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Guide

Everything you need to set up your equipment and plan a grind, step by step.

Part 1

Getting started

JigSteps isn't locked to one brand of wheel-type grinder. It's built around the Tormek T-8, but flat-type grinders are included too — if your grinder shares similar geometry to what's shown in the diagrams (Parts 3 and 4), set it up once and use whatever you prefer.

You can define up to five grinding steps. Your blade/jig setup stays locked across all of them, so results stay consistent from one step to the next.

Worth knowing before you start: every calculation in this app relies on centering jigs to correctly position the blade, where that applies. No allowance is made if the blade isn't centred properly.

Setting up your equipment correctly the first time is a do-right, do-once exercise — the next section shows you around the app itself, and Part 3 walks through equipment setup in full.

Part 3

Using JigSteps

Grind steps

Each main page represents a single grind operation, as part of a full sequential grinding / refinement process (up to 5 steps can be created). So we call each page a grind step, naturally. A grind step can be either edge-leading or edge-trailing, and is selected when each step is created.

Each grind step page has four sections. Three need your input — Equipment Setup, Blade / Jig Setup, and Grind Type — and are shown just below; the fourth, Result, is calculated automatically and is shown further down the page.

Equipment Setup: Flat / belt grinders are always edge-trailing only, regardless of how they're configured. A wheel-type machine (such as a bench grinder) can also be blocked from edge-leading, but only if its Edge Leading fields are left at zero — it's the specific configuration that decides this, not the equipment category. It's always your responsibility to know your own equipment's limitations when setting up.

Blade / Jig Setup: Stays physically unchanged across every grind step, right until the process is complete (see also First grind check below).

Grind Type: Select either apex or chord angle, and double or single bevel.

Grind step page (upper) showing sections
Mostly, the parts requiring your input are the selection of equipment, which you pre-defined (once) via the menu.
Grind steps page (lower) showing result
Bottom of the grind step page showing the calculated result.

Result: That last bit of the page is the entire point of the app — see a few sections below for what it's showing you.

Equipment Setup
For better readability, this large section is purposely provided last in Part 3, from Menu items onwards.

Blade / Jig Setup

These fields define your physical blade/jig setup, and stay synchronised across every grind step — set them and they carry through until the job's done.

Target DPS (Degrees-Per-Side) is the angle on one side only — not the total included angle. Jig Projection is measured from the blade edge to the part of the jig that sits behind the support bar; the Tormek SE-77 is the one exception, measured to the front of the jig instead, because of its shape (see its diagram below). BTE Thickness (Behind-The-Edge) is the thickness behind the bevel itself, at the shoulder. Jig Neck Width is the width — or diameter — of the jig where it contacts the support bar, assumed symmetrical either side of the blade centreline; selecting the Tormek SE-77 makes this field unavailable, since its own geometry is used instead.

Grind Type

Choose Apex or Chord, combined with Double Bevel or Single Bevel. Chord is unavailable on flat-type grinders, since apex and chord angles are identical without wheel curvature to correct for. Double Bevel is unavailable if you've selected the Tormek SE-77, as this jig is built for single-bevel work only.

Apex is the true angle at the very edge of the blade. Chord is the angle across the flat line where the bevel first touches the wheel and where it leaves — always very slightly larger than apex, since grinding against a curved wheel puts a slight curve into the bevel (on a flat-type grinder the two are always identical). The app shows you both, plus the difference between them — handy if you want to grind a chord angle as a guide for a hand-applied apex micro-bevel afterwards, useful on thicker blades like chisels.

Result

This is the entire point of the app. The Support Distance 'S' is the distance from your equipment's reference point to the outermost part of your support.

If your setup would sit the support too high or too low, you'll see a clear TOO HIGH FOR SUPPORT or TOO LOW FOR SUPPORT warning — flat-type grinder setups don't use this check. If your Tormek Std support won't reach but your Tormek Ext would, you'll get a gentler "Tormek Ext Support is Required" nudge instead. Fix any warning by adjusting your Support, Support Jig Projection, or Jig Projection.

Seeing only "— mm" or "— inch"? You've missed an equipment selection somewhere above.

First grind check

Worth re-checking after your first grind step: When a burr is developed, and especially after re-profiling a secondary bevel or re-shaping an edge, the angle you actually produce can drift from your target. Check and adjust (if necessary) the Jig Projection for that step to bring it back — this will produce a slightly lower Support Distance 'S', so plan on a final light pass at the new setting to finish the step properly. The new Jig Projection will carry for all remaining refinement steps.

Menu items

The first five main menu items all record your grinding equipment (jig-based powered wheel or flat-type grinders), and all the complementary accessories and supports you already have and use (the fifth being a specialised jig, if you own this). These items must be properly defined by you (do-right, do-once) in order to assure the very best results.

We've put a Reset Grind Pages here too, out of the way of the main grind pages (this will clear all grind steps; however, your equipment information is always safe). This, and Restore Defaults or Delete options (within menu pages), all have warning dialogues to confirm you want to proceed.

All other items are explained in more detail later in Part 3.

