Honing guides

[Rob Lee]

Originally Posted by Mark Lawrence

I have the original Veritas jig. Is the MKII worth gettingif I have the original?

Mark -

Shameful secret time...

I have the MKI, and do not have the MKII...

I like the way the MKI works better....but that's what I've used for a long time...

If I were you - I'd buy an inexpensive side clamp guide, and save my money for other things...

Be glad to suggest the other things....

Cheers -

Rob

[Mark Lawrence]

Thanks Rob ...and I do have a side clamping guide as well.

[Todd Bin]

I just posted this in a similar thread, but the best sharpening jig I have used is the Blum sharpening box. It turns the whole idea upside down. My experience with it has been really positive. You can easily sharpen small chisels, wide plane blades and it is the only jig you can use to sharpen a router plane blade.

http://www.blumtool.com/pages/sharpeningjig.html

[Mike Brady]

There is talk of side-clamping honing guides coming from two esteemed North American plane makers in the new year. Don't throw anything you have away just yet.

[Thomas Pender]

I have the MK II and the eclipse and like Jim Koepke says, my hands.

The other night I was trying to use the MK II on a decent 1" chisel. For some reason it only wanted to sharpen the every edge of the bevel and the sharpened edge looked terrible once I removed my glasses and looked several times - I mean I used every grit waterstone I had from 250 to 8000 (all were flat) and could not make it work. Then I tried freehand and although I nicked the 8000 a few times I got the chisel real sharp - plenty good enough for use.

That inspired me to freehand all of my stuff needing sharpening - several LV plane blades, e.g., my LA Jack, , BU Jack, BU Jointer, BU Smoother, my Block, and even my medium shoulder plane (which works well on the MK II provided it is square). I got them sharper than before or so it seems to me. The problem seems to be I cannot get the entire bevel to lie flat on the stone with the MK II or at least not enough of it and I do by hand. (I have always sharpened by Scrub blade by hand - cannot figure how to make the jig work on that curve.)

So, I am wondering what I am doing wrong. But I do note that I need to run it across the stone fewer times with my hands than with the MK II or eclipse. BTW - I always try to be real precise about setting up the steel to be sharpened in the jig, but they do move.

Also BTW - this is a darn good thread - it addresses something that probably frustrates many of us.


Tom

[Sean Hughto]

Hmm, it shouldn't be that hard. You must be doing something fundamentally wrong in setting up or using the jig. It's hard to say without seeing you in action or knowing more. If only the very edge was contacting the stone, then you needed to lengthen the amount of blade projecting from the guide, or lower the guide.

[Sam Takeuchi]

If MK.II is making only the edge of your chisels touch the stone, you are doing something wrong. Either your angle registration is off, forgot to set micro bevel knob back to 0 degree, roller is attached on wrong position, bevel angle of your chisel lower than what it's supposed to be or stone is concave. Assuming your stones are flat, probably one of the above reasons.

If you are digging into the stone while freehand sharpening, it is caused by inconsistent movement of your arms. Most likely you are rounding the edge, kind of like micro bevel. Unless you can create somewhat consistent bevel freehand, it'll get rounder and realistic edge angle gets larger. It's not a good thing.

If you are going to freehand, but don't hollow grind, try to hold the blade either diagonally relative to stone length, or hold the blade side ways. It'll prevent blade from rocking on the bevel and provides more stable platform to work on. A bit of practice, you should be able to get pretty solid bevel and should be able to produce pretty consistent edge.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Originally Posted by Mike Brady

There is talk of side-clamping honing guides coming from two esteemed North American plane makers in the new year. Don't throw anything you have away just yet.

I have this (actually both sizes) from Garrett Wade



Never used the Mk II - so no input on it. Had the Vertas "sharpening system" first - maybe that is the Mk I? Anyway - it was simply the wrong tool for my Japanese chisels - could not make it work well with their profiles, and getting things squared up on it was a problem (for me).

Made a wood gauge block for setting angle with these guides - they work just fine for me - really like them - very well made. When I bought my first guide from GW, they only offerred the standard size. N/A for wide plane blades. When the long size came out, I got that too. No need for both IMO - can't remember last time I used the std. Also - I recently got the Beall Tilt Box, so not using my wood gauge block anymore - the Beall makes it too easy.

[Josh Bowman]

After taking precautions to insert the blades square to the alignment guide and properly tightening the screws, the blade edges don't lie flat on a granite surface plate.

I put the blade in the gauge and flip it so I can hold a steel ruler against the wheel and the blades bevel and look for light under the ruler at the bevel. You would be surprise how accurate that is. All the same you got to hone a little after even that to check. I find if I'm off a little, that I have to slide the blade quite a bit to move the honed area on the bevel.

[Josh Bowman]

I have found with my MK II that if I just set it up with the gauge and hone it until it's sharp, that the next time I hone the set up is dead on. The only time I have problems is when I try to copy the angle that was previouly on the blade.

[Mike Brady]

I actually have the Kell guide (narrow) too. I like it "OK" but it provides no good place to really grab onto it, and it is out of balance if you try to put a long paring chisel into it. 90% of the chisel is cantilevered out behind the guide. I think its design makes the leading edge dive into the stickier stones like fine water stones as you push forward. In other words, thjis seems to be a pull-stroke only jig. I have dubbed a few edges because of that. It is beautifully made but flawed in design, in my opinion. Going back to my OP, I think there will be some good alternatives coming after the first of the year. There were photos of several protypes from two manufacturers on another forum a few weeks ago.