Tricks for Sharpening a Short Chisel

[RickKrung]

Hi All,

I'm at a friend's place, sharpening their stuff.  I cannot believe it, but I failed to pack my drill sharpening jig, and drill sharpening was the primary reason for the trip.  Arrrrgh!

I am working on the other stuff, like knives, chisels and wood turning tools, and I think there could be an axe in the queue. 

He only has one standard chisel, which I've roughed on his bench grinder, but taking it to the Tormek, I find it is too short to be sharpened using the Straight Edge Jig.  I've looked at the Multi-Tool, SVS-50, but the chisel appears to be too short for it as well. 


Has anyone been faced with this and found a solution using something else?

Rich

[Ken S]

Rick,

Congrats! You may have to meet your inner craftsman. You may have to take your place with the stalwart workmen of old and sharpen your chisel by eye, resting it on the universal support bar. Slow and steady carries the day.

I believe you can do a good job on the drill bits by eye, too.

Give it a careful go, and keep us posted.

"Fortune favors the brave"

Ken

[RichColvin]

Rick,

There is a short tool jig (SVS-38 - https://www.tormek.com/usa/en/grinding-jigs/svs-38-short-tool-jig-svs-32/) which works well.  I use that often.

I some cases, I also use a shaft collar.  Seems to work well even if the tool is not round (or even roundish).

Kind regards,
Rich

[RickKrung]

I thought I had all those turning tool jigs, but it turns out I don't have that one. 

I did successfully use the scissors jig base (one with the slidy plastic surface), which worked pretty well.  It was relatively easy to keep the side of the chisel parallel with the side of the jig. 


https://vimeo.com/271144775

But the edge came out at a slight angle.  I tried using the Multi-Tool Jig, but it couldn't be set to be square enough either, I think because the side of the chisel was tapered in thickness.  A bit of shim might resolve that, but there is nothing available that would work. 

This chisel came to me as a 1" wide screwdriver, so I was content enough with getting it sharp and almost square.  It lives on a cattle farm and opening paint cans would be on the gentle end of its usage range. 

The sharpening project that followed was an axe, which was a totally different challenge, but turned out with an average BESS sharpness score of 204 and could slice paper.   

Rick

[Ken S]

Rick,

As I recall, the tolerance range for a one inch chisel to open gallon cans of paint is +or- 1.6°.

Clever use of the scissors platform as a reference square.

We used to get many posts with problems keeping chisels square. Jeff Farris always talked about varying finger pressure from one side to the other. That was how we used bench stones "in the old days".

Many years ago, I saw Duncan Phyfe's tool chest on display at Williamsburg. Of course, it was behind glass. I would be curious to know how square his chisels were. He did make some reasonably good furniture. 

Ken

[Ken S]

Hi All,

I'm at a friend's place, sharpening their stuff.  I cannot believe it, but I failed to pack my drill sharpening jig, and drill sharpening was the primary reason for the trip.  Arrrrgh!

This quote from Rick could have been from any of us. It certainly could have been written by me. We have all kinds of sharpeners on this forum, including the "weekend warriors" who bravely do battle at the farmers markets to the occasional home sharpener. I would offer a suggestion which should benefit all groups. My suggestion is a book about checklists, written by a surgeon. The author discusses the history of checklists beginning with test pilots who made them for their own survival. As a surgeon, he is primarily concerned with their use in surgery.

I almost ruined the diamond cluster of my truing tool because I neglected to tighten the jig to the usb. A simple checklist might have prevented that.

The book is an interesting read, and we could all benefit from it.

Ken




https://www.amazon.com/Checklist-Manifesto-How-Things-Right/dp/0312430000/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1526986843&sr=1-1&keywords=checklist+manifesto

[Elden]

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&an=&tn=The+checklist+manifesto&kn=&isbn=