Grinder rest survey

[Boatman53]

This could have been in any of the top three forums but I mostly follow this one and then the auction site is here also. While working with Derek Cohen on another project he suggested that my project needed to work with the LV tool rest as well as the Tormek. I knew he was right a lot of people have that rest, I have that rest. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to do it. Then it hit me adapt the rest to fit my jig. This is the first version I came up with and I was so excited I made three plus a couple variations. I sent one to Dave Parkis to try out and this is what he wrote back in an email.

"Hi Jim,
I couldn't wait and went out to the shop and installed the tool rest. I don't know if I set it up the correct way, but I took my best shot. Here is my complaint... WHERE THE HELL HAS THIS BEEN!?!?!?"


This is what I made, it is a direct replacement for the table on the LV rest. I've since changed the design to be open ended to utilize ALL of the Tormek jigs.
Which makes these obsolete, but still very functional. I'm thinking of putting one maybe two into the auction if there is any interest. Rod type rest work very well with home made tool holders also. The rod itself is 12mm stainless. The length is 8 1/2" long. I have mine mounted to a hand grinder so I'm good in this forum but that doesn't matter.







I'd like to know what you think.
Jim

[EricU]

what do I think? I think it's a really great idea

[Tony Z]

I Like it! Why don't you contact Rob Lee to see if LV has any interest in it?

[DaveParkis]

Let me just say that this is (IMHO) a pretty serious "upgrade" to the Veritas tool rest. I've had the LV unit for several years and just couldn't get the hang of it. There was enough slop in it so that I always had to be conscious of whether I was pushing the tool holder or letting it rest on the bottom of the track. With Jim's unit, I could bring the tool holder up high enough so that the iron/chisel is almost on the top of the wheel. It just made grinding a lot easier for me.

[Bruce Haugen]

Hook me up! I have the Veritas grinding apparatus and it works fine for me on normal sized tools, but I also would like to be able to grind bigger things like planer blades. This would definitely be the ticket.

[JustinTyson]

That looks amazing. I've never used a grinding rest that I've really liked. I usually just hack together something from some scrap wood that works better than 99% of the commercial rests out there. But this looks like a sincere improvement. Well done!

[Philip1231]

Nice!

[gordon 131]

Jim this adaptation on the LV tool rest looks like it should work real good!
After reading Ian Kirby's book "sharpening with waterstones"
I made a similar type round bar tool rest and I am using it on my shopsmith with a white wheel.
I also made the homemade plane iron and chisel holders that Kirby recommends in his book and the whole system works extremely well for me , especially on the shopsmith at reduced speed with a white wheel. (thinking of switching over to a CBN wheel).
I leave the system setup on my shopsmith and have preset distances marked out to hollow grind the chisels and plane irons at 25 degrees.
Your tool rest looks great Jim and I am sure it is an improvement, I know for me after using a solid round bar and homemade holders that just work great there is no turning back.
Gordon

[tirebob]

This is a video a fellow made that he sent me a couple years back. Basically a simple similar version on what it seems like you came up with... Works great!

http://s111.photobucket.com/user/djdorn/...n.mp4.html

[Arlin Eastman]

I have that same tools rest. I have not used it but tried it since it was to small to move the blades back and forth properly so I stopped using it.

If it was a modest cost I sure would like to have one.

Also I have to agree maybe Rob Lee would be interested in it so you can sell a ton of them.

I do have a question tho. How would it work when the grinding wheels start getting smaller?

Arlin