Make a Proper Whetstone Holder

The following account should be treated as work in progress. The come to me while I'm waiting for the bus, while I sat at the toilet bowl, or while I was skiving at work.....

Why?
My rubber footed whetstone holder skids around when the kerosene overflows to the feet of the box. Short of clamping the stone directly to my vise, I decided to find somthing to hold the stones firmly.
Rather than buying an adjustable one made of rubber and steel, I decided to make one. Why pay when you can make a customised one? ( and a handsome one at that..) It gives your tools some workout. It uses some of the scrap you've been saving for dunno what. I need an excuse to make something.

I did not put in any dimensions in the chicken scratchings below. Like I said, its a customisation. Built it to accommodate your longest stone.
Having said that, it may not work for you.

Some folks like to sharpen with a stone that comes glued to a box. In fact, I'm still doing it with that pre WWII Pike Washita. All the gunk that overflows get captured in the box. Cap the box when you're done. You hold the box, not the stone. Both your hands and the benchtop remains clean, relatively that is.

For me, I have an assortment of stones (previous post on stones) to tackle the smallest slitting gauge knife to the 10" drawknife. So my stones are between 4" to 8" long.

From the drawing board:

Movable jaw slides to acomodate your stone's length. Lock-down by tapered key thru mortise below jaw.

If you prefer a steampunk look, use a wingnut. Broaden the base of the jaw so that you have room to turn the wingnut.

Alternate base design for clamping

I am also playing around with the amount of chamfer vs. strength for the jaws.

This is best done between breakfast and lunch on a Saturday.

Comments

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