instructables

DIY Knife Sharpening Jig (Guided Knife Sharpener)

by aaronjprice

This is a DIY guided knife sharpening jig made of wood. It is inspired by several commercial models, plus all the variations
that many other DIY enthusiasts have posted over the years.
This is my version 2 model. The goals for the update were:
Use magnets instead of a clamp to hold the blade. Clamping proved ddly on my version 1 jig.
Make the base larger (10" x 10") for stability, but still compact overall for use on a kitchen countertop, and
for storage.
Mostly wood - easy to make with ordinary woodworking tools.
Minimal hardware, minimal complexity. This is dedicated mostly to sharpening kitchen knives, so I
reduced it to the bare minimum for that purpose: an angled platform to hold the blade, and a tool rest to
maintain a consistent sharpening angle.

Supplies:

I used repurposed walnut from an old door jamb, which is 3/4" thick. I cut everything to size on my table saw, but you
could also use straight 1" x 4" and 1" x 2" boards of any available wood, and cut them to length with a hand saw.
The diamond sharpening plates are UltraSharp brand, 6" x 2", 300-grit and 1200-grit.
The rest of the hardware is simple:
Four neodymium magnets. These have a countersunk hole for a mounting screw, and are encased in a
nickel-plated steel cup for robustness (these types of magnets are brittle). They are about 5/8" in
diameter, and a bit under 1/4" thick. They come with small stainless steel screws to mount them.
Two 1/4" x 2" long brass bolts (one per tool rest).
One 1/4" wing nut.
Six 1-1/4" deck screws to assemble everything.
Four small rubber feet, as used for cutting boards.

Sources:
Diamond sharpeners: https://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/product_details.php?
category_name=Diamond%20Sharpening%20Stones&product_id=122
Neodymium magnets: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJ1B8LFH
Rubber feet for cutting boards: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PMF77TW

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Step 1: Review of Version 1

First, a quick view of the version 1 jig. It uses a spring clamp to hold the blade on the platform. Small sections of bicycle
innertube were used on the blade platform and the tips of the clamp to keep things from slipping (perhaps even vinyl
electrical tape would have worked also).
It looked simple and elegant enough, and it worked just ne to maintain a consistent sharpening angle (my sister and my
daughter, both avid from-scratch cooks, used theirs for 2+ years to maintain their kitchen knives).
However, it had some aws:
1. It was ddly to get the blade clamped: you needed one hand to hold the clamp, one to hold the knife,
and if the jig moved or tilted, you wished for a third hand to hold the jig.
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 2. With a narrow-bladed knife (e.g. paring or boning), there was usually *barely* enough room to clamp the
spine of the knife without the tip of the clamp interfering with the diamond sharpening plate. For small
pocket knives or llet knives, there was no hope of using the clamp, and you just had to manually hold
the knife in place with one hand.
3. The jig's stance on the countertop was too high and too narrow, and it would tip over sideways as you
sharpened the tip of a medium sized or longer knife, requiring you to support the jig with your other
hand.
4. It had no means of adjusting the sharpening angle.

It was my daughter mentioning that the jig would work even better if it had magnets to hold the knife that inspired me
to re-think the design.

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Step 2: Cutting Wood to Size

As mentioned previously, the wood stock is 3/4" thick.

The main center rail of the jig is cut to a size of 4" x 10".
The crossbars for the feet are cut to 1" x 10".
The blade platform block is 4" long to match the width of the center rail.
The top of the blade platform is cut to a 16 degree angle (discussion as to why is below). I did this on the
table saw, but you could carefully cut the angle with a hand plane, using a protractor for reference and a
straight edge.
I needed more thickness for this block of wood, so I glued up two layers of stock (i.e. it was 1-1/2" thick
until I cut the angle, leaving it about 1" thick at the higher edge). You can see the layers in the photo.

The tool rests are also 4" long to match the width of the center rail. I made them in two heights for two di erent
sharpening angles, but this is optional if you only want a single setup. See the next step for how I determined the heights
of the tool rests.

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I forgot to take a photo of them unassembled, but the guide tails glued to the back of the diamond sharpening plates are
1/2" x 3/4" x 13" long. This is because the sharpening plates are 6" long, and the distance between the blade edge and the
tool rest is 6-1/2".
I eased all the edges of the wood pieces with a rasp and sanding block, and then it is simply rubbed with mineral oil
(butcher block oil).

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Step 3: Determining Sharpening Angle

Here is my reasoning for setting the angle of the blade platform to 16 degrees, and how I then determined the heights of
the tool rests:
Notice in the sketch that the centerline of the blade's cross-section is actually tilted up a bit from the face
of the magnet, to a degree that depends on the angle of the grind.

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 Some knives are at ground (full width of the blade), and for some the grind area is only a portion of the
blade width.
I took careful thickness and grind width measurements from several knives: a couple Henckels knives (an
8" chef's knife and a 7" Santoku) which are typical of forged German kitchen knives, and a couple
Japanese knives (a 210mm Gyuto and a 180mm Santoku).
I could then calculate the angle of the grind faces (i.e. what will be held against the magnets). The thin
Gyuto and at-ground Henckels Santoku are tilted up about 1.5 degrees on the magnets. The at-ground
but thicker Henckels chef's knife is tilted up about 2 degrees. And the Japanese Santoku, despite being
thin, has a grind area less than half the width of the blade, tilting the blade up about 2.5 degrees on the
magnet.

