Cold chisels??

[reggi05]

I asked my maintenance department for a few chisels to sharpen for practice. So, they gave me these fat all metal chisels to sharpen. Of course I sort of was looking for the woodcarving tools not these other type. Anyway I looked them up on the web and I guess they are called cold chisels? They have a bevel on both sides. So, my question..do I sharpen these in the same manner as the wood ones? And they have a stubby little fat hand hold so what jig should I use for this?   ???Thank you for any help. I can probably figure it out but thought I would just put it out there.

Reggi

[epw314]

The ones I own have  a 1" diameter shaft no handle.The way I did mine was free hand using the side of the wheel.Put black marker ink on the edge and duplicate the same angle.
Ed

[reggi05]

 :)Thanks Ed, I will try that. You are right about the diameter being about one inch round. I thouht I would use the same bevel as on the tool by using a marker but am not sure how sharp these should be. For sure not as sharp as a wood chisel. Thanks again.

Reggi

[reggi05]

 :-\Oh well, I tried the black marker and for some reason could not get the right bevel, so I tried using the axe jig ant it worked for the two smallest chisels but I could not use it for the larger ones and they were pretty bad off. So, tried free hand and did okay on one and totally missed it on the last one. If my bevel wasn't too long it was crooked and I just could not get it to come out right. So, before I ground it to a little stub I got it so that it will work but does not look so great. Not a very good advertisement for me but thank God the maintenance crew at my work are okay guys and like me. After all I asked for the chisels to practice on. But I still feel like they should have come out perfect.

This is why I had wanted to see Jeff do some sharpening at the Harrisburg show cause I need to watch and ask questions. So I will keep trying and maybe buy a couple of these type chisels just to practice on.

One more thing, I also sharpened one of my chefs knives and followed the directions from the video demo exactly and the knife came out great and I was able to cut paper just like Jeff but got water on my work table and on the sharpener during sharpening!!! I wonder what that was all about? So, I continue to try and learn so I can use mostly my Tormek instead of all the other machines I have for the Tormek gives a much better edge on things.

Reggi

[msrdnr]

First, I think I can speak for all male participants on this forum in welcoming such an attractive user to the group. I hope I don't get my privileges pulled by suggesting that you are significantly better looking than Jeff - stunning, actually.

Second, if the things you are trying to sharpen are truly cold chisels, and it sounds as if they are, I wouldn't bother trying to sharpen them on the Tormek or anywhere else for that matter. They don't need to be sharpened.

Third, in terms of obtaining a consistent edge angle, the brainless, easy way to do it is by using a couple pieces of wood. Screw one little piece of wood a couple inches from your benchtop and use that as a reference so the chisel edge protrudes the same distance from the jig each time. With the tool protruding that distance, use the angle measure - you'll do this just one time - to set the grinding angle you want, adjusting the tool rest up and down. Now cut a piece of wood the distance between the tool rest and the wheel (don't worry about getting it exact to the thousandth of an inch).

From that point on, use the two pieces of wood to set up the machine and you'll get the same angle each time.

Fourth, the way to deal with water and the Tormek is to assume things will get a little wet. After fussing with mine for a while I finally just set it up on top of an old plastic tablecloth. Now I don't worry when water spills. I have some rags right there and clean up when I'm done.

Hope this helps.

MARK RODERICK

[reggi05]

 ;DMark,
    Thanks for your response to my query. First off, if that were me in the picture I probably would not be on this forum, but when I was entering my profile it had a few sample pictures so I chose this one. I hope I will still get the same responses now that everyone knows this.

    Your wooe pieces sound like a good idea, now if I can only picture it in my mind and do it then I'll be all set. Good idea about the plastic tablecloth, I thought I may be the only one with water problems, when Jeff sharpens stuff on the demo I don't see any water landing anywhere.

    In any case I thank you all who responded and will continue to respond to my queries.

Reggi