So, I finally worked up the courage to try the planer blade jig. Pretty straightforward set up, so that wasn't too bad. I did have to lock the left post first and then crank on the right thumb wheel to get 'er lined up with the the stone, but from what I have been able to read I am not the only one doing that... 
My first set of knives worked like a charm. They are all FAR sharper than the factory new set I ordered while waiting for my jig to arrive.
On the second set, however, I ran into a problem where - try as I might - I could not get the knives to grind down to the angle stop. I thought that maybe the stone was glazing over and just burnishing the knife edge, so this is what I tried:
1) I re-surfaced the stone with the fine grader. No joy.
2) I re-surfaced the stone with the coarse grader. No joy.
3) I re-trued the stone to expose a fresh new face. No joy - either before or after resurfacing.
4) I started completely over, re-setting everything as if I had never started anything. No joy.
No matter what I try, there is about 1mm or so of daylight showing between the adjustment screw and the jig hard stop. And no matter how hard or soft I press, and no matter how long I grind (up to 30 minutes or so, at least...) I cannot advance the grind. The edge of the blade just gets shinier and shinier - as if I am polishing it, but not removing material. Just to check things I took off the jig and sharpened a chisel and a kitchen knife - those worked just fine.
I am at a complete loss - and I have this half-sharpened set of knives that aren't doing me any good. Happily, the first set worked nicely!...
I can see in the forum that others have posted similar problems, but I cannot see any answers. Any help? Anyone? Thanks in advance!
My first set of knives worked like a charm. They are all FAR sharper than the factory new set I ordered while waiting for my jig to arrive.
On the second set, however, I ran into a problem where - try as I might - I could not get the knives to grind down to the angle stop. I thought that maybe the stone was glazing over and just burnishing the knife edge, so this is what I tried:
1) I re-surfaced the stone with the fine grader. No joy.
2) I re-surfaced the stone with the coarse grader. No joy.
3) I re-trued the stone to expose a fresh new face. No joy - either before or after resurfacing.
4) I started completely over, re-setting everything as if I had never started anything. No joy.
No matter what I try, there is about 1mm or so of daylight showing between the adjustment screw and the jig hard stop. And no matter how hard or soft I press, and no matter how long I grind (up to 30 minutes or so, at least...) I cannot advance the grind. The edge of the blade just gets shinier and shinier - as if I am polishing it, but not removing material. Just to check things I took off the jig and sharpened a chisel and a kitchen knife - those worked just fine.
I am at a complete loss - and I have this half-sharpened set of knives that aren't doing me any good. Happily, the first set worked nicely!...
I can see in the forum that others have posted similar problems, but I cannot see any answers. Any help? Anyone? Thanks in advance!