How to Sharpen a Spokeshave
Shopmade honing jig makes sharpening your spokeshave super-simple
Dec 03, 2014
Although the methods used to sharpen most spokeshaves are like those used to sharpen handplane irons, the blades are much smaller, and tricky to hold in a conventional honing guide. When faced with this problem, Fine Woodworking contributor Chris Gochnour engineered a simple wooden blade holder that mounts easily into any standard honing guide.
Built of hardwood, this simple jig allows a spokeshave iron to be clamped into place thanks to a pair of wing-nuts. The jig is then secured in a honing guide. A large fender washer glued to the top of the jig allows the user to attach the magnetic base of a digital angle gauge for perfect honing angles.
In this short video, Fine Woodworking associate editor Ben Blackmar demonstrates the construction and use of this simple sharpening jig.
Comments
Why have the slot and wing nuts on the backside?
You're calling the top face of the jig, the "Backside". It's the top. I believe the part you're missing is not covered in the video. If you notice, he inserts the ¼" x 28 tpi flat head machine screws from what is actually the top of the jig and threads them into, but not all the way through the bottom half of the slot jaws which anchors them firmly in their properly sized for the screw shank holes, which are smaller that the outside thread diameter, but doesn't show cutting him the heads off the screws for the later instillation of the wing nuts. If they hung down between the jig and your cutting medium there's a good chance you'll not only accidently throw the angle off that you're trying to achieve by hitting the stone, but score a grove in, or take a chip out of, a very expensive stone as well.
[Here's another jig by Paul Sellers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw1JGEbKgCw
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