When I was at the Wooden Canoe Assembly I met Robert from the Chocorua, NH chapter and he had made a jig for holding a drawknife to make sharpening easier and more accurate. We had quite a brainstorming session and continued with phone conversations after the assembly. I loved the idea as a lot of the woodworking forums I follow there are often threads on how to sharpen the drawknife. His idea could be reproduced by anyone. But the jig was sized and configured for the one knife he owned.
This is a pic of his.
The knife is held at the appropriate angle, the abrasive (diamond plate) is on the underside of that mahogany board and you just move it front to back and side to side.
Over at the paddle carving area there were several different drawknives and I have at least 6 or seven in different lengths, flat and curved. I needed something adjustable. This is what I came up with.
First a couple plywood discs to test my thought processes.
Then headlong into the first prototype that I doubt I will change.
The discs allow for setting the angle for the bevel. Adjustment is very easy, slack off the wing nuts and rotate the handles. The discs and clamps can spread to hold my 12” plus knife or my 6” or 8”. An added plus is if you rotate the handles 180° you can rest the stone on the back of the knife to align it to easily flatten the back of the blade which the original one at the show couldn’t do. I found it to be safer than any other method I’ve used in the past and worth my time to make. The two holes in the base hold the clamping discs when in storage and the hex/allen key to tighten the set screws is held to the board with a rare earth magnet, so everything I need is included on the board.
There is a commercially made sharpening jig called a Draw Sharp but I haven’t tried it for two reasons cost is over $100 and more importantly it guides on the back spine of the knife. I’ve seen many knives that had the back all beat up by someone using a hammer so those back imperfections would have to be dealt with first to use the Draw Sharp.
Anyway I thought I would share my latest diversion. The aluminum discs I bought from McMaster Carr, and I bought more than I need just to have extras to experiment with. So if anyone is interested I can make up a set of discs with the set screws for a very nominal cost. If you just have one knife just make the jig to fit your knife as first shown.You could just make plywood discs, thread the hole as I did and use a set screw instead of that oversized screw in my test of concept. I’m not planning on going into business making the discs or creating a kit with all the metal parts but who knows.
What are your thoughts, improvements?
Jim
This is a pic of his.
The knife is held at the appropriate angle, the abrasive (diamond plate) is on the underside of that mahogany board and you just move it front to back and side to side.
Over at the paddle carving area there were several different drawknives and I have at least 6 or seven in different lengths, flat and curved. I needed something adjustable. This is what I came up with.
First a couple plywood discs to test my thought processes.
Then headlong into the first prototype that I doubt I will change.
The discs allow for setting the angle for the bevel. Adjustment is very easy, slack off the wing nuts and rotate the handles. The discs and clamps can spread to hold my 12” plus knife or my 6” or 8”. An added plus is if you rotate the handles 180° you can rest the stone on the back of the knife to align it to easily flatten the back of the blade which the original one at the show couldn’t do. I found it to be safer than any other method I’ve used in the past and worth my time to make. The two holes in the base hold the clamping discs when in storage and the hex/allen key to tighten the set screws is held to the board with a rare earth magnet, so everything I need is included on the board.
There is a commercially made sharpening jig called a Draw Sharp but I haven’t tried it for two reasons cost is over $100 and more importantly it guides on the back spine of the knife. I’ve seen many knives that had the back all beat up by someone using a hammer so those back imperfections would have to be dealt with first to use the Draw Sharp.
Anyway I thought I would share my latest diversion. The aluminum discs I bought from McMaster Carr, and I bought more than I need just to have extras to experiment with. So if anyone is interested I can make up a set of discs with the set screws for a very nominal cost. If you just have one knife just make the jig to fit your knife as first shown.You could just make plywood discs, thread the hole as I did and use a set screw instead of that oversized screw in my test of concept. I’m not planning on going into business making the discs or creating a kit with all the metal parts but who knows.
What are your thoughts, improvements?
Jim