When the diamond sharpening plate is perfectly horizontal (i.e. parallel to the center rail), the actual e ective sharpening
angle is roughly 14 degrees per side (i.e. 16 degrees for the blade platform, minus the tilt from the angled blade face).
This is a good angle for the harder steel of Japanese knives.
To get this set up as precisely as possible, I did the nal sizing of the tool rests last, after assembling the rest of the jig:
1. I installed the angled blade platform block on the center rail, and screwed the magnets on top.
2. I then placed a thin blade on top of the magnets, and measured the height of the blade edge (I align it
with the edge of the platform block), which was 1-1/4".
3. The shorter tool rest (which holds the sharpener horizontal) is 1-1/2" high instead of also 1-1/4", because
of the added 1/4" thickness of the diamond sharpening plates.

The taller tool rest is 2" tall (1/2" taller). The distance between the tool rest and the blade edge is 6-1/2", so the 1/2"
increase in height increases the sharpening angle by 4.5 degrees, to 20.5 degrees nominal. With the reduction due to the
angle of the blade face discussed above, the e ective sharpening angle becomes approximately 18.5 degrees per side,
appropriate for a softer steel (20 degrees per side has been common for forged German knives, but I prefer to sharpen
them a bit keener than that).

Step 4: Assembly

To assemble the jig:

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Clamp a crossbar in place, centered and ush with the end of the center rail. Drill, countersink, and install two 1-1/4" deck
screws from below to secure it. Repeat for the other crossbar.
I used a carpenter's square and drew a line 1-1/4" back from the end of the center rail. I lined up the taller edge of the
angled blade platform with the line, then drilled and screwed from below.
At this point you can make a simplifying choice: If you don't need or want multiple sharpening angles (i.e. all your knives
are either German steel or Japanese steel), you can simply screw a single tool rest in place, drilling and screwing from
below just like the angled blade platform.
Space the tool rest so that there is a 6-1/2" distance to the blade edge (see the sketch for reference).
Since I am using two di erent heights of tool rests, mine are easily removable without tools:
I drilled a 1/4" diameter hole, 3/4" deep, in the bottom edge of each tool rest, then epoxied a 2" brass bolt
into the hole. After it cured, I cut o the bolt head with a hacksaw, which leaves it long enough to reach
the wing nut under the center rail.
After determining the 6-1/2" distance behind the blade edge, I added another 3/8" (half the thickness of
the tool rest), and drilled a 1/4" hole in the center rail for mounting the tool rest.
I used a drill press when drilling these holes so they are perpendicular to the boards. If you only have a
handheld drill, then use a drill guide if possible.

Epoxy the guide tails to the backs of the diamond sharpening plates.
Screw the rubber feet under the ends of the crossbars.

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Step 5: Usage

In this example I am sharpening a Henckels Santoku (German steel, hardness about 56 HRC), so I installed the taller tool
rest by inserting its bolt in the hole, and tightened the wing nut underneath. It takes very little pressure to secure the tool
rest in place.
To place the knife on the magnets, hold the knife at about a 45 degree angle, place its edge along the higher edge of the
angled knife platform, then roll the knife back into full contact with the magnets.
NOTE: if you drag the knife around on the magnets to align it to the jig, it can scratch the face of the blade. If this is
important to you, cover the magnets with a short strip of Scotch tape to prevent scratching.

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Step 6: Usage

Hold the sharpening plate from behind by the guide tail, so your ngers are protected from the sharp edge of the knife. I
ended up gluing a slightly wider strip on the top edge of the guide tail to improve the nger grip. It would also work to
glue a short strip of sandpaper in the nger hold locations on both sides.
The guide tail is kept in contact with the top of the tool rest to maintain a consistent sharpening angle, and the diamond
plate is stroked over the edge of the blade. You can either work towards the edge, or away from the edge - both
directions sharpen just ne.
The rst time you sharpen a knife on the jig, you need to establish the new bevel on the edge. I use the 300-grit plate for
this, which cuts aggressively, and only takes a few minutes at most. Then I use the 1200-grit plate for the nish
sharpening. It only takes perhaps 6 or 8 strokes to polish out the coarser scratches from the 300-grit plate.
For any subsequent sharpening sessions, you already have the bevel at an angle that matches the jig, so generally you
can just take a few strokes with the 1200-grit plate on each side to re-sharpen.
Once the knife is fully sharp, polish o the burr by taking VERY light strokes (supporting much of the weight of the
sharpening plate) on each side of the blade. You will probably have to ip the knife over several times, taking one light
stroke per side, until the burr is polished o and you can't detect it any longer. You can follow this with a few strokes on a
leather strop to give the edge a nal polish.

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There are LOTS of good descriptions of knife sharpening online that cover this in more detail. The same general
technique applies whether you are sharpening freehand on a bench stone, or have ipped the process upside down by
using this type of guided sharpening jig.

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