Unnecessary SHARPENING JIG!

Title says it all, but is this the secret the PROs don't want you to know?!!
I can't say, I didn't' ask. MAYBE!

I just noticed the title does not, in fact, say it all. This is a jig build to sharpen my felco pruners.

-----
Music:
"Josefina" & "The Trapezist" - Quincas Moreira
"Grinding Noises" - my grinder

[SamBluestein]

I can't express how happy I am that the raw stock-parting shenanigans are back

[popefacto]

I have the highest respect for a man who'd use hundreds of dollars worth of time and thousands of dollars worth of tools to save a $17 part from the scrap pile. Even more so because he made a video of his waste-avoiding journey for the world's entertainment and elucidation. Thank-you, Tony!

[gibbyrp]

One thing has become clear over the years of watching, Tony is a master machinist who spends 30 minutes on a project, and 60 hours on editing lol. Never disappoints!

[cooperdavis]

You don’t only inspire machinists and craftsmen but artists and storytellers. I watch just as much for your editing style, comedy, and storytelling as I do for the build. Thanks Tony!

[AllanSitte]

Thanks for this Tony. It brought back memories.
My Grandfather (who was a tool and die maker) created a similar jig for a set of 100 curved blades he was asked to sharpen. I was in my early teens when he got the contract to do this work.
I recall how he smiled while describing the job to friends at a dinner table. He described that the curved blade edge was nothing more than part of a circle.
He must have had a similar eureka moment like you did.

One thing he gnashed his teeth about is that the set of blades he was working with had slightly different widths. To simplify, the radius of the curve was a smidge shorter on some blades than others.
While he was taking measurements on the blade, I am sure I heard many new bad words in German. This radius deviation was an anathema to his German perfectionist personality.
From what he could gather, years of hand sharpening had inconsistently removed more material from some blades than others.
This forced him to extra-engineer his jig by making it adjustable so that he could put the same exact angle (as close as possible anyway) on each blade depending on it's width (radius).
Basically he did something close to what you did on your cardstock model.. a bolt that he would turn to adjust the height of the angle.
A smaller radius would require lowering the one side of the jig by simply turning the screw. A larger radius would require increasing the height in the same manner.

The other thing he did was hone the flat side of the blades before he put each of them on the jig to sharpen the bevel.
I was not there when he did the flat grind work, but I remember the flat side of the blade to be so flat that I had difficulty picking it up with my fingers off an old surface plate he had in his shop. He used a magnet to grab them from flat surfaces because they were so flat on one side. Also to likely protect the surface plate from accidental scratches.
He explained to me (a then lowly teenage kid with nothing better to do but shadow his Grandfather) that the difference between a sharp scissors and a really sharp scissors blade is the combination of one side being very flat side and the other having a consistent and sharp bevel edge.

Once he had the jig set up on his grinder, he started work on the grinding.
I think he was done with all the blades in about an hour, though he spent a week working on that jig (he did all his machining manually... no CNC at that time in ancient history).
With each blade, he would adjust the bolt slightly depending on the blade width.
After he completed the grinding work, he stropped each blade to take off any burr.
In my young experience, those were some of the sharpest blades I had ever seen outside of the razor blades you get from a store.

He later told me that he not only got paid for the sharpening work, but also sold the jig to the business that hired him to do the work... for 3 times the cost of the contract!!
I guess the company really liked the work he had done but recognized that he may not be around much longer to do that work again. He was already well into retirement.
My Grandfather suffered a stroke shortly after that and passed away a few years later. I miss him still.

Thank you for all you do for us Tony. Every new video you give us is a feast of entertainment and learning all in one bundle. 🙂

[darronjknight]

As a gardener that has used the same pair of felcos in anger, for about 17 years with the same blade for about decade, this is massive overkill . And I totally approve.

[sonnyjimm]

I tried to make a similar gadget years ago. After trial and error I discovered the secret sauce. If you grow all of your plants at 22.5 degrees then all you need to do is make your cuts perpendicular to your right hand. I tried it left handed on my neighbours tree and oh boy, that didn't go well. His trees are not 22.5 degrees.

