Primary Bevels.

[Dissolve]

I want to review my options for primary bevel grinding on my planes/chisels. Now, from what I've read I have some options:

"Scary sharpening" on coarse paper/float glass. Reasonably happy to try this method but I'm concerned about the cost over time! around £3 (for a sheet of 3M PSA paper)

A standard 6" bench grinder. Either with a commercial jig/adjustable tool rest or a jig made by myself, not fussed which, if I were to buy the jig it would be out of laziness/time constraints so the would cost something like £60 for the grinder + coarse wheel + axminster jig

Or a more commercial option, the worksharp. I could either make a jig that rests on the tool rest bar or make an extension level with the wheel to rest my honing guide on.. either way it's going to require a jig but this may be overkill for grinding primary bevels?

I am not fussed about a tormek due to the size/cost of setting one up, I'm looking for something a bit cheaper/smaller if possible!

 

[Jacob]

Belt sander.

 

[bugbear]

After finally settling on a selection of water stones and waiting for them to arrive, I want to review my options for primary bevel grinding on my planes/chisels.

Are you planning to restore s/h blades, fettle new blades, or just do some grinding "sometimes" as part of day to day sharpening?

BugBear

 

[Cheshirechappie]

They all work.

Grinding off significant amounts by hand on abrasive papers or coarse stones will be the slowest; maybe still a worthwhile option if you don't have to do heavy reshaping very often. Of the powered options, 6" high-speed bench grinder will probably be the cheapest, and if used carefully will do the job perfectly well and as quick as any other method. The Worksharp may be a good long-tem investment if you have a lot of sharpening to do, or if you propose to restore older tools. The belt sander is a bit of a lash-up, but works. The Tormek you've ruled out anyway. Cost of each option may be a factor in making your decision.

Your choice, really.

 

[John15]

Hi Cheerup,

Don't fall into the trap of complicating things. I have been trying various methods over the past year with help from experienced members' comments of this forum and am currently using a course then a medium diamond stone when the primary bevel needs re-doing which is not very often, then honing the secondary bevel using fine then extra fine diamond stone followed by polishing with an 8000 grit Welsh slate. I'm pleased to say that the results I'm getting are very good. That's not to say they can't be improved and I'm always keeping a watch on members' comments to upgrade my system.

Cheers,
John

 

[Jacob]

....The belt sander is a bit of a lash-up, ....

Depends on the user! Can be as precise as you like. Engineers have been using linishers for generations.

 

[bugbear]

....The belt sander is a bit of a lash-up, ....

Depends on the user! Can be as precise as you like. Engineers have been using linishers for generations.

Engineers use linishers for lower precision tasks, either because greater precision isn't needed, or can't be afforded.
Engineers have a wide range of tools and techniques, which will be chosen on a cost/benefit basis, and linishers are just another option; there seems to be a myth that engineers always work to super fine tolerances.

Closer to the OPs requirment, the custom knife makers use big linishers a lot - they certainly remove metal at a goodly rate.

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Sorby Pro-edge is good.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Was just about to chime in that if linisher and easy are wanted then pro-edge is rapidly taking over the globe.

 

[Dissolve]

I'm going to give the belt sander another shot. It's the 6" Axminster hobby one, but the fence/table are absolutely useless. For grinding bevels etc I ideally want to make a simple tool rest that's adjustable. Would it be easier to use the belt sander in it's upright position, or in it's normal position? The disc sander is probably a bad choice for grinding bevels because it's quite small, so if the belt sander will get me decent results all I need to do is devise an adjustable tool rest!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I'm going to give the belt sander another shot. It's the 6" Axminster hobby one, but the fence/table are absolutely useless. For grinding bevels etc I ideally want to make a simple tool rest that's adjustable. Would it be easier to use the belt sander in it's upright position, or in it's normal position? The disc sander is probably a bad choice for grinding bevels because it's quite small, so if the belt sander will get me decent results all I need to do is devise an adjustable tool rest!

Have you got a regular cheapo honing guide (you know set protrusion of plane blade to given distance = known bevel angle).

Just stick plane/chisel in honing guide to 25 deg (or whatever primary bevel angle you want) and hold on to the belt sander in horizontal mode as if it were a flat surface using a coarse grit (60 or similar). Obviously really watching your fingertips. Linish till bevel completely covered then switch belts to 240 and remove scratch marks. Then hone 2ndy on your stones. Do that with belt travelling away from the blade first off to avoid risk of a catch but be prepared to keep firm pressure downwards to keep the blade flat on the sandpaper.

 

[Jacob]

I'm going to give the belt sander another shot. It's the 6" Axminster hobby one, but the fence/table are absolutely useless. For grinding bevels etc I ideally want to make a simple tool rest that's adjustable. Would it be easier to use the belt sander in it's upright position, or in it's normal position?....

Bosch GB75 is a convenient box shape so it'll seat upside down on the bench unaided which is good for tool grinding (but clean out dust first and watch out for sparks). Other shapes you might need to prop up somehow. Some come with brackets.
Freehand without a rest is easy but you might need a visual reference of 30º if you aren't used to it. A school protractor will do, or a sliding bevel. Grind at a little below 30º and then hone at 30º. Keep looking at it to check progress. If you are going to camber or otherwise alter the shape of the edge do this first square on to the grinder (whatever sort you use). Shaping and sharpening are best done as two separate processes.

 

[fby]

There are a couple of articles on Derek Cohen's site about using a belt sander for this.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTe ... index.html (items 2 & 3 in the list)

I've done it a couple of times and I was very pleased with the result - extremely neat. Before this I'd only ever used a poor quality bench grinder, which didn't remove material quickly enough and caused the irons to overheat quite easily (user error maybe).