BGK-400

[MarkDennehy]

Hi folks,
Quick question - I'm making a right dogs breakfast out of my turning tools because I got a cheap copy of a wolverine jig and not having white wheels on a standard grinder didn't help. I've swapped out the carborundum wheels for aluminium oxide, and at some point I'll swap a slow speed grinder in for the normal one I have (and if I win the lotto I might get a CBN wheel), but the jig is driving me demented and it's reached the point where it's not usable for two of the gouges anymore (one gouge is out of flute under the holding clamp and just spins in the jig, the other is a pretty steep angle and the jig has to be so close to the wheel that you grind both gouge and jig at the same time). And the ones it will sharpen, it's sharpened asymmetrially because it let the gouge twist in the clamp so the arc of the flute and the arc of the bevel do not share a centerline.
So the jig has to be replaced.
Has anyone used the BGK-400 kit from axminster or have thoughts on using the tormek rest and jigs with a grinder instead of a tormek?
A tormek itself won't fit in the shed (also water's too messy) and a proedge would be an absolute monster of a thing to store in there as well so they're no in the picture, at least for the moment. Which left me with either a real wolverine/oneway type of jig, or the tormek jig and bar. Watching Axminister's demo of the tormek jigs, they seemed very solid tooling, and I can get them locally here, but the law of demos states demos are mainly smoke and mirrors so I was hoping someone who's used them for real might give an opinon?
Thanks in advance,

 

[Gary]

I haven't got the kit but I have the various components. Follow the instructions and the grind is repeatable every time.

 

[Paul Hannaby]

I use the Tormek jigs on a bench grinder and get good results. I went down that route because I also have a wet grinder so the jigs can be used on that too. You can also get the adjustable table to go on the bar to use for grinding all the tools you don't use jigs for.

 

[SVB]

I use the Tormek jigs on a bench grinder and get good results. I went down that route because I also have a wet grinder so the jigs can be used on that too. You can also get the adjustable table to go on the bar to use for grinding all the tools you don't use jigs for.

i have exactly same arrangement as Paul. Clone tormek jigs are fine except gouge jig where tormek is head n shoulders better than all the rest.

 

[u38cg]

I'm curious - the fact is even very basic jigs are usually perfectly capable of producing an adequate grind. A pic of your jigs set up for grinding might be useful. I certainly get on absolutely fine with one of those jigs made of bits of angle iron and cheap steel section off ebay.

 

[RichardG]

I picked up a used Robert Sorby delux universal sharpening jig off eBay for £50 which fits onto a standard grinder. Seems pretty good but it’s a guide and not foolproof, you still need some skill to get the grind you want on a fingernail profile.

Robert Sorby Jig

 

[MarkDennehy]

I'm curious - the fact is even very basic jigs are usually perfectly capable of producing an adequate grind. A pic of your jigs set up for grinding might be useful. I certainly get on absolutely fine with one of those jigs made of bits of angle iron and cheap steel section off ebay.

Don't have a recent photo of the full setup, this is from a few months ago before I swapped out the grey wheels for white:

 

[Lazurus]

Sorby jig, slow grinder, fast repeatable grinds for the last 20 years

 

[OldWood]

Being still in the wet wheel Tormek world and then seeing Mark's set up I do just wonder if the 'normal' grindstone - viz.his Parkside (and I'm not knocking that - I've got several tools from that source), but I do wonder whether it effectively runs way too fast for accurate and consistent profiling.

I'm sure there are others around with wider experience to say whether that is a reasonable opinion.
Rob

 

[SVB]

Mark - it may be the angle but it appears you have the gouge tip very close to the jig. In the tormek the protrusion of the tool tip beyond the jig is between 55-75mm and I believe other jigs are in similar range.

Simon

 

[MarkDennehy]

It was down to the angle simon; I need to play with it a bit more and see can I get the same angle with a different protrusion, but the jig is so cheap that getting repeatable grinds from it if you move both the protrusion and the extension of the arm the cradle sits into, is remarkably difficult and frustratingly time-consuming. It's a long way from just sticking the gouge in the holder, running it over the stone for a few seconds and getting back to work.
Also, the cradle itself does not reliably get the gouge's centerline vertically aligned - the end result of which is that the centerline of the flute and the centerline of the outside bevel arc do not coincide on my gouges anymore. I finally have two or three decent tools now and I'm actually loathe to start using them because that would mean putting them into that jig and ruining their grind

 

[MarkDennehy]

I think the best option (given local availability and so on over here in Ireland) will be the BKG-400. Thanks for all the data folks, much appreciated.

 

[u38cg]

I'd be the first to admit bevel angles is not my specialist subject, but that angle looks rather abrupt for a spindle gouge. Those jigs are intended to produce a fingernail grind, with the tip protruding 2-3". If you want a bevel angle that steep/square, I would just grind it straight from the sliding part.

(For what it's worth that is the exact same design of jig I have and while a little bit of care is needed in setting up, I don't find it painful to do so or need to do it so often that it's a problem).

 

[MarkDennehy]

That's not a spindle gouge though, that's a bowl gouge, and it tends to get used a lot for the bottom of the bowls both because of the angle and because it's the thickest one I have (so less chatter).

 

[HamsterJam]

Anyone else considering making their own equivalent of a BGK-400 with a block of wood and a support arm from Rutlands? Thinking it might be a small project to start 2021.
https://www.rutlands.com/sp+sharpen...wetstone-grinder-support-arm-rutlands+rtz1015

 

[Paul Hannaby]

Join the AWGB Zoom session on the 5th of Jan for a discussion on sharpening and angles. I will probably have cameras set up in my workshop so you can see my sharpening set up.