Axe sharpening jig

[Jed Bowen]

I have been thinking of this idea since I got my Wicked Edge. I have a Gränsfors Bruks and wanting to keep it WICKED sharp I tried to put it in my WE. The jaws do not open far enough and if I close the clamps then butt the head against the clamps the angles change from toe to heel. So I I thought of this idea to get a great grip on the head and to keep the angle a bit more consistent.
Here is what it looks like set up and below that is the Irwin vice I got from Home Depot.

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[DARRELL ALLEN]

:cheer:
Very cool idea Jed, I like it ! Did the vise come with the little notched shelf to sit the angle adjustment bar on, or did you mill that into it ?:unsure:

Be sure to post some pics once you get it sharpened………….or better yet, bring it to the next Red Top meeting in Cartersville on Saturday Sept. 14th :woohoo:

[Jed Bowen]

The little shelf I cut out with a hacksaw and cleaned up with a file then I drilled and tapped a 10/32 . I used the original mount hole in the adjustment arm to screw it down to the vice, from top down. I then drilled another hole that I was going to use to keep the arm stable but I broke my tap flush in the hole. This idea works well but has some fine tuning to do. Such as the arm needs to be centered with an axe in the vice, so I need to drill a second hole in the guide arm about 3/4″ to the left of the hole I am using. Second is that the arm could stand to be longer to get a 35° on the face of the axe. Soon is I get everything fine tuned I hope it may work even better or find some more things to sharpen in it. I also hope this will spark some ideas for some constructive criticism to improve the design or anything you guys think of to sharpen in it. A larger vice would be good but I like the portability of this bench mount system a d the depth of the jaws is pretty ideal too because it allows the vice to grip onto the cheek of the axe it will not budge.

Let me know what you guys think or how to improve the design please.
Thanks
Jed

[Jed Bowen]

My iPhone posted a response twice.

[cbwx34]

Looks good!

One thing you might consider, don’t know if it’ll help or not, but I mounted my original bar on a piece of aluminum, with a space in between so the arms could slide, so I could try it in a few other ways…

Might be easier than trying to drill a hole in the angle bar itself, if that’s what you were going to do.

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[Jed Bowen]

That is a great idea.

I like that idea very much better as I was going to drill another hole in the bar. This way I could set some adjustment holes to keep the rod centered. Plus the steel on the rod is hard to drill through.

[Author]

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