A Most Beautiful Knife Sharpening Jig

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TopRamen

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The sharpening jig in this video is pretty impressive. It puts my Lansky and similar systems to shame.
I have no machine shop, but what I do have are various items that have been scavenged from things like TV satellite dishes and parts from miscellaneous broken tools that I find on the side of the road and whatnots.
The parts from the Telescope tripod that I turned into my MPR pad are still around here somewhere, and that is an armature with angles that can be adjusted and locked, and If I can't find it, my Mom has the exact same telescope, and niether on of us like the amount of play in the armatures, and she has offered me the tripod before, so I could have her pieces parts.
As of today, I am on a quest to construct and item of similar aspect to the one I just witnessed in this video.
I sharpen knives nearly every day, and hunting season is coming, which means I'll soon have a few aquaintences stop by and want there knives tuned up. I get by with the things I have, and do a nice job, but I have always wanted a nicer jig so that I don't have to think too hard about it. I use different methods for different steels, but I have found that putting the proper angle on stainless steels and AUS 8 and the like is so very critical, and it seems that everyone has these crap steels nowadays, and it makes things more interesting than I care for.
Myself, I like a high carbon most of the time like 1075, as I don't mind having to put a little oil on a blade, and eventually they develop a surface patina that keeps them fairly free from corrosion.
Anyhow, without arguing preferences or tech, here's a cool video:

[video=youtube;k3SbEWFSA8s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3SbEWFSA8s[/video]
 
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Thanks for posting this. I just bought a new set (well mixed sets) that haven't arrived yet. Our previous set we've had for 25 years had some pieces missing and as I have been cooking more over the last five years, it was annoying that overall the design of the set was not made for big hands with adequate handle spacing. Anyway, after selecting appropriate knives, I was mulling over some type of sharpener. The cheap ones range from $20 to $50 and of course still don't work well so once a year you still have to take the set in for professional sharpening at ~$100. At the price of this system I get payback in a couple year's time. Also I make my wife and father-in-law happy since they are big hunters that always have knife needs.
 
When I sharpen knifes, plane irons, chisels, etc., I use wet stones. I start at 1000 grit, end with 8000 grit, then buff the edge with leather and jewel's rough.
If I have to set the bevel on a badly damaged edge, I'll start with a 220 grit Diamond stone.
I don't use any jigs, but I sharpen a lot.
Like this guy says, it's for people who can't normally sharpen by hand.
If you put 1000 grit dry sharpened blade under a micro scope, you'll see that edge is not not an edge at all.
It will actually look serrated.
A really good sharped blade should reflect like a mirror, and shine like chrome. No matter if it's just Carbon Steel, or Stainless Steel.
I sharpened a couple knives yesterday for my new neighbor (X-Marine), a Kershaw folder & a small survival knife.
Most people don't understand what truly sharp is, until you show them.
He freaked out when he took his Kershaw and took off 1/2 the hair on his left arm with one swipe with no pressure to the blade.
Katana's take quite a bit of time, but once you have one sharp, it's easy to see how you could take someone's arm off with one swing of the blade.
I've said this before, you can use your 27 blade decapitators to shave with, but my Straight Razor will give you the cleanest, closest shave without irritation.
This unit is well built there is no doubt. There is something out there that very similar, and less expensive out there. See "HERE"
 
When I sharpen knifes, plane irons, chisels, etc., I use wet stones. I start at 1000 grit, end with 8000 grit, then buff the edge with leather and jewel's rough.
If I have to set the bevel on a badly damaged edge, I'll start with a 220 grit Diamond stone.
I don't use any jigs, but I sharpen a lot.
Like this guy says, it's for people who can't normally sharpen by hand.
If you put 1000 grit dry sharpened blade under a micro scope, you'll see that edge is not not an edge at all.
It will actually look serrated.
A really good sharped blade should reflect like a mirror, and shine like chrome. No matter if it's just Carbon Steel, or Stainless Steel.
I sharpened a couple knives yesterday for my new neighbor (X-Marine), a Kershaw folder & a small survival knife.
Most people don't understand what truly sharp is, until you show them.
He freaked out when he took his Kershaw and took off 1/2 the hair on his left arm with one swipe with no pressure to the blade.
Katana's take quite a bit of time, but once you have one sharp, it's easy to see how you could take someone's arm off with one swing of the blade.
I've said this before, you can use your 27 blade decapitators to shave with, but my Straight Razor will give you the cleanest, closest shave without irritation.
This unit is well built there is no doubt. There is something out there that very similar, and less expensive out there. See "HERE"

I use a granite surface plate and varous grits of wet dry sandpaper up to 2000 grit to sharpen the edge on all my tools and knives.
 
I have not made anything yet, as I've been busy trying to shore up my house for the change of seasons, but throughout the day I have been gathering any item that I see that I think I can use for my jig.
I have taken brief respites from DIY Homecare videos on Youtube to watch these crazy Ivans and their sharpening jig videos.
Seems to be a bigger thing there than here to have a DIY Jig.
We could argue about the best methods all day long, but we are each entitled to our own methods, so unlike Knifedogs Forum and Bladeforums, lets keep it civil.
Sharpening stuff can become a heated topic, so let's not call each other out, but maybe just share what we know.
After all, this is just the whatever section at Rocketry Forum.
I do want to incorporate some 1010 rail into my jig, and maybe even some Makerbeam, as I have some short sections of each that are just basically scraps.
It is my intention to be able to use my jig to bevel fins too.
I can now essentially freehand 3D print with foam, drawing a bead of as little of an 8th of an inch at a time, so anything I need parts wise can be made using foam, paper templates and fiberglass wall repair tape. Then I can sand the edges/outside to my desired fit, and lay on a layer of glass cloth, followed by a layer or two of CF cloth.
To make an effective and usable jig of this sort, I may also need to add weight to some of these fabricated components, but basically, if I need a part that would normally require a machine shop, I can skip the hassle and cost, and make it myself.

