Squaring up a chisel

Bottom defines the plane

jim_reed@marietta

>This is how I see it. The cutting edge of a chisel is the line defined by the intersection of two planes--one is the plane of the bottom and the other is the plane of the bevel. Since it is not a mortise chisel, the perpendicularity of the sides does not matter much and the parallel plane on the top (or lack thereof) does not matter at all. Good luck using it. One cannot have too many 1/4 or 3/8 chisels around the shop.

Re: Bottom defines the plane

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Hi Jim -

Thanks for your post. I agree with you that I really don't NEED the sides to be perpedicular to bottom, nor the top to be parallel to get a sharp edge.

I don't freehand (yet) so I'm having trouble figuring out how to put a bevel on it that will be perpendicular to the axis of the blade. Since the top of the blade rests on my jig (and it not parallel to the bottom) I get a small skew on this chisel when I sharpen it. Since I have a Veritas sharpening jig (the blade is too short for my pseudo-Eclipse jig), I guess I could try to skewed approach to get the bevel de facto straight, but seems like that could be a trial and error headache - and not easily to duplicate when I need to resharpen it.

Anyway - just trying to figure out the best way to deal with this. Maybe this chisel is destined to become my slightly skewed chisel for getting into left hand corners :-) In any case, thanks for posting.

Regards -

Dave

Re: Bottom defines the plane

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>One way is to mark draw a line with a "sharpie" or similar marker. Then you can freehans or power grind it to the line, and all's square again.

Re: Bottom defines the plane

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>How to change the shape on the edge is by applying more finger pressure to one side or the other. You want your finger tips close to the edge of the chisel or plane blade. Take a few stroke have a look and so on till you get it perendicular. Smaller chisels are very easy to get off track. I don't use the rubber pad on the LV sharpening jig.

Another way

jim_reed@marietta

>Sorry, I always see sharpening issues from the Tormek point of view. If the jig is the problem, maybe you could shim the blade to fit correctly. Small pieces of wood, brass, or even tinfoil might work. Good luck.

Re: Bottom defines the plane

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Scott -

Thanks. I had thought of that and even marked it on the plane, but I was concerned that I might end up "rocking" it as I flattened one side of it and would have a hard time getting it back flat again.

Still, an interesting thought. Thanks!

Dave

Re: Bottom defines the plane

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Hi Jim -

Thanks for your post. I like your idea because it's simple and straightforward. The question I have is - how difficult is it to keep the same amount of "unequal" pressure on the blade edge as you move up through the different grits? Seems like it might be a bit tough. Or is this just an imaginary concern?

Thanks again for your post.

Regards -

Dave

Re: Another way

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Hi Jim -

Thanks. Hmmmm. A shim, eh? I'll have to give that some thought. Might work.

Again, I appreciate the suggestion.

Regards -

Dave

P.S. I like TC's bench alot. How does one finish a cat dining bench?

Different honing jig

Jim Cosgrove - No. Virginia

>Dave,

Hi neighbor! One solution is the Krell honing jig. It references off of the bottom of the chisel instead of the top. Although I normally use an Eclipse jig, I recently purchased a Krell because I thought it would be easier to use with very small chisels, especially 1/8". It's not cheap, but I'm really glad I bought it. It's now my favorite honing guide.

--Jim

Re: Different honing jig *LINK*

paul womack

>It references off of the bottom of the chisel instead of the top.

The rather cheaper Stanley guide also does this. It's useful for short or narrow blades.

I find that wide blades aprovde their own lateal stability when honing, and thus jigs with narrow guide wheels work well.

Narrow blades need jigs with a wide wheel base.

BugBear (who own more than one sharpenig jig)


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