Regrinding skew chisels

[Bob Jones]

I've just picked up a pair of 1/4" skew chisels to help me clean out dovetail corners.  I don't anticipate needing to regrind them anytime soon, but the day will inevitably come.  On that day I'm going to want to get the skew grind done on my T-8.  What's the best method?  The chisels are a normal length –– not too short.

[Ken S]

Good question, Bob.

Put your universal support bar (in the vertical position) up against your grinding wheel. Using your support bar as a straight edge, scribe a line on your grinding wheel with a pencil.
Place your skew chisel loosely in your SE-77 square edge jig, using about the same projection as you use with regular bench chisels. Align the skew edge with your pencil mark. Carefully tighten your jig screws, making sure that your narrow chisel remains flat. Set the bevel angle with either your marker of Anglemaster. Grind coarse, fine, and hone just like a bench chisel.

As you use your skew chisels, when you first start to notice a bit more cutting resistance, you may be able to touch up the edges with just the leather honing wheel. It's worth a try.

You will have to scribe another line for the second skew. Although matching skew angles will impress your dovetailing friends, they don't actually effect your dovetails.
Let us know how things go for you!

Ken

[RichColvin]

Bob,

These are my notes:  http://sharpeninghandbook.info/WW-Chisels-Carving.html

Kind regards,
Rich

[MikeK]

I am making a left and right skew chisel with a pair of normal 1/4-inch bevel chisels.  In order to get into those pesky corners on half blind dovetails, I want a skew angle of 10 degrees.  Based on someone else's set that I measured, the 10-degree angle works will with 1:6 and 1:8 dovetails.

I thought the SVS-50 Multi-Jig thinking it would be the easiest way to grind the initial skew angle, but after trying to set it up with the closed seat adapter, I can't get the small width of the chisel secured consistently.  I'm sure it's me and not the SVS-50, but if I can't get it to work, I'll use the SVD-110 Universal Tool Rest and just grind away until I get to a 10-degree skew.  Then I'll work on the hollow grind using the SE-77 as Ken recommended.

[RichColvin]

Mike,

You can try to use the SVS-50 with a piece of wood cut to the proper angle and used to set the jig.  The 1st picture I've attached shows an example of what I'm thinking.

You could also use an SVD-110 with a standardized spacer.  The 2d picture shows one I made for grinding a known angle on that platform.

If you need something more accurate than that, you will need to make a goniostat.  The one I made is used on the SVD-110  Tool rest and is outlined here:  http://sharpeninghandbook.info/indexJigs.html#Goniostat

Kind regards,
Rich