Anyhow, this jig here looks nice:

[video=youtube;wUn6a9JBS20]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUn6a9JBS20[/video]
 
And since I've been working with foam so much, and hacksaw blades and disposable box cutters are not capable of the fine precision I sometimes find myself needing, I made myself this little neck knife in-between chores, and I call it the "Foam Finger".

Foam Finger 2016-09-13 004.jpgFoam Finger 2016-09-13 001.jpg


Pardon the blurry spot in the pics', camera has(Had), something on lens.:rant:
 
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And since I've been working with foam so much, and hacksaw blades and disposable box cutters are not capable of the fine precision I sometimes find myself needing, I made myself this little neck knife in-between chores, and I call it the "Foam Finger".

View attachment 301480View attachment 301481


Pardon the blurry spot in the pics', camera has(Had), something on lens.:rant:



The metal portion was cold captured from a scissor. I did not want to ruin the temper while I re-contoured the extra bevel, and without a forge or heat treating set up in place to properly anneal and then heat treat and temper it, it took me about a week to slowly use files to make the other side of the blade.
The handle was easy, and no CA was used, only BSI 20 Minute and Z-poxy 30 minute. There are layers of glass cloth in-between the CF layers to build it up. I don't think those hidden layers hurt the integrity, as they also contain Kevlar Pulp, milled CF and milled FG. Only the outer layer is pure Epoxy.:wink:
The sheath is just thermal set plastic that I crosshatched for the first layer of Rob702Martinez enhance epoxy FG.
A thousand years from now, someone is going to be thankful that someone a thousand years in the past had the common sense to add all the composite tech to it.
The heaviest parts are the Brass grommets, so I can almost carry it into my dreams, making it so much more useful than any other tool.

It will make a fine "Bird and Trout Knife", if I ever get around to those things again.
 
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I come across "THIS" a few minutes ago by accident looking for something else.
Thought I'd throw it out in the mix.
Sorry if I had offended anyone, it was not my intention.


No offense was taken, but I have seen folks go to war over sharpening and "What's The Best Steel" on the knife forums and the survivalist and bushcraft forums.
You'd think folks would just be able to handle that what works for them does not necessarily work for someone else, but for some reason, when it comes to sharpening things, people have a fire in their belly about it and seem to enjoy arguing about it.

That is a good article, thanks for adding it.
There's always something new to be learned when talking about sharpening stuffs.

I'm trying to figure out if I can "Do It Myself", a suitable 2X72" belt grinder so I can start making knives again.
 
My sharpening jig is coming along nicely, thanks to my keen eye for re-purposing other items and tendency to hoard broken machines and parts out in my sheds.
It will be of a fairly simple type for now, but once I am sure that I have the geometry for the blade and rod angles correct, I'll post some pics'.
I'de hate to post a pic', then have someone else with MB Ruler scrutinize my work for flaws and find them as obvious as I did in my initial plan.
Someone here on the forum got me into using the MB Ruler app, and it is a real game changer when I work on something like this, as I don't have the proper measuring equipment to calculate precise angles, but I can certainly cobble something together, take a picture, use MB Ruler to analyze the picture, then figure out what I need to shim, shave or adjust and repeat the process.
I did not need the MB ruler to tell me that due to a particular way my blade holding arm was welded, that it would require modification to work as the blade holding arm, but MB Ruler tells me by how much I need to adjust to correct the angles, so I don't just go doing it entirely by eye, and at the same time, can sharpen my senses to make me notice little things like this more readily in the future.
i had played with the parts for nearly a day before I realized I'd have to change the spot where the blade would mount, and I'd have felt really dumb if I had built it and not caught onto this. There is also an ever so slight bend to the bar of steel, but it makes a difference too.
Inbetween chores today, I'
m going to start cleaning up and rewiring on the bandsaw that was given to me by my friend Greg, A.K.A., Adrienwapkaplet, fellow Rocketry Forum member. The knifemaking really calls for a bandsaw, and when I used to make them, perhaps that was what was holding me back from being as successful at it as I could have been. Cutting blanks from bar stock by drilling lots of tiny holes on the press, then going around it with a hacksaw took days sometimes.:facepalm:

Here's a cool MDF honing wheel I'de like to make too someday:

https://dcknives.blogspot.com/p/diy-sharpening-wheel.html
 
:facepalm:

I'm stupid sometimes. I did not need to worry about that whole bit with the angle, as the angle can just be set when setting up the jig with each different knife, rather than try to have a bunch of presets that are going to change depending on the height of the different blades.
Once I figured that out it was easy to make some decisions about the design, and things started to go somewhere, but I had done some house work this morning, and not slept well last night, and next thing you know I was laying on the floor taking a nap next to my Dog.
At 3pm I woke up, and actually felt quite refreshed, so I managed to get the bandsaw cleaned up and operational. I used it to cut out an extra set of fins I need for my Big Daddy kit, then I realized I don't want to screw up a good thing by trying to learn to cut metal with it til I can get more blades and know what I'm doing. I am going to cut a bunch of wood and plastic parts for jigs, and for now I'll stick with my hacksaw and my jigsaw with metal blades for small metal tasks.

Bandsaw Operational 2016-09-16 004.jpg
 
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I'll do the knife sharpener first, but it will not be able to double as a fin beveling jig.
I'll do the fin beveling jig second, based on the things I learn while making the knife sharpener.
I used to have a basic "cobbled together" file guide that I'd use to set my primary bevel on knives, and that would be more like what the beveling jig would need to be.

Old Pics From Old Profile 073.jpg
 
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