Tormek Jigs

These are a couple of 3D-printed jigs I made for a Tormek wet grinder. The one in the left photo can be used for sharpening skewed chisels (as used by woodworkers for cleaning out dovetail sockets etc, not the skew chisels used by woodturners). The one on the right can be used to sharpen router plane blades.

Skew Chisel Jig

These photos show the construction of the skew chisel jig and how it is used. A cap screw is used to retain the chisel; there are three places it can go depending on the size / shape of the chisel.

The jig can be used with the universal mount fitted in either location; the photos above show it being used in the horizontal position.

The design files for the jig can be downloaded from printables and there's more details of the construction on that site.

Router Plane Jig

This jig can be used to sharpen router plane blades. It's designed for cutters that have a square cross section that is 45° out from the cutting direction. These are common on Veritas and Stanley router planes (and probably others): an example is here. It allows sharpening of both sides of the bevel: the underside of the blade is sharpened against the outside of the wheel while the top of the bevel is sharpened on the side of the wheel (note that I use a diamond wheel for this).

I typically then finish the bottom edge using a fine waterstone and the David Charlesworth method (except I use a thin ruler rather than the sheet of plastic that he prefers). This method ensures that the edge is parallel to the base of the router plane. The following two photos show this approach for information:

The design files for the jig can be downloaded from printables and there's more details of the construction on that site.

For most purposes, I find hand-sharpening router plane blades quicker and easier; this jig only gets called into use if I've got a blade that needs a lot of work. For hand-sharpening, I've designed another simple jig (which could easily be made out of wood if you don't have a 3D-printer) based on a David Charlesworth idea. The hand-sharpening jig makes sharpening router plane blades by hand extremely easy.

I am a hobbyist metalworker and woodworker. I work as an electronic design engineer and spend most of my working days in front of a computer so I enjoy having the opportunity to use my hands and make things in my spare time. I particularly enjoy making tools as I can then use them on other projects. This website showcases some of the things I've made.

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