Thread: Help Needed - Jet Wet Stone Sharpening Chisels

Hey Spartan

I have the EXACT same issue. Ilya from these forums showed me a simple answer which is to use a square to make sure that you are positioning the chisel square in the holder. Using the existing edge simply doesn't get it square. Have to confess that I've not really used it since that time though.

I think the problem lies in the fact that the bar is not parallel to the face of the wheel. YYou can use a diamond dressing stone, but if it's out by more than a little bit, that would take forever. If that's the case, the best thing would be to register the square off the grinding face of the wheel and make sure the edge of the chisel is perfectly perpendicular.

Hope that's helpful.

Trav

I too am thinking that the cause maybe that the bar is not square to the face of the stone, addressing this should fix your problem.

Make sure that when you have put the chisel into the holder that you screw down the top plate evenly, that is screw down the right side bolt and the left side bolt alternately. If the top plate is not parallel to the bottom plate it means that the chisel is being sharpened at an angle and you will not obtain a square edge. This is very important.

If the two are not parallel you will never get a square end.

It is most likely not the wheel or the carry bar causing the problem but the way that the chisel is being put into the carrier and is being held at an angle.

Good luck.


Router

Thanks. I've just tried Trav's suggestion using a carpenters square to get in square in the holder - the outcome was no different.
Router I think I've focused on what you have suggested before - but will give it another go and see if I can improve the results.

I followed your advice Router - it appears to be a better result.
Se attached picture - not sure if having a look at the back of the chisel it will get better if I keep going.
The front edge seems better - or the slope isn't is pronounced.
I have attached a photo of he how it was siting in the jig.
Note also I don't have the diamond truing jog.
cheers

Keep grinding down to a point where you have sharpened the chisel ready for honing as it is square across the hip.

Before you do that, polish the back of the chisel to a smooth flat finish and it should be OK.


Router

I agree with router. Even the first photo the top of the bevel is square. You're not doing anything wrong you just haven't ground enough of the old wonky edge off.
It's a fair bit to remove and would be easier doing the initial shaping on a high speed grinder.

After a couple more hours of working on it hasn't really improved.
To the naked eye it looks a little better but when I put up against square - this is the result.....

The photo of the grind indicates 2 factors to me: the first is that the wheel is probably not parallel to the tool rest bar, so the question is "have you trued the wheel yet?". The best way to do this is with the Tormek diamond trueing tool. The second factor is that you are probably trying to compensate by using too much down force and pulling the chisel off line. Use lighter pressure, evenly. Over time you will learn what works best.

Bottom line: true the wheel before continuing. (Note: this is not the same as dressing with a hand-held stone or diamond T-bar - they clean the surface but will likely take the wheel further out of square. Fine only for cleaning).

After doing so, check if the top is square to the inside side of the wheel. If not, the tool rest is out of square, and return the machine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I think it just needs more work. The only problem is the wet stone grinders aren't very good at removing a lot of material. A couple of hours work on the Jet means the wheel is probably badly in need of dressing. Do bulk removal on a high speed grinder and just the final hone on the Jet. You should get a dressing tool for the jet as well. The face of the wheel is probably out of square now so you may not get the result you want no matter how long you spend.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

The photo of the grind indicates 2 factors to me: the first is that the wheel is probably not parallel to the tool rest bar, so the question is "have you trued the wheel yet?". The best way to do this is with the Tormek diamond trueing tool. The second factor is that you are probably trying to compensate by using too much down force and pulling the chisel off line. Use lighter pressure, evenly. Over time you will learn what works best.

Bottom line: true the wheel before continuing. (Note: this is not the same as dressing with a hand-held stone or diamond T-bar - they clean the surface but will likely take the wheel further out of square. Fine only for cleaning).

After doing so, check if the top is square to the inside side of the wheel. If not, the tool rest is out of square, and return the machine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks, I will get the tormek jig before continuing further. I don't think returning it is really an option as I've had the thing for a couple of years and am only really trying to get it up an running now. When I bought I had similar issues but didn't have the time then to look at and I think I came to the conclusion then it was either the stone or over tightening of the jig.

So I will order the truing jig from carbtec and report back-is the tormek straight edge jog any better?
Also in terms of the support arm does the tormek one fit in the Jet?
Cheers

One more thing. I have assumed that the Jet blade holder is similar to the current Tormek version (Tormek upgraded these after Jet was first produced). The essence of the holder is that it registers the back of the blade, and pulls the blade against its back. This ensures that the bevel will always be parallel with the tool rest arm. Check that this is the case with yours. The old Tormek blade holder was easy to tighten out-of-square. This can actually help insofar as the blade can be adjusted to compensate for a wheel than it not square to the tool rest arm (by tightening and loosening sides).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you everyone for input, even though I am getting pretty good results with wetstone grinder, now I understand things that I was doing intuitively before:
1) True the stone (jet version of truing jig is cheaper and does what it should.)
2) Tighten the chisel flat to the base of the holder.
3) Make sure that chisel is square to the holder face.

When I started I had only the third part wrong, and once fixed I started getting consistent and quick results. The stops in Jet jig were quite rough and not fixing chisel square to the jig.

Did you continue to use the Jet jig?