Homemade Sharpener

[dogcatcher]

As I stated in one of my early posts, I am not engraver, I joined this forum to gather info and learn a little to make fancy bands for my duck calls and to improve my woodcarving. I plan on passing my information on to a few of today's duck callmakers, hopefully I will get a couple of them interested in engraving as an addition to their callmaking.

This is my method for fancy bands, I hope with what I have learned so far to go a step farther with a little engraving. By the way, I can do one of these in less than 10 minutes.

One thing lead to another, first Southtexas posted his homemade power hone, so with his help I built the power hone for sharpening my woodcarving chisels. Then through emails I asked about his sharpener, he lead me astray, told me here was lots of info on the Internet. As I researched sharpeners, I came across this video. The block idea came from some CNC guy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8okYiO4paIg

I made a rough copy using 1.5 square maple, which resulted in this one, Version 1

Next I went through my scrap boxes of possible supplies to make a better one. I tried to make degree scales, tried several times using Les Brook's PDF as a guide, once when I was deep in progress my wife suggested clock faces. She is a clock collector and had a lots of extras I could "borrow". Pocket watch faces are the best, 60 minutes, 6 degrees per minute, I was in business.

So this version was made using a drill press, a wood lathe and some drills and taps. A long with a lot of measuring, a little glue and this is the result. My aluminum version of the graver sharpener.

Wanting to get back to a wood version, one that would be easy for beginner to build, I started back on a Version 3. This one is made out of maple, actually scrap from the local cabinet shop. It took me the better part of today playing with it to get it to an operational state. That includes waiting for a coat of finish to dry.

I tested all 3 versions using nails with a sandpaper disc, now waiting on diamond discs to get this show on the road, The nails I used were approximately 1/8" diameter, and since I have some 1/8" square HSS tooling pieces I made the holder to fit them.

I would like to thank the members of the forum for all of the previous posts that I have read for their help. A special thanks to SouthTexas for his assistance and his making me curious enough to figure this out. Without Cliff's help I would still be working on my woodcarving, now I have to start practice on engraving.

 

[dogcatcher]

This is a close up of the wood version.

2 pieces of wood, one drilled for the post, and a clock face attached and center drilled and tapped for a 1/4" bolt that comes from the second piece of wood. The bolt is the pivot point for the rotation of the tool bit holder. This allows the up and down motion, and the tool bit holder rotates in the attached piece of wood to allow the right and left motion of the tool bit holder. The degree scale, the pocket watch face, being in minutes and each minute is 6 degrees makes for an awkward math for those used to 5 degree scales, but with a graver being only 3/32" or in my case 1/8", close is going to be like hand grenades, it will work, may not be the optimal shape, but by my calculations it will be close enough.

The tool bit holder is a steel rod, drilled for a tight fit of the HSS tool bits, then cross drilled and tapped for set screws to old it in place. I have an idea for a better tool bit holder, but trying to keep this simple do it yourselfer I won't go into that version. Not many people will have access to the equipment I can access. And my goal is to help the beginner hobbyist, not the professional. The professional can write off their tools, the hobbyist may have to explain to spouse why they spent it. $10 to $20 is nothing for a hobbyist, but $200 can raise red flags.

Here are some of the other ideas I tried for the degree scale. Fender washers from the hardware store, I lined up a protractor and use a carbide etching pencil to draw the lines. Some of these were tested on Version 1, they are hand grenade close, good enough and I wouldn't hesitate to use them if I had not been given the watch faces.

It has been a good trip and as someone said, a few "giggles" along the way. Now I have another hobby to keep me busy in my old age.

 

[Terrezar]

Bravo! Exelent work, indeed. I get a real thrill out of home made tools, so to me this is realy something. Keep posting!

 

[Arnaud Van Tilburgh]

Very creative ideas you show us here, thanks

arnaud

 

[Southtexas]

Kudos, both on the work and on your willingness to share it with others.
Cliff

 

[atexascowboy2011]

DC
Try and make contact with Otto Carter in Abilene. Maybe you can see his setup and get some pointers on engraving.
Pine Street Salvage is one of my favorite vacation destinations! That place is the 9th wonder of world!

 

[dogcatcher]

DC
Try and make contact with Otto Carter in Abilene. Maybe you can see his setup and get some pointers on engraving.
Pine Street Salvage is one of my favorite vacation destinations! That place is the 9th wonder of world!

I have heard of Otto Carter, one of coyote call customers told me about him. I also knew his Dad from when I worked at Dyess AFB, but did not know that Otto was an engraver until a few months ago.

Back when I had 2 good legs, Pine Street Salvage was my playground. That was 14 years ago, but I still have a pretty good supply of scrap aluminum.

Thanks for all of the comments. It was a fun ride, it is surprising how much good info is out there, sometimes you have to wade through some "misinformation" to get the answers, but the information is there.

 

[scott99]

Hi, well that just shows a ton of ingenuity. There is aways more than one way to skin a cat.

scott99 PS: I like cats its just a homily. :^)

 

[Southern Custom]

The watch dials are not only functional but darned fun as well. I like when tools have a little bit of soul!
Layne

 

[dlilazteca]

Nice!

Carlos De La O III

 

[monk]

you know, in these parts, dogcatchers rank right down there with used car salesmen. i'm thinkin we all will have to raise the bar for you dogcatchers. please post fotos of your finished calls. thanks for the time you spent doing this foto project.