Sharpening jigs for small palm chisels

[Jim Filipski]

I have always sharpened my small palm chisels by hand, however now that I'm up in age I do not have the keen feeling in my hands to work the bevels correctly. I have a jig for my plane irons and morticing chisels but they are too big to mount the smaller hand chisels in!
Just wondering if anyone has found a source for a jig that would accommodate these...consistently produce the proper bevel?
Thanks
Jim

[john bohan]

look on you tube Jim.

[borderdogs]

Jim,
Sharpening systems have all sorts of jigs for small palm chisels. The systems can be expensive but they do deal with issues like yours. I use to free hand sharpen all sorts of stuff but about 20 years ago my wife bought me a Tormac and once I got use to using it I was sold. I have used and still use Arkansas stones, water stones and diamond stones but the Tormac I use the most. I blacken the edge with a black magic marker to see where it is touching whether using the Tormac or some other stone. One of the jigs  I have is used for small chisels and its pretty good. There is also a jig for gouges which works good too. Probably not what you were looking for but for me it allows me to get consistent edges on most of my tools.
Rob

[rmnc3r]

Making micro chisels





Micro chisel sharpening jig

[P.W.Berkuta]

There is a sharpening jig for sharpening leather swivel knives that look a lot like the jig above.

[Jim Filipski]

I did watch the 3rd video on the jig shown! It really is a nice concept, however I'm in the middle of a project and don't want to take the time out to make one of these ( I most likely will in the future)...Just wondering if there was a  commercial product available for short chisels!
But That video was the only thing I found!

[Dwshotwell]

Veritas (carried by Lee Valley) and Lie Nielsen make similar jigs. I know they are good for plane blades and bench chisels, but they might work for smaller chisels as well.

Veritas:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/sharpening/guides/51868-veritas-mk-ii-deluxe-honing-guide-set?item=05M0920

Lie-Nielsen:
https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/honing-guide-bladesstandard

[Jim Filipski]

Veritas (carried by Lee Valley) and Lie Nielsen make similar jigs. I know they are good for plane blades and bench chisels, but they might work for smaller chisels as well.

Well, I went to Lee Valley and Veritas had an excellent miniature chisel honing guide along with an angle adjusting gauge for about $33 plus tax with free shipping! Sure can't beat that! Looks like it will work with all my palm chisels!
Thank You,
Jim

[rmnc3r]

Well, I went to Lee Valley and Veritas had an excellent miniature chisel honing guide along with an angle adjusting gauge for about $33 plus tax with free shipping! Sure can't beat that! Looks like it will work with all my palm chisels!
Thank You,
Jim
[/quote]

Please give us a review after some usage - particularly "how small can you go?"

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/hand-tools/miniature-tools/110480-veritas-miniature-honing-guide?item=05P8520

[Jim Filipski]

Will do, I got it yesterday......Shipping was very fast

[Jim Filipski]

I tried out my Veritas mini sharpening jig today!  This thing is mini !
If you have large hands this may be a problem..... I have arthritis in my right hand and Carpel tunnel in the left so It was a bit of a challenge to set up. Took me awhile to figure out how to adjust it with the  bevel angle jig that comes with it! It is almost like you need one more hand to make it happen! The little instruction sheet wasn't very clear.....but I finally got it......... The hard part it it only has 2 contact points to hold the blade ( the bottom platform of the jig and the top clamp which you tighten to lock the blade in place. Very easy to have the chisel not perpendicular with the jig! So I used a small right angle square to make sure.
The first chisel I did was a Henkels 3/8 in Straight chisel. I wanted to change the angle of the bevel from 30 deg to 20 deg, so I started on a course stone! After a few passes I checked it and I could see a new angle forming on the heel of the bevel. It took about 10 minutes to get it to run to the edge of the blade. From there, I cleaned up the roller and blade and put it on an India stone for about 5 minutes, then the same clean up and took it to a hard white Arkansas stone. After that I finished it up on a Poplar wood board coated with white diamond compound!
Super "shaving hair" sharp!   The second chisel I worked on was a Dastra 3/16" small short palm chisel it had what I thought was a 20 deg bevel  however it was free hand sharpened for years. Setting this up also tricky but I started getting the hang of it based on the first try!
Got it much quicker and even got the blade perpendicular by eye! I put it on the india stone , beacuse I thought my original angle was close, however after 10 passes ...I looked ant it and say only the center of the bevel coming down! I was sharpened in the past to a convex angle! Wend back to a courser stone and just went thru the steps as I did on the first but it went quicker.....Same results ...Very sharp!
All In all It is a bit of a PITA to adjust and lock in the blade but it easy to use and produces excellent results! I'm sure there must be A super expensive device out the similar that would not have the issue of the blade going out of perpendicular with the jig as you tighten the clamp....but for the price I'm very happy! I now can sharpen my short 3" bladed chisels as well as my mini and micro plane blades!