skew dovetail chisel question

[tomthumbtom8]

Ive only gone and treated myself to a pair of 12 mm skew chisels.

but now I'm panicking on how to sharpen them with a honing jig

is there a honing jig on the market for a skew dovetail jig ??

skew chisel I have bought a left and right

 

[MikeK]

I haven't tried this yet, but the Veritas honing guide with the skew registration jig is supposed to work well with skew chisels.

Veritas Honing Guide Set, £108.00 from Axminster

Veritas Skew Registration Jig, £29.10 from Axminster

For the very wealthy, the Sharp Skate 4 is supposed to do a good job as well.

Sharp Skate 4, €259.00 from Dictum in Germany.

There is also the Lie-Nielsen honing guide and 30-degree left and right jaws.

Lie Nielsen Honing Guide, £126.95 from Axminster

Lie Nielsen 30-degree Right Jaw Pair, £35.99 from Axminster

Lie Nielsen 30-degree Left Jaw Pair, £35.99 from Axminster

I don't know how well the LN honing guide and skew blocks will work with the Narex chisels, since it appears the Narex chisel does not have a continuous side edge from tip to ferrule. I had a problem using my LN honing guide on my Blue Spruce dovetail chisels and had to improvise. The LN honing guide is designed to work with a chisel that has a uniform thickness and side bevel along the blade.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

How often do you use skew chisels? How often will they need honing? You are not very likely to ruin them honing by hand.

 

[AndyT]

I think Phil is right, it's not a problem, and not worth spending hundreds of pounds on.

If you really want a jig, you could always make one yourself.
Find a block of wood eg an offcut of 3x2 studding. Cut a pair of angled slots, one in each side, so that when you put a chisel into a slot the honed edge is coplanar with the surface. Cut the slots with a handsaw by making two sawcuts and chiselling out the waste. Make them wider than the thickness of the chisels and use a wedge to hold a chisel in place.
Then just rub your stone across the flat surface. It won't wear down the wood or get clogged by it.

 

[Bod]

I haven't tried this yet, but the Veritas honing guide with the skew registration jig is supposed to work well with skew chisels.

Veritas Honing Guide Set, £108.00 from Axminster

Veritas Skew Registration Jig, £29.10 from Axminster

For the very wealthy, the Sharp Skate 4 is supposed to do a good job as well.

Sharp Skate 4, €259.00 from Dictum in Germany.

There is also the Lie-Nielsen honing guide and 30-degree left and right jaws.

Lie Nielsen Honing Guide, £126.95 from Axminster

Lie Nielsen 30-degree Right Jaw Pair, £35.99 from Axminster

Lie Nielsen 30-degree Left Jaw Pair, £35.99 from Axminster

I don't know how well the LN honing guide and skew blocks will work with the Narex chisels, since it appears the Narex chisel does not have a continuous side edge from tip to ferrule. I had a problem using my LN honing guide on my Blue Spruce dovetail chisels and had to improvise. The LN honing guide is designed to work with a chisel that has a uniform thickness and side bevel along the blade.

To this list I would add, Record Edge Tool Honer No.161. If you can find one.
Record only seem to have made them for a few years in the late 50's- early 60's.
They work similar to the Eclipse guide, but have a ball bearing, rather than a roller, meaning that any angle, and even cambered blades, by altering the pressure points can be sharpened.

Bod

 

[Eric The Viking]

I have a pair of skews: I only ever need them very occasionally for that last tiny bit in the corner.

They're re-ground 1/4" chisels from Bristol Designs's odd chisels bin - bought totally blunt for their length and reasonably good handles. I think both together cost me about 15 quid.

The grind was easy on my Tormekkalike, and I hone using an inexpensive, aluminium, own-brand Axminster roller guide that's intended for plane irons. It has a wide, slightly cambered brass roller, and a flat plate on top, with a rubber-faced hold-down clamp. The chisel goes diagonally across it, following a pencil line put on with a mitre gauge (and a protractor). That serves well.

(a link to a 'Get Woodworking' tiny review)
Axminster don't seem to sell that guide any more, which is a shame as they are handy for all sorts of awkward things, but they're on eBay and Amazon under the "Narex" brand. The cheapest I saw them today was about 20 quid (Amazon), but an image search might yield a bargain, as I'm sure they are Chinese, made in quantity and sold under many names.

I didn't want 45 degrees, as the pointy corner becomes too fragile, so they're a bit less than 60.

It works. They hold a good edge. I don't fuss but just use them as needed.

E.

PS: I use the same guide to do the irons for my little side rebate plane - those are much more tricky, as they aren't what they seem - skewed in two axes, and they're really short.

 

[Andy Kev.]

You could consider fish tail chisels (effectively two-sided skew chisels) like these:

https://www.feinewerkzeuge.de/fishtail- ... hisel.html

The beauty of them is that they are fairly easy to sharpen free hand due to there being no skewed leading edge.

 

[Oskar Sedell]

I dont get this argument. If you are sharpening free hand there is no problem to begin with. There is nothing harder about freehanding a skew edge.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Unless, like me, you don't really have fine motor control any more in your hands. My fingers no longer bend in the right, normal ways, either.

Then a jig is very helpful indeed.

 

[MalcolmT]

Unless, like me, you don't really have fine motor control any more in your hands. My fingers no longer bend in the right, normal ways, either.

Then a jig is very helpful indeed.

But wouldn't holding a handle be easier than holding a jig?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I hollow grind all blades, including skew chisels. This makes freehand honing super easy. Just hone on the hollow.

If you wish to use a honing guide, then the Veritas Mark 1 is the cheapest (the Mk II is more versatile but significantly more expensive).

The top clamp allow the blade to be skewed.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[MalcolmT]

Half inch skew chisel is exceptionally easy to sharpen freehand (may take 5 minutes to get the hang of it if you haven't done it before) and should never need grinding unless it's been damaged.