Adjustable Sharpening wedge (attn. Zyhano)

unit

unit

Joined
Nov 22, 2009
Messages
11,601
It is not as sexy as some might like, but for 10 bucks this is a reasonable fit for those that want a compact, adjustable angle wedge for sharpening/re-beveling.

Enjoy:

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Thanks.

(some of the text I thought I had typed seems to have disappeared?)

The base is adjustable from 10 degrees up to 20. The user adjusts the nuts on the all thread rods to drive the wedge farther under the ramp (and increases the angle). I have 4 angles marked (20, 15, 12.5, and 10) but anything in between is possible. You can see the lines marking 20, 15, and 12.5, and 10 is all the way against the stops. Simply eyeball the slide to the line...I checked it with a digital angle finder (even an obvious error in setup results in only a few tenths of a degree from the desired angle).

The black thing on the end is part of an old inner tube. It holds everything together for storage and transport, and makes the whole base "solid" during use.

A little additional instruction can be found in the video for those interested...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXhrqfV5jvs
 
Hey unit,

that's awesome, cool that you made this thing, I guess it comes from the other thread recently where we were talking about it.
I really like the 'downward force' fix with the rubber band, probably makes it very stable.
the $10 solution for all your sharpening needs ;)
As I said in the other thread, have an industrial designer take a look at it and patent it!
But from the looks of this, this would absolutely suffice for me and probably a lot of other users.
this falls exactly in the category of 'easy to fix home solutions' like building a strop etc.
great job :thumbup:
 
oh, btw, this thread should deserve more attention and more glory to you for sharing this.

now let's hear some more feedback, or other people that like to expand on this idea

again :thumbup:
 
zyhano said:
Hey unit,

that's awesome, cool that you made this thing, I guess it comes from the other thread recently where we were talking about it.
I really like the 'downward force' fix with the rubber band, probably makes it very stable.
the $10 solution for all your sharpening needs ;)
As I said in the other thread, have an industrial designer take a look at it and patent it!
But from the looks of this, this would absolutely suffice for me and probably a lot of other users.
this falls exactly in the category of 'easy to fix home solutions' like building a strop etc.
great job :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Hey thanks. I wanted to post it up and try to make a detailed enough video so that anyone who wants to make one can. I suppose it could be pursued further by some entrepreneur, but I like to think most people that want to sharpen their knives themselves probably also possess enough skills to build this.

Further, I think anyone who does will appreciate it more since they did it themselves.

That said, anyone who wants to go to market with this idea has my blessing...just pay the favor forward at some point!
 
zyhano said:
oh, btw, this thread should deserve more attention and more glory to you for sharing this.

now let's hear some more feedback, or other people that like to expand on this idea

again :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that too. I think it is a pretty small niche, even among us knife nuts.

Some free-handers are absolute purists who do not want this sort of "crutch"...still others think this is the hard way compared to some sort of aligner. Anyone sharpening their own edges gets a thumbs up from me, but only a handful of them will try something like this...and of those only some will like it over other things they have tried....it is all good.
 
I thought about this type wedge for a while and couldn't figure out how to do it. I like your design! Cool video too.

For those who are all thumbs at carpentry, just get a digital level that reads to a 10th of a degree. Then just prop the hone up with anything stacked till you get the right angle.
 
zyhano said:
oh, btw, this thread should deserve more attention and more glory to you for sharing this.

now let's hear some more feedback, or other people that like to expand on this idea

again :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I definitely like it! It fits right into the idea I had of doing this with a box, but much simpler. I love simplicity.
 
Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words.

I really hope some of you use my "plan" and find ways to incorporate improvements. If you do not figure out improvements for the design, I hope you figure out improvements for your sharpening abilities!

Have fun.
 
This is sort of the design I have in mind for my sharpening setup, but I want to build a track in the middle to hold my stone with some holes to allow seepage. That looks great, though.

You could easily refine the design and sell this.
 
somber said:
This is sort of the design I have in mind for my sharpening setup, but I want to build a track in the middle to hold my stone with some holes to allow seepage. That looks great, though.

You could easily refine the design and sell this.
Click to expand...

That would be simple, you could either use treated lumber, or get all high tech and use a couple sheets of G-10...that would be dead sexy!

Oak is nice for burr removal in certain circumstances though.

Thanks for the kind words.
 
That's a nice rig. I like it.
 
That is great! I cut a 4x4 into a wedge at 12 degrees give or take, and when I want to micro bevel, I shove one of my 2 strops under the wedge. Your device deserves an atta boy! Great item. I may make one for myself. Now, to choose the type of wood LOL!
 
That looks sharp! I had been trying to figure out a similar design, but your idea actually made it to fruition! Shoot, even if you hadn't built it, you obviously had completed your train of thought, so your way past my level. :D
 
Any Cal. said:
That looks sharp! I had been trying to figure out a similar design, but your idea actually made it to fruition! Shoot, even if you hadn't built it, you obviously had completed your train of thought, so your way past my level. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks!

There is plenty of room for improvement. Anyone want to take it the next step?

I would replace that sliding upright piece with a section of pipe or round dowel. A short length of PVC pipe would be cheap and highly uniform. Simply drill a couple holes in it and attach the all thread in a similar manner. Less friction and higher uniformity!

Want to go farther? put bushings in the upright piece (pipe, dowel, or board) that allow the threaded rod to spin so you can put a crank on the other end. Then the whole thing operates like a screw jack. I was going to do this, but there were hurdles to making it come apart for storage and transport. It can be done, but bumps the build time and expense....sometimes "good enough", is...

There is plenty of room to improve depending on what your goals are. The total build time on this one was short (less than an hour). For those with more patience you could make something really cool!

The one feature I have that I never shared in this video (I demonstrate it in one of the others) is my phone with a (free) application that finds angles within 0.1 degree. I slap that sucker down on the ramp, and dial it in. That said, if you get the upright anywhere close to the marks it will be within a couple tenths...which is more than good enough for most.
 
OK,

I am working on designing something ultra simple so anyone can build it if they have the inclination. Right now, my issue is trying to make exact angle marks. I spent several hours trying to relearn sin,cos,tan last night, and still don't know enough.

I need a formula or something to get the distance of the adjacent side for a known angle and opposite side.

ex: 8*=1"/x"
 
Any Cal. said:
OK,

I am working on designing something ultra simple so anyone can build it if they have the inclination. Right now, my issue is trying to make exact angle marks. I spent several hours trying to relearn sin,cos,tan last night, and still don't know enough.

I need a formula or something to get the distance of the adjacent side for a known angle and opposite side.

ex: 8*=1"/x"
Click to expand...

Might take a look at this:

http://www.visualtrig.com/Default.aspx

Makes it real easy to plug in the values you already know (1 known angle and length of 1 side, or known length of 2 sides), then it calculates the other angles/sides of a right triangle. By the way, it's easier to use if you enter values as whole numbers in hundreds or thousands i.e., enter 1050 for a base length of 10.5", and 300 for a rise of 3".
 
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