Micro Adjustable Grinding Jig

Today I finally got to spend a whole, uninterrupted day working in my new shop. It was fantastic! I've been looking forward to resuming shop life and I made sure to mix up activities to get all the juices flowing. In the morning, I assembled a continuous armchair and in the afternoon, I decided to pursue the grinding jig that Greg and I played around with at Kelly Mehlers.

 

Here is the finished jig and you can see the steps to making it below. I used spring pins for the bearing surfaces that the tool rides on. They are spring steel, so they will be hard enough to resist the wear of the tool riding back and forth without forming ruts. You can find them in the hardware store along with the bolt and locknut that form the adjuster.

To start out, I needed a dado cut across the block of cherry. Without a table saw or sliding mitre saw, I decided to pull out my trusty Stanley dovetail saw. Years ago, I filed the teeth off of this saw and refiled new ones that were a bit larger and did NOT set the teeth. Contrary to what you might expect, it doesn't bind and it cuts like a laser.
I've tried lots of the fancy saws out there, and maybe their handles are more comfortable, but none has surpassed my $10 Stanley. Don't get me wrong, I love that toolmakers are out there trying to make better quality saws, but I always feel like the teeth are too small and the set too great, but to each his own.

 I cut a center kerf and chopped out  most of the waste before bringing in my much neglected router plane (can you tell I was in the mood for fun!)

After a tiny bit of cleanup on the dado walls, I cut the sliding block that holds the pins. As you can see, I mounted some aluminum angle on both sides of the block to capture the adjuster bolt.
The notch out of the bottom of the block and the small slot out of the back serve the same purpose, namely to increase the travel past the aluminum. I suppose I could have done two notches or two dados, but I was in the zone and working on the fly.

I put the block in the slot and marked the position of the bolt, through the holes already drilled through the aluminum on both sides of the adjuster block. It's a good idea to offset the bolt hole just a hair above the holes in the aluminum to create tension against the bottom of the slot. This will create stability and help keep it from vibrating out of position.

The bolt easily cut threads through the cherry block.

Then I drilled for the pins. The vertical pin is only partially housed.

Here, you can see the horizontal pin inserted into the hole beneath the vertical. I used the grinder to trim the length of the horizontal pin afterward, and pared back the face of the block to give more clearance around the vertical pin.

Here is the whole unit clamped to the tool rest. I used the gross adjustment of the wolverine jig to start and then turned the bolt to fine tune the setting.

It's very important to note that the back of the drawknife, which rides along the pins should be filed clean and smooth. The grind will only be as straight as the the back. Luckily, most blades are soft along the back and easy to file and polish.

Here is the grind, I am very pleased. I loved being able to control the angle so precisely.

And for the farm enthusiasts out there. It's an amazing coincidence that Sue and I moved just a mile or so from a Heifer International Education Farm. We have been frequent visitor to see the births and visit their lovely herd of goats.

Here are some of their new additions. We just stand there grinning like idiots.
It seems like these kids are born knowing something important, when the sun shines on you, stop what you are doing, close your eyes and enjoy.