"Joe Bleau" wrote in message
...
I might as well jump into this sharpening fray--everyone else has. It
seems to me there is a bit of braggadocio (sp) at play here, i.e.,
those who blandly state that they don't need a jig, they just pour a
little kerosene (or whatever) onto their trusty oil stone and whip out
a razor sharp micro bevel in seconds. Juxtaposed are those who are in
constantly search for the latest gadget to do it all for them.

Well, perhaps it is vanity, but I think I can free hand a micro bevel
on an oil stone as well as almost anyone. I have a slow-turning water
wheel, an 8-inch grinder with the right white wheels, a 1-inch belt
sander, a Makita water wheel (primarily for sharpening joiner knives)
and a lot of other sharpening gadgets (I've always been a sucker for
gadgets so I understand what is at play here). I also have a complete
collection of Japanese water stones, ceramic stones in three grits, a
black arkansas stone, India stones, and an old rock that's fairly flat

Your collection sounds a lot like mine. I've got the Makita horizontal water
grinder, an 8" 1750 RPM vertical grinder, a lot of different Arkansas stones
and various profiles of India stones, slips, rounds, etc. Clearly jigs are
needed for some tasks, e.g., jointer and planer knives and for grinding
turning gouges (e.g., Ellsworth). For chisels and hand plane irons the
existing bevel, particularly on beefy L-N irons, is sufficient to guide the
sharpening. It's less of a case of bragging than it is of using what is
necessary to get the job done.

I see this as falling in the same category as using nothing more than one's
fingers and a pencil to find center... Last week I showed Cub Scouts how to
find the center of the ends of the handles and end boards while they made
tool totes. Sure finding center could be measured, but why?

John