Steve Maskrey's Jointer blade jig

[rafezetter]

Having now joined the ranks of those with a P/T I'm going to need a means to sharpen them, and Steve M's Jig does the same job as other commercial jigs at a fraction of the cost, but there's a catch, I don't have a tablesaw with the necessary accuracy to make one

Here's the jig many of you are probably familiar with: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIBKp9_hWLo.

Does anyone feel willing to make one for me? Or even just cut the bits and I'll do the rest, it's the 42deg angle I can't currently replicate. I can pay in beer tokens or alternatively I have a woody blade with cap iron still available (I've cleaned it up a bit now) as trade.

 

[James-1986]

just buy a small slip stone and sharpen them in the block. Stop the block from turning with a wooden wedge then just run the slip stone flat along the face of the bevel.

 

[marcros]

Is it just a couple of pieces of pse with a 42 degree corner knocked off that you are after?

I dont have time to watch the video at work, so have just skipped through it. You could probably do it easily enough with a hand plane, or the fence on your planer set to angle and plane away- carefully.

If you can draw what you want, I may be able to help. I have a RAS (the parts may be a bit small for that option) and a planer, but the table saw is in bits at present. I dont want to raise your hopes too much- I wont be making the full thing for you, but nor will it cost you any beer tokens.

 

[wcndave]

I tried to make it using a fairly good table saw, and found it rather tricky.

Even when being very careful, I found that the slot depth + cutting + glue up meant that the finished product was never completely flat, and with the blades in rocked slightly on a flat surface.

I tried honing by hand, however holding in a constant position was tricky, so I will be taking them to be sharpened in future.

For £5 it's a bargain, and not worth my time trying really...

 

[Steve Maskery]

Before you make this up, just check what the grinding angle is on your blades. Mine are ground at 40 deg, which is why they are honed at 42, but if yours are ground at 45 deg, you will need to make the jig for 46 or 47.
The actual grinding angle doesn't matter much, as it only provides the clearance angle, the cutting angle is set by the geometry of the cutter block itself.

If my TS was up and running, I'd offer to rip it for you, but sadly it is still decommissioned.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

while you're there Steve and completely unrelated. WE DVD No4 the Bandsaw one. Does it have information and methods for adjusting wheels for co-planar and parallel?

 

[Steve Maskery]

I do raise the subject and show how to tell if they are out (by tilting the table and using a long straightedge) and show where the adjustment is (the bolts holding the lower axle). I also point out the importance of ensuring that the wheels are not twisted WRT each other.
I don't however, do any actual adjusting, simply because mine is right and I don't want to mess that up. I point out that it will have been set right at the factory and should not need adjusting unless it's been messed about with by someone who doesn't know what he's doing.
I think that is a reasonable compromise, given that wheel alignment is a relatively uncommon problem, I think.
Does that help?
S

 

[rafezetter]

Before you make this up, just check what the grinding angle is on your blades. Mine are ground at 40 deg, which is why they are honed at 42, but if yours are ground at 45 deg, you will need to make the jig for 46 or 47.
The actual grinding angle doesn't matter much, as it only provides the clearance angle, the cutting angle is set by the geometry of the cutter block itself.

If my TS was up and running, I'd offer to rip it for you, but sadly it is still decommissioned.

I'm guessing I'll have to take a blade out to check this? TBH I've not given it a once over since it arrived home, and had hoped that it was still set from the previous owner (Altheo). Might be worth my buying a spare set first and honing those.

Appreciate the offer Steve, lets hope for a speedy build without problems on your dream workshop.

James - I did see this as an alternative:

https://www.finewoodworking.com/workshop/article/sharpening-jig-for-planer-knives.aspx

But this jig or the other; I'm not confident of my skills to produce something that requires good precision, where flat and true is paramount.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

It does. What confuses me having read various sources is that when you test for co-planarity using a straight edge, no-one ever mentions how the tracking should be set. Obviously the top wheel will, dependent on the tracking adjustment be tipped more or less. Is there something akin to a "top, dead, centre" or a neutral for the tracking so you remove the tracking adjustment from the test of wheel co-planarity?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Yes, I do show that.
With the blade off and the table tilted as far out of the way as possible, the straightedge should touch the top and bottom of both wheels at the same time.
Some people say it doesn't matter, and a mm or 3 each way won't matter on a decent-sized machine, but being out by a lot more than that is going to matter, because the tracking range is going to be be reduced either fore or aft.

S

 

[owen]

Theres A great bandsaw set up video on youtube by alex snodgrass. Have a look

 

[Steve Maskery]

Alex Snodgrass talks a lot of sense. I don't agree with all of it, and you'd be hard pressed to set my Scheppach up in quite the same way (removing the table is not as simple as it is on his little machine), but generally he is right on the money. I think wheel alignment is more important that he does, but I agree that it is best left the way the manufacturer set it. Don't meddle.

I particularly like the way he unfolds his blades, although it does get harder the longer the blades get. Mind your nose. And his explanation of where the gullet should be is good.

I don't understand why he says that it's OK for the fence to be up to 1/4" out and still everything will be fine. That is not my experience of bandsaws and I'd be surprised if it were yours either. The number of posts we get on here about bandsaw setup is testament to that, I think.

But yes, as far as it goes, that is a good primer.
He can definitely resaw faster than I can, though!

S

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There's one thing that (even the manufacturers) the pro's cant agree on and that's this issue of setting the fence to allow for the "natural drift" of a bandsaw. I've always believed that to be twoddle ie just poor setup. Jet even do a special addition to their fences to allow for this ie a single point of contact bolt on which allows a freehand cut to manoeuvre as the blade drifts.

My personal experience as I've used them more and more is that with a very sharp, new, good quality blade you can cut straight with the fence square. Once that blade goes off the boil, which doesn't take that long, then the keeping it straight becomes more difficult despite an excellent setup. Slowing feed speed helps enormously due to waste removal being allowed to happen but there's no substitute for a very sharp blade.

Also with green wood you cant allow wet shavings and resin to coat the blade on the left side as you look at it or the tracking goes all to pot.

 

[Steve Maskery]

"Natural drift - twaddle"
+1
It's just poor setup.
S

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

do you ever sharpen bandsaw blades Steve?

 

[Steve Maskery]

Not very often, no. Some blades can be sharpened successfully with a file, some can't. It depends on how the teeth are sharpened. I'm not an expert on sharpening, Ian John is your man for that.
But we have sharpened the odd carbon blade or two at the community workshop where I volunteer, but hten we have fairly average blades there. I'm trying to ween us onto Tuffsaw blades.
The irony is that the better the blade, the harder it is to resharpen...
I generalise, of course.
Blades are not that expensive and if they are not abused they last well. It's easier and cheaper to buy a new one than to go through the palaver of trying to sharpen one. I generalise again.
S