Bebhionn

PROJECT I

SHARPENING RIG

I'm a knifenut so to speak, I just love the craftsmanship, the beautiful design etc. But there is one thing to remember, it's a tool, and this tool is only of any use if it's sharp! Having a limited budget and not to much experience with sharpening knives I decided on a Lansky-type clamp-and-rod rig. (Lansky, Gatco and DMT) The knife is held in a clamp, and the back of the clamp protrudes upwards and has a number of holes in it. The hone is attached to a rod. By putting the rod through one of the holes in the clamp, you can control the sharpening angle you're using. Most of these systems have around 5holes, corresponding to 5 different grind angles.
One problem with these rigs however is that while sharpening a relativly long knife, you may need to unclamp it and move it several times during sharpening. This with the above mentioned 'lack of funds' and the fact of being called 'Mr DIY and Maciver' once or twice gave me the idea to build the rig myself, allowing me to solve the problem with the longer knives and being free to use e.g. DMT diamond hones and lansky ceramic ones etc.

click the thumbs once for a full view!!


	I decided on a wooden bridge structure, a solid base with just one clamp to hold the knife down. Just your basic woodworking, cutting the wood to size, predrilling and countersinking and then gluing and screwing.


	The clamp was a bit more difficult, I needed a a thin piece of sturdy material (something that wouldn't bend when pulled down) but easy to work with (I needed to file the thing very sharp to allow the sharpening hones to sharpen the clamped knife, even at an low (10 degree) angle). After making about 4 different clamps the most cheap solution proved to be the best. I took 2 cheap aluminium rulers and using a 1.6mm drill and a 2mm tap attached them firmly together with 2mm bolts. Because of the profiles of the rulers there was a little gap between the two wich I filled up with a small plastic strip. After that I cut the new wider ruler to size and sanded and filed the thing till I had the form shown on the left.


	more will follow!

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