Making A Chisel Sharpening Jig Homemade Machines & Jigs
While using my chisel and plane iron sharpening jig recently, I realized that it was less convenient to use for quickly tuning up the chisels that I commonly use. While it is extremely versatile, it’s that versatility that makes it cumbersome and I decided to design a jig that will work with chisels only, in a range of widths from 1/4″ up to 1″. The bigger jig can be used for wider ones and plane irons, while this one will become the go-to tool for a fast and accurate refresh on the edges of the chisels I use most often.
To begin, I worked up the design and printed out the plans:
As I built the jig from the plans, I found a couple of ways to improve it and those are included in the finalized plan set. What’s shown above is the original and that is the way I made the jig in the build ideo (bottom of this page). The differences are fairly minor, so I didn’t bother remaking the video to include the changes.
To start, I cut out the parts that make up the base of the jig that holds the stone. In this instance, I’m using a stone that is 2″ x 8″ long and 3/4″ thick, but the base can be made to fit any size stone. I recommend one that is 2″ x 6″ x 3/4″ with a fine grit side and a coarse grit side:
I then assembled it with glue and brads. I made the opening for the stone a bit more snug at the end, to keep the stone from moving around while using it. The objective is to make the hardwood base flush with the stone on both sides:
If using a dual grit stone, all you need to do to change up is flip the base over.
Next is the assembly of the jig itself. It is very simple, but does have one tricky part – the 25 degree angle cut on both sides (A and B). I came up with an efficient way to do this using the miter saw, and it starts with cutting a 20 degree wedge. I set the saw for 20 degrees:
Then cut the wedge from a scrap of particle board:
The wedge is then used to angle the part I want to cut away from the fence. I reset the saw to 45 degrees for this next cut – 45 minus 20 equals the 25 degrees that I need. I also clamped a scrap of plywood to the fence to act as a stop to keep the board I’m cutting from being pulled forward:
The cut itself is best demonstrated in this short video:
Notice I stopped short of cutting through the plywood stop. Better to use the hold down clamp that comes with most saws along with the stop, but I’ve misplaced mine.
With both ends of the longer board cut to the correct angle, I can rip it down to size:
Then cut the side parts to the exact same size:
With both sides clamped together, I drilled the 1/4″ hole. In hindsight, spring clamps were not the best choice for this – better to use real clamps or a vise to keep the parts from shifting, since alignment of this hole is important:
I’m using my homemade drill press vise to hold part B to drill the hole for the shorter 1/4″ threaded rod:
With parts A and B finished, I cut out top A and B from maple. I started with a larger piece, then cut that down to the thickness I needed on the table saw. Much safer than trying to cut down smaller parts:
I used my mini table saw sled for many of the cuts on smaller parts. Here I’m cutting the end to length from a longer piece:
There are a few different ways to cut the slot in the end part. I used my band saw with the fence set, then nibbled the rest away freehand:
Assembly starts with gluing the 1/4″ threaded rods into the side parts. I used fast setting epoxy and let that cure before moving on to the next step:
Putting side A and B together, I saw there was a slight mismatch. These have to line up with each other perfectly for the jig to work well, so I clamped the parts together in my vise and used my block plane to make them even. This is shown in the build video at the bottom of this page:
Getting these parts exactly in line now doesn’t take long, and will make setting up the jig much easier:
Next, top A and B are glued to the sides A and B. I used fast setting epoxy and just masking tape to clamp them, since clamping it any other way would have been difficult:
After the epoxy set, I checked to make sure there was enough space for my 1/4″ chisel. The sides need to close and grip the chisel firmly when the wing nut is tightened:
With all of the parts made, I could put the jig together and try it out for the first time. Mine worked great, but if you find yours is off (grinding on one side or the other of the chisel), this can be corrected easily by shaping the bottom of the back to compensate:
I took care of the primary bevel on the coarse side of the stone, then made a secondary bevel on the fine side by lifting the back of the jig slightly with a block of wood:
Another way is to pull the chisel in farther on the jig, but I prefer the block method. It takes literally seconds on the fine side to establish the bevel:
Two options for setting the width are to make marks on the end:
Or just use the chisel itself to set the width. I prefer this way:
Another benefit of this jig is that it actually doesn’t need to be used on the base with a stone – it can be used on any flat surface with sand paper. Here I have a course grit paper taped to my bench to quickly grind down the damaged primary bevel on this 1″ chisel:
I can then switch to a much finer grit for the secondary bevel. Fast and easy:
To lift the back of the jig for the secondary bevel, I made a special block that is notched to fit on there:
The notch keeps the block in place while working on the secondary bevel:
The fished jig. It’s a good idea to take the time to coat all of the parts with a water resistant finish if you will be using this jig with a water stone or with water as a lubricant:
The plan includes an alternate version that may be a bit easier to make. It eliminates two of the tricker to do operations (making the slot in the end, and drilling the hole into the end of part B). I mocked up this version using 1/2″ plywood:
Basically, the shorter threaded rod is glued into a new hole in part A. Here I’ve set the rods using side B to hold them in line:
An additional 1/4″ nut is used inside to hold the sides apart at the end:
Although this is somewhat easier to build, it does take a bit longer to set up for each chisel size, so I recommend going with the first version:
Here is the full build video: