Pfeil Chisels in the svd-185

[borismilo]

Hopefully I have that jig number right! Its the one for finger nail gouges or v-tools.

My quesiton has to do with using pfeil chisels in the jig, mine don't seem to fit because the shank is so small. Any suggestions on how I can get around this?

[Jeff Farris]

Take the black collar off the clamping pad.

However, unless your carving chisel is a bent shank style or spoon style, you'll be better off with the SVS-32.

[borismilo]

Thanks for that! For some reason I didn't even think of removing the collar!

[Edgar Milson]

I had a hard time sharpening chisels properly, I got them sharp but the edge looked like an amateur had been grinding it and after watching the video when they sharpen bent spoons and v-tools, well I had to have one. Now I purchased a Tormek and bought the jigs but to tell you the truth, I am just not sure that the Tormek will sharpen the Pfeil woodcarving chisels unlessyou have had a lot of practise with it and by practise I mean going through a couple of chisels to get the procedure down pat. I am not complaining, not at all, I think the Tormek is the answer to my prayers, I am just not in a hurry to check it out. I am also wondering about the tiny little gouges, gouges that
are 2 or 3 mm wide. Can the Tormek sharpen those small gouges?
Thanks, Edgar

[Jeff Farris]

Yes, they can Edgar.

Here's the deal on carving tools. In the grand scheme of things the steel in a carving tool is relatively soft...even very high quality ones like Pfeil. With that in mind, the trick to learning how to sharpen them with the Tormek is to keep the grindstone very, very smooth with the stone grader. This means that things happen slowly. When you're learning how to present complicated profiles to the grindstone, that's exactly what you want...slow steel removal. Use the grader until the surface feels like a piece of wet glass when it is running.

Also, start with simple profiles....skews and straight grind, fairly large gouges. Once you have a grip on how to sharpen these, the complicated ones will be easier.

[Kiwi]

I am new also to the T7 Edgar and share the same thoughts as you particularly pertaining to pfeil chisels.  Yes the metal to me seems very fine or fragile.  Don't get me wrong they are excellent carving chisels.  I have nearly gone through 2 #9 sweep straight gouges in order to find a down pack system.  In saying that I still have not found a solid way of dealing with those big sweeps.  I have been using the specified svs-32 but with no real success.  I to have quandered about the possibility of using the svd-185 or the svs-50 multi jig.  It looks to me you can use the svs-50 in conjunction with the TTS-100.  Can you inform please if using the svd-185 is working for you especially pertaining to the straight large sweep gouges.

Thanks