......How many people here use a jig for their hollow grinds? Please post, I'm interested to know...
I bought one of those expensive jigs from a knfe supply catalog for a student-friend a few years back when I was trying to teach him and he was having a tough time. It was a waste of money. Like so many jigs, it dictates what you can and can't do in terms of knife design. It took a great deal of fine setup and basically had to be readjusted for each design, rendering it useless for the "one-off" maker. I also found it dangerous, in that it had a tendency to want to drag the blade down into the space between workrest and grinder when one tried to rock the blade to grind the belly curve and tip. My friend realized a nasty slice in his hand in one such instance. When I thought perhaps I had set it up wrong, an extended conversation with the retailer indicated that they, too, considered it more a limitation than a boon and agreed it could be a hazard.
All in all, I found it a terrible waste of money. Others mileage will vary, I'm sure. I learned freehand, though, and there is no substitute for that.
I ended up lending the jig to a friend in TN, who found it equally unwieldy. It then got sent to another TN guy, a newbie who also found it not to his liking. It now resides in a box somewhere in Johnson City, TN. It holds the box in place quite well, I'm told.
It would probably work well for someone who designed their work to fit the jig, and made each style in batches.
The two simple jigs I've seen that seem to have some usefulness are the angle iron folder blade holder of Higgy's and the platen "surround" for flat grinding from the Jones boys. I'll personally stick to "no workrest, no jig" freehand grinding for bevels.
and GO SLOOOOOOOW till you get used to it.
, you will realize you don't need no stinking jig