Fingernail

- Yes.

- It helps to have an example of the grind you want to duplicate with you as you do it.

- It's easier for a person new to grinding to use a jig

- A jig for this need not be expensive or commercially made. You can make your own such as this...

explaination they give is far more complicated to read than it is toreally make.

Personally, I do it freehand.

- Andrew

The answer is, maybe. Are you used to sharpening your own tools? Do you sharpen by hand or jig? What kind of grinder(s) do you you use? Changing the profile is very do-able, the ease of changing depends ony our skills and your equipment. I changed my standard goupges to fingernail and Ellsworth grinds, neither took much time or was difficult to do, and I highly recommend both grinds, although the fingernail is less aggressive. If you have the skill and tools to sharpen your gouges in normal use you probably have the things necessary to change the profile without wasting too much steel. At worst, you may have to try to get the profile right more than once.

Good luck and keep trying until you get the grind that works best for you, Dave in Fairfax