My <$10 sharpening jig

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
This is the jig I use to get Irish grinds on my lathe tools. On the older one I made, with a slightly longer arm, I was able to do roughing gouges and traditional bowl gouge grinds as well, but I had to remake it last year and the piece of wood I had for the arm wasn't quite as long. I got the idea here and after watching Cap'n Eddie a few times, decided to try it out. It works fine. I only made one jig, a 45º one, and will probably play around with a 60º one next year. I've seen some detail gouges with a 35º angle too. I use the same jig for both 1/2" and 3/8" gouges.

Obviously, this is a posed picture, and the stone isn't moving.

Jig01.jpg jig02.jpg jig03.jpg

The leg is about 7" long, and, IIRC, I used my pencil sharpener to taper the leg at the bottom to prevent its tendency to fall out of the notch. I also ground a taper into the bottom of the eyebolt I use to tighten the tool, so it sits in the flute better.
 
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Looks good. :thumb:

In looking at the tool against the stone... musing.. do you use a depth stop jig to insure the length exposed is the same each time?
If so then.... given 2" is exposed now and everything else remains the same wouldn't another stop depth at 2.25" have the tool contact the stone at a new angle...maybe 35-40* rather than 45*? Less exposed... maybe 1.75" would result in an angle more in the 55-60*?
Seems like it would work to me and no need for another full jig; just different depth stops with the degree written on them would place the tip at higher or lower angle to the stone.
 
Looks good. :thumb:

In looking at the tool against the stone... musing.. do you use a depth stop jig to insure the length exposed is the same each time?
If so then.... given 2" is exposed now and everything else remains the same wouldn't another stop depth at 2.25" have the tool contact the stone at a new angle...maybe 35-40* rather than 45*? Less exposed... maybe 1.75" would result in an angle more in the 55-60*?
Seems like it would work to me and no need for another full jig; just different depth stops with the degree written on them would place the tip at higher or lower angle to the stone.

This is indeed important. The amount sticking out must be constant to have the same angle each time. I remember Captin Eddie making a simple little gauge out of small scraps of wood to ensure the 2" sticking out of the jig. Yes I suppose if you wanted different angles you could have many different gauges.
 
That'll work fine, Roger. :thumb: The other comments regarding always having the same amount of the gouge sticking out of the jig are spot on.

> = greater than
< = less than

The arrow points to the greater is how I remember it.

The point of the arrow points to the smaller of the two numbers. The wide part points to the bigger number. Your example is correct but the memory trick is reversed. ;)
 
Looks good. :thumb:

In looking at the tool against the stone... musing.. do you use a depth stop jig to insure the length exposed is the same each time?
If so then.... given 2" is exposed now and everything else remains the same wouldn't another stop depth at 2.25" have the tool contact the stone at a new angle...maybe 35-40* rather than 45*? Less exposed... maybe 1.75" would result in an angle more in the 55-60*?
Seems like it would work to me and no need for another full jig; just different depth stops with the degree written on them would place the tip at higher or lower angle to the stone.

I"m going to play with that a little when I start up again in the spring. I wrote to the designer, and he suggested moving the arm a little closer or farther away from the stone to change the angle of the grind, but I think the angle of the leg will affect the shape of the wings. I'll have to experiment a bit.

Oh, I've been measuring the distance the tool protrudes with a ruler, because I was too lazy to make a stop on my workbench. I may drill a 2" deep hole in the workbench if I have a suitable Forstner bit in my drill.
 
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Is that > sign 'less than' or 'greater than'? I can never remember. It's supposed to be less than, anyway.

Roger, in this part of the world we read from left to right; like what I am writing. We place numbers in sequence in the same order, from left to right. Therefore if an arrow is pointing to the right it is pointing to something greater. For example: > 1,2,3,4,5. The further we go in the direction of the arrow, the larger the item. The corollary, an arrow pointing to the left, like this < gets us going towards the smaller number.

I hope that helps.

Your gear looks fine. You should be able to get some nice sharp turning tools.

I did that several years ago. I also did it without the tool holder. I could move the "arm" to either wheel. Therefore I could reshape a tool grind, or grind out a chip if that unfortunate problem occurred. I'm going to see if I can find a pic. Yep, pics attached. This process also worked like a charm.

The tool to stone angle is set the same way you do. The angle is changed by moving the tool butt holder closer or further from the grinder. The tool is rotated along its axis as it is moved from side to side on the grinding wheel. You can get a uniform grind or you can move a little slower as you approach the edges and have the tapered grinds (like fingernail).

The arm could be moved from the coarser wheel (if it needed to be used) to the finer wheel. All I had to do was loosen two wing nuts (knobs replaced the wing nuts later), lift the arm off and put it on the bolts on the fine wheel side. I was amazed at how easily and how accurately I could duplicate the angle when I made a change from one side of the grinder or when I used a different tool. I just loosened the arm enough to slide, had a light or white card on one side of the wheel. Then, with the grinder turned off, I sighted from the other side of the wheel and moved the arm in or out to match the tool angle to the wheel surface.

Time to shut up Bradley---Good night Roger and

Enjoy,
JimB

My 90 year old brain is like an old rusted Ferreri, It was really great at one time, but now it is ready for the junk yard. Anyway the first pic was not intended for this post. It is a Tormek tool holder that I can use when desired.
 

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...I think the angle of the leg will affect the shape of the wings...

It does, but if you're like most of us, once you find an angle that gives you the results you like, chances are you'll never need to change it. I know in my case, once I set my jig's leg angle, I never changed it again, regardless of the angle of the grind I was putting on a gouge. As Cap'n Eddie told you, adjusting the length of the arm handles that aspect. :thumb:
 
It does, but if you're like most of us, once you find an angle that gives you the results you like, chances are you'll never need to change it. I know in my case, once I set my jig's leg angle, I never changed it again, regardless of the angle of the grind I was putting on a gouge. As Cap'n Eddie told you, adjusting the length of the arm handles that aspect. :thumb:

Well, that could probably be another thread. I like the 45º angle I am putting on my bowl gouges, but I've never tried anything else. Now, looking at spindle gouges, I've seen every angle from 35 to 60º. Sixty just seems wrong to me, but I'll have to try it to make sure. I'm pretty sure my spindle gouges are about 45º, but I use my roughing gouge and follow with a skew a lot, as I haven't really got into coves and beads (I'm afraid to try the skew on those, anyway.)
 
If you make a jig to do Ellsworth grinds, then is it an Irish Jig? :huh:

Only if you hear a fiddle and tin whistle in the background. :D

I've never really figured what, if any, difference there is between an Ellsworth and an Irish grind (and a fingernail grind, for that matter). I'm pretty sure any lines differentiating them are more subjective than absolute. I think it's like determining the difference between purple, plum, and violet. ;)
 
I've never really figured what, if any, difference there is between an Ellsworth and an Irish grind (and a fingernail grind, for that matter). I'm pretty sure any lines differentiating them are more subjective than absolute. I think it's like determining the difference between purple, plum, and violet. ;)

Some people use the terms interchangeably. I want to try an Irish grind with a 60º bevel. There is supposed to be some sunshine for the next couple of days, and I have a bowl gouge that I haven't interfered with, so I may give it a go.
 
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