# Plane iron sharpening jig



## Wend (5 Oct 2017)

I haven't got the knack for hand-sharpening plane irons yet, so thought I would try building a jig to help me out. I've seen the commercial honing guides but, as well as the cost and the mixed reviews, I didn't like the idea of running rollers up and down my stones.

*The prototype*

So I started with a prototype. This is just 4 bits of offcut screwed to an ex-IKEA-shelf, with some more bits of wood providing a wedge at an appropriate angle, and some skis to run either side of the stone.






There were two main problems with this. First, the wedge didn't come right down to the stone, so the iron overhangs. This means there is nothing supporting the bit that you want to apply pressure to. Second, as I planned to extend this to have other stones either side, held in place by the same pieces of wood, the skis needed to run on top of this wood. However, the shelf is a much smoother surface, so I was wasting energy fighting friction. Note also the divot in the bottom left: This is a shallow hole I drilled so that I could get a screwdriver in to lever the stone out for cleaning. However, I was a little worried that water would get in and cause the shelf to deteriorate.





One problem I expected to have is the shelves not supporting the screws well, and the whole thing quickly becoming loose. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it held up rather well. Perhaps it won't in the long run; I'll have to wait and see.

*The real thing*

On to the real thing! Although I currently only have 3 grades of stone, I spaced it for 4, in case I get another. This also gives me somewhere to clamp the strop.For chisels I find it easier to have the chisel pointing sideways, and move along the long edge, so I used positions 1,2,4 rather than 1,2,3 so that two of the stones have the long edge accessible.





No divot to remove the stones now. I found that I can still work a screwdriver underneath with only a second or two's wiggling and pulling.





The new wedge goes down to a point, just above the stone's surface. I was a little worried about it therefore picking up water from the stone, so I gave it a quick coat of varnish to try to mitigate the effects.





The back is quite thick, which I found comfortable for resting my thumbs on.





It seems to work rather well! Not only is it producing what looks like a pretty consistent angle, but my (second hand) iron is rather non-square, and I was a little surprised at how easily the coarse stone is bringing it back into shape. This is 45mins work, including 12 breaks to take a photograph.


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## bugbear (5 Oct 2017)

Wend":1ozom9jf said:


> I didn't like the idea of running rollers up and down my stones.



if you're using them right there's not much pressure on the rollers
a rolling contact does very little damage, regardless of pressure
if you're really worried there are jigs where the wheels run on the bench, not the stone

BugBear


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## Wend (5 Oct 2017)

bugbear":h0vgzz1q said:


> Wend":h0vgzz1q said:
> 
> 
> > I didn't like the idea of running rollers up and down my stones.
> ...



Would they have any advantage over what I have now?

The only thing I can think of is they allow any angle to be used, but I'll only want one or two angles, so a couple of wedges will be all I need.


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## bugbear (5 Oct 2017)

This is a classic;

http://www.hansbrunnertools.com/Stanley ... %20200.htm

BugBear


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## custard (5 Oct 2017)

Wend":3gpnrcvq said:


> Would they have any advantage over what I have now?
> 
> The only thing I can think of is they allow any angle to be used, but I'll only want one or two angles, so a couple of wedges will be all I need.



The Eclipse style jigs, like this one,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/vintage-eclip ... SwiVhZ08Uk

have a few advantages over your jig. Off the top of my head,

They work on any thickness stone.
Eclipse jigs are tiny and take up almost no storage or bench space.
They're quick to adjust and are repeatedly accurate, in particular when changing angles between sharpening and honing.
They grip the sides of the plane iron or chisel securely, so you don't have to expend energy holding the blade to the platform.
In reality you're often checking for a wire edge during the sharpening process, an eclipse jig is easy to just pick up and then return immediately to sharpening if more work is needed
Eclipse jigs are very good at shaping repeatable and accurate cambers.
They're cheap as chips and readily available, I appreciate your jig just uses scrap, but it also takes time.
I'm certain I could complete the sharpening cycle a lot faster with an Eclipse jig, your comment about 45 minutes of sharpening on a single iron made me wince! 

You've obviously had a lot of fun making it and I'm not disparaging your efforts in any way, but for any woodworking newcomer reading this my advice would be either learn to sharpen freehand or just spend a few quid and get an Eclipse.


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## Wend (5 Oct 2017)

I think (hope!) the amount of time was more to do with the amount of material I needed to remove, than with the jig. Before I started I needed to have the lever almost fully to one side to get the blade level. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to be able to make as much progress as I did; I thought it would take many sharpenings to gradually straighten the edge.



custard":12tgwl9b said:


> They're quick to adjust and are repeatedly accurate, in particular when changing angles between sharpening and honing.



Do you mean I should be using a different angle depending on whether i am resharpening a very blunt iron, as opposed to sharpening a slightly-blunt iron?


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## custard (5 Oct 2017)

Wend":1s6lyiom said:


> Do you mean I should be using a different angle depending on whether i am resharpening a very blunt iron, as opposed to sharpening a slightly-blunt iron?



No, that's not what I mean.

Some people sharpen their tools using one single angle. 

Other people have a "grinding angle", normally about 25 degrees, and a separate "honing angle", normally about 30 degrees. 

Whichever style of sharpening you prefer an Eclipse style honing jig can help you get where you want to be, but if you're using two separate angles then it's very simple on an Eclipse jig to switch between the two.

That's what I was trying to say.


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