[skipopotamus]

Tony, I'm one of those guys that you inspired to get into machining about 6 years ago. I am now the only machinist at my company programming and running a 5 axis machine and holding .0002 while doing it. Kinda weird that some guy in his garage I've never met altered the course of my life so much and in such a good way. so thanks for that.

[MultiMikim]

As someone living in New Mexico, it's refreshing to see a machinist use the traditional ways of cutting our small batch, shade grown and sun dried, free range, hand crafted artisanal aluminum. Keep the traditions alive, Tony!

[jonasfrito]

Hi Tony. In tool sharpening we usually use the height of the unsharpened tool relative to the center of the grinding wheel.
If you sharpen at the height of center of the spindle (9 o'clock on the wheel) you get a 90° bevel.
If you raise the wheel 1/2 radiius (7h30 on the wheel) you get a 45º radius.
If you raise the wheel 3/4 radius you get 22, 5º.
That way you don't need a sine plate and everything is orthogonal.
See a video of a "Akemat" saw sharpener if my description is confusing.

[Albatrossamongus]

It's a comfort to know that it might be a little bit of a wait sometimes, but sooner or later a new ToT video will come along, and even as someone who does not own pruning shears and would probably never in my life want to sharpen them if I did, I will be enthralled by the engineering and comedic glory of the best damn shear sharpening show on YouTube. Thanks ToT.

[philipB]

It is difficult to portray to you quite how much I enjoy ALL your YouTubenesses, but please be assured that there is no dark corner of my psyche that isn’t better off after watching your deeply informative instructional brilliance. You are always a ray of light in an otherwise tig-less welder, a ratchet set in a workshop without a brass hammer, perhaps a bandsaw without the bandaids. Always enjoyable, always entertaining and always appreciated. Thank you for sharing.

[Froobyone]

I started watching these videos many moons ago. They planted a seed in my brain and the nascent desire to own a lathe and other life threatening shop tools. Less than seven days ago, I took delivery of my first lathe (8x16 mini lathe) and some other vaguely threatening shop machines. I turned my first brass and aluminium this week and I'm extremely proud to say that I even managed to cut myself pretty bad. I know seasoned machinist can take years before they cut themselves, so I feel like I'm ahead of the curve already, in that I now know you don't grab a string of rogue swarf seconds before the chuck wants to take it for a spin. Anyway, sore finger aside, thank you for kicking off the journey that led me to a workshop that smells of way oil. Mmmmm. Comforting.

[makismakiavelis]

Dear Tony,
I've been following your work for about 5 years now I think. Please don't change. You are the best. I know I'm too old to be a machinist/masochist now but man, it is still nice to learn from and admire your work. Thank you.

[louissherwood]

Thank you Tony so much for your content. I put this on when my 2 year old daughter is refusing to nap, your blend of monologue and hand gestures seem to be the magic mix for sending her off in record time, and I get entertained at the same time 😂❤

[RotarySMP]

Felco's sales department is going "WTF? Why did our monthly sales just quadruple in august?"
Nice one Tony.

[Jimbobfromoklahoma]

Intentionally running the finger along the curved edge for all those safety people out there was a good touch.

[and]

There are hardly any comparable worldly pleasures as profound as watching a video on gardening pruners by Tony.
As always, good job on making nothing in particular mean everything in particular!

[heatherroseisrflyer]

"Feeling silly's never stopped me before. So, let's keep truckin'."

I resemble that remark.

[rotorhead]

Three things I've learned from knife grinding in the last 8 years:
1. Grind with the knife edge against wheel rotation. It won't burr as bad on the edge. Fixture sturdiness is of utmost importance here as there is a slight danger of the wheel "grabbing" the part.
2. The knife needs to be on the wheel centerline for the correct angle. (Tony mentioned this.)
3. Coolant needs to be present so the temper is not drawn from the knife edge. It is difficult to direct it right on the part at times, so I usually aim it at the wheel. Let it spin out of the wheel before shutting down so the wheel doesn't go out of balance. (Shut the coolant off, let the grinder spin for a few minutes, then shut off the wheel.)