poor support?

[Fineline]

Hi folks,
First time using T4.
I was trying to sharpen a garden shear and I have the scissors, knife and tool rest jig.
Couldn't find one that fits well due to the acute 15 degree bevel and ended up using scissors jig.
Seems like the grinding edge is quite a distance from the support base.
Not even sure if this is the right way to do it.
Any feedback?
Having the same problem trying to sharpen a cleaver. The edge of the blade is extending so far out from the support base due to the steep angle.

Also, couldn't find any jig that can hold those snips in the background.

[Herman Trivilino]

Color the bevel on those pruning shears and make sure you're matching it. I have a pair similar to that and I was never able to sharpen them properly using any of the Tormek jigs. The HK-50 worked better than anything else, although the curved bevel makes it a challenge to do the job properly.

I see a pair of wire cutters in the background. Unless you can open them past 90^o I see no way to sharpen them on a Tormek, either.

[grepper]

Can your raise the control bar and slide the clamp side of the scissors jig further down the platform?

A cool little trick that sometimes helps in difficult situations is to rest the backside of the regular knife jig on the scissors jig platform.  It is much smaller and does not get in the way like the scissors clamp does.

The backside of the knife jig has two different angles and both can be useful depending on the situation.  If you try to just use the knife jig on curved blades like that, the jig pivots over the edges of the adjustment knob where it hits the control bar and messes up the sharpening angle.  But if you rest knife jig on the scissors jig platform like you would the scissors clamp, it makes it easy to follow the curved blade like the scissors jig would do.

Sometimes in order to tighten the knife jig securely, the front little clamping screw will protrude through the jig and past the backside of the jig.  In that case you can slip a piece of metal, (coin, washer, etc.) between the blade you are clamping and the jaws of the jig to simulate a thicker blade.

Very small angles are just a problem for the Tormek and small blades.  In that case the Tormek small knife jig or Herman's HK-50 solves the problem.

For bypass pruners like that, you are mostly just trying to remove the burr from the backside.  Felco recommends running a stone over it at 5 degrees.  You could just quickly do it by hand, or if you really want to us a jig, Herman's jig would work well too.

[Fineline]

Color the bevel on those pruning shears and make sure you're matching it. I have a pair similar to that and I was never able to sharpen them properly using any of the Tormek jigs. The HK-50 worked better than anything else, although the curved bevel makes it a challenge to do the job properly.

I see a pair of wire cutters in the background. Unless you can open them past 90^o I see no way to sharpen them on a Tormek, either.

Thanks Herman. I'll take a look at the HK 50.
Yes the wire cutters open past 90 degrees but I couldn't find a suitable jig. Looks like free hand is the only way. Anyone tried similar wire cutters on a Tormek?

[Fineline]

Can your raise the control bar and slide the clamp side of the scissors jig further down the platform?

Couldn't slide jig further down. In fact, just learned a new lesson. Went too low and the jig hit the wheel while I was grinding the curve tip.

A cool little trick that sometimes helps in difficult situations is to rest the backside of the regular knife jig on the scissors jig platform.  It is much smaller and does not get in the way like the scissors clamp does.

The backside of the knife jig has two different angles and both can be useful depending on the situation.  If you try to just use the knife jig on curved blades like that, the jig pivots over the edges of the adjustment knob where it hits the control bar and messes up the sharpening angle.  But if you rest knife jig on the scissors jig platform like you would the scissors clamp, it makes it easy to follow the curved blade like the scissors jig would do.
Sometimes in order to tighten the knife jig securely, the front little clamping screw will protrude through the jig and past the backside of the jig.  In that case you can slip a piece of metal, (coin, washer, etc.) between the blade you are clamping and the jaws of the jig to simulate a thicker blade.

Great tip! I got to try that someday. After using the knife jig and the scissors jig, I like the scissors jig much better. A lot easier to control for a newbie. I think the knife jig needs a lot of practice.

Very small angles are just a problem for the Tormek and small blades.  In that case the Tormek small knife jig or Herman's HK-50 solves the problem.

For bypass pruners like that, you are mostly just trying to remove the burr from the backside.  Felco recommends running a stone over it at 5 degrees.  You could just quickly do it by hand, or if you really want to us a jig, Herman's jig would work well too.

Yes, I'll look into the HK 50. Thanks.
[/quote]

[Stickan]

Hi,

I would use the knife jig on those shears. Have sharpened many of those and as Herman  wrote, use a marker on the edge to find and adjust the right angle.

Stig

[Fineline]

Hi,

I would use the knife jig on those shears. Have sharpened many of those and as Herman  wrote, use a marker on the edge to find and adjust the right angle.

Stig

Hi Stig,
First time using Tormek and I find the knife jig needs practice. Regardless, I will try it the next time I sharpen the shears. I read somewhere in this forum using the knife jig is like driving stick shift cars and I'm beginning to understand that more.
As for finding the original bevel, for an old shear, it was not as straight forward as I thought.
I think the bevel is convex after using for a long time. Below is a picture of the original shear before sharpening and I could only manage to get the marker to be ground off somewhere in the middle of the bevel. To grind off the marking, I turned the wheel back and forth manually and did not turn on the motor.