The Menu sheet, showing the equipment library, Tormek SE-77, and non-equipment items grouped separately
The full Menu sheet — equipment library, Tormek SE-77, and everything else.

Setting up your equipment

The key to getting the best results from this app is to accurately establish all the equipment you have, in the appropriate library, under the Menu. This is a do-right, do-once exercise. Defaults are loaded for every field except wheel diameter, based on our own Tormek T-8 — don't use these for actual grinding, they're there to inform only.

Machines list showing sample equipment with edit and delete controls
Typical for all four equipment lists (Machines, Wheels, Support Jigs, Supports) — the list/add/edit/delete pattern is identical across all of them.

Machines

Both wheel-type and flat-type grinders are supported by the app. When adding a new machine, you will be given a choice of type and then taken to the relevant setup.

For wheel-type grinders (both edge-leading and edge-trailing), the diagrams below show various dimension that this app uses to calculate support height (all dimensions as oriented in diagrams represent positive numbers). All diagrams are included in the app, and links are provided wherever these will help you.

Add New Machine - Upper Add New Machine - Lower
These shown the upper (left) and lower (right) parts of the same page.
Diagram - Edge Leading Setup
(Dimension C is used for support height warnings)

Support Clamp Height (Edge Leading only) doesn't affect this calculated distance — it only fine-tunes the too-high/too-low support warnings, by telling the app how high your support's clamp face sits above the support itself.

Diagram - Edge Trailing Setup
If your machine looks different to the above

Your grinder doesn't need to look exactly like the ones in the diagrams above — it may not have both edge-leading and edge-trailing features, and the reference point or support may be below the wheel centreline. That doesn't matter — it just needs to share the same measurable relationship to the wheel centreline.

What does matters is determining the best reference point for your machine, that your two measurements are perpendicular to each other and to the support centreline. If your equipment's geometry runs the "wrong way" relative to the diagram, you don't need different equipment — just flip the sign, using negative numbers, as in the worked example below.

Worked example — a slow-speed bench grinder is to be used for honing using paper or felt wheels. A separate mount is fixed to the bench beside and below the grinder (in this case on the 'back'-side so edge-trailing), with 'A' = 150 mm and 'B' = −100 mm (refer the Edge Trailing diagram):

Bench Grinder 1
Edge Leading — all fields = 0 (that is, not used)
Edge Trailing — Fixed Horizontal = 150, Fixed Vertical = −100

For flat-type grinders the Add Flat/Belt Machine dialogue and diagram below show this setup is a simple affair. The Vertical Offset default is zero, meaning the reference point by default is at the top of the grinding surface.

Add New Flat/Belt Machine
Diagram - Flat/Belt Grinder Setup

If you identify a more suitable part of your machine from which you want to measure the support height (as long as that point is measured parallel to the grinding surface), then enter that Vertical Offset. Note that a point below the grinding surface is entered as a positive number (and just-in-case, use a negative number for above the surface!).

When a flat-type grinder is selected, the Chord grind type becomes unavailable as this only applies to wheel-type grinders.

Wheels

Straightforward — with one convenience: Because a bonded wheel changes diameter in use, wheel diameter can be edited directly from the grind step page, not only through the Menu.

Add New Wheel

Support Jigs

Special jigs that add flexibility for mounting a support bar that a blade-jig rests on (Tormek MB-102, or third-party equivalents). As for Machines, the diagram shows the key geometry relationship, and the reference point is what you always use for that equipment.

Add New Support Jig
Diagram - Support Jig Setup

Support jigs are only available for wheel-type edge-trailing grind steps — if you don't have one, leave this as (none). Selecting a support jig reveals a new field, projection 'X' (shown in the diagram above), which you'll need to enter a value for.

Support Jig Features
When a support jig is selected, an additional field appears and a projection 'X' is required (with convenient link to diagram).

Supports

The adjustable bar that a blade-jig rests on. Tap Tormek Std or Tormek Ext as many times as the number you own of each — both stay fully editable afterwards, so you can still fine-tune their measurements — or, for anything else, add a User support.

Add New Support

The following fields support a warning feature in the calculated result where needed, except for a flat-type grinder.

Total Leg Height = outside - outside dimension of a support leg (that is - top of support to bottom of leg).

Minimum Leg Length for Clamp = the measurement you determine to be the least acceptable clamp length needed for a support on your machine.

Minimum Height = the lowest your support can be, measured from the top of the support to the clamp, accounting for adjustment screws.

Supports Page

Tormek SE-77

Special provision is made for this jig, since it shares geometry usable on both wheel and flat-type grinders. If you have this jig, select "I own this jig" to activate it, then check and enter your measured offset dimensions. Selecting it on a grind step makes Jig Neck Width and Double Bevel unavailable — see Blade & Jig Setup and Grind Type above.

Tormek SE-77 Jig
Diagram - Tormek SE-77 Setup
Measure from the centre of the support bar to the back of the jig, then the top width, to determine 'A' — and 'B' is to the flat surface the chisel/plane iron clamps against.
Edge Trailing grind step with the Tormek SE-77 jig selected, showing the locked Jig Neck Width field and disabled Double Bevel option
Features when the Tormek SE-77 Jig is activated.