Wilton grinder for knife sharpening

[cedarfluteman]

I have a Wilton Square Wheel ginder. I sharpen knives on it but I hold them by hand and don't always keep the angles the same from one side to the other. I do OK but was wondering has anyone made a jig or anything that you could use on the square wheel to make this easier?

[Ray Rogers]

I'm sure a jig would help if someone comes up with one but I sharpen the same way and get good results. It takes practice, lots of it, but it also works best with a little preparation.

What I do is first mount the tool rest in front of the platen, the use a protractor to set the platen 20 degrees to the platen or whatever angle I want the blade's edge to have, then remove the tool rest. Now, all you have to do is hold the blade against the platen as close to perpendicular as possible as if you were sharpening against a stone (edge down of course). It is much easier to hold perpendicular constant than it is to hold 20 degrees. Again, still takes practice but much easier to do.

I get a wire edge this way and with finer belts can even polish the edge but I prefer to take the blade with the initial wire edge to my Edge Pro and finalize it that way because it can correct any small wobbles I might have made....