Sharp edges for your woodturning tools:
Making the Jig Arm
"Give yourself an edge, jig time. (3)"
| I begin the jig by taking a piece of 3/4" plywood that fits the grinder base and extends about 5" past the wheels on either side. |
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| I have fastened a t-nut in line with the left wheel center and used it to hold a 1/4" eyebolt and washer. About 3" farther back is a piece of 1/4" dowel that will later serve as a pivot guide. No dimensions are given as each grinder is a bit different. The pictures should be sufficient but I will come up with a set of plans in the future. |
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The heart of the system is a 3" wide piece of 3/4" plywood with a 14" slot cut down the middle. This becomes the jig arm. The length of the arm is the length of the longest tool you intend to sharpen straight across + 6" Typically this will be either a roughing gouge or a bowl gouge. You may want both a long and a short arm as the long one can stick out the back of the grinder stand a long way. |
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| Now measure from the base of the platform to the center of the grinding wheel. In my case this is 6 1/4". Subtract 4". I get 2 1/4". Build up the solid end of the arm to this thickness. I glued on two 3/4" blocks each 3" x 2" to get the height when added to the 3/4" thickness of the arm. Do not be too paranoid about this. 1/4" either way will likely not hurt. There is little strain here; almost any glue will do, even a couple of brads. |
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| Here on the end of my jig arm you can see where I have glued two 1" long x 3/4" high scrap blocks to make a pivot 'v' and drilled a 3/8" hole about 1/8" deep to aid in a pivot spot. Again there is nothing critical here. I just used hot glue to hold the blocks in place. |
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| Slide the arm under the washer and eye bolt and line the slot up with the guide pin. Just snug the eye bolt enough to hold everything in place. |
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| The arm is ready to go. All we need is a holding block and a tool to sharpen. |
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© 2006 copyright Darrell Feltmate, Around the Woods, Wood Turning Techniques