay the tool on the paper, and set the angle.

Thanks for the link. I've printed it out.

[charliez]

I made my own sharpening system a while ago with wood and a horrible freight grinder,and it was horrible.   It would twist and not be that accurate.  I also tried sharping with a belt sander and that was just not clean enough and consistent enough.  When I updated my lathe to a Powermatic I went ahead and spent some on sharping.  I got this jig. It actually came in red.  It takes some learning and experimenting, but once I had it down, I can sharpen really well now.  I also added the Rikon slow speed grinder.  All of this has been well worth the investment  The grinder had two wheels not the wore



https://www.amazon.com/PSI-Woodworking-L...466&sr=8-5

https://www.amazon.com/RIKON-8in-Variabl...Y2s9dHJ1ZQ==