Veritas Mark II... wow

[Will Hon]

Background
Self admittedly, I do not know much about sharpening and I have always taken my planer/jointer knives down the road to a gentleman who has ran a sharpening business out of his basement for some 30+ years with terrific results. A project came up that required a fair amount of mortising, and my budget only allowed me to buy some cheap Marples. So, I decided to take the Marples to him and have them sharpened as well..... @$#%!! When I began using them, I was thinking to myself, these must be the worst, cheapest, most POS things made. They wouldn't cut ANYTHING, accept with excessive coaxing (SLAMMING) with a mallet, which of course had awful results.

Enter Veritas Mark II
So, for Xmas, I receive the Mark II and a set of Norton Water Stones. I watch the 15 minute dvd that comes with the water stones and quickly scour through the Mark II manual and within NO TIME AT ALL my Marples are slicing the same wood like butter. The Mark II is SO easy to set up, and with the turn of the dial you have your micro bevel. I can't believe it, this thing is really amazing...

[Cliff Holmes]

Yeah, I use mine with a granite plate and sandpaper. Love it.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Will - Very glad to hear this review. Neighbor has a brother who is a newbie - asked for a sharpening gauge for Christmas - I said "I don't have this one, but everyting I read says it is the cat's pajamas." So he bought + sent the Mk II.

I assume you are now open for jokes about sharpening chisels and your last name, right?

[Chuck Isaacson]

Thank you sir. You just answered my question. I was looking at this and wasnt sure. But now I think that I am going to go ahead and get it. Thanks.

Chuck

[glenn bradley]

I use one with my scary sharp setup. It definitely makes up for my absence of the sharpening gene.

[Michael Peet]

I use one with my scary sharp setup. It definitely makes up for my absence of the sharpening gene.

LOL, yep, same here.

Mike

[Ben Rivenbark]

Sometimes I freehand for quick touchups, but you're right, the Veritas jig makes for faster work. I just fixed up a brand new set of Marples as well, and I couldn't imaging grinding out all the tool marks on the bevel free hand.

[Larry Fox]

Interesting post - why do you suppose that the guy down the street who has been at it for 30+ years can sharpen a planer / jointer blade with "terrific result" but he can't sharpen a chisel? I would think that a chisel would be child's play for him.

BTW: My father-in-law lives in Lawrence KS - small world (wouldn't want to paint it though :) ).

[Will Hon]

Interesting post - why do you suppose that the guy down the street who has been at it for 30+ years can sharpen a planer / jointer blade with "terrific result" but he can't sharpen a chisel? I would think that a chisel would be child's play for him.

Ya, I totally agree... it doesn't make any sense to me either. It almost looks as if he just sharpened the bevel, but didn't flatten the back... I can still see a lot of machine marks there. When I was in his shop I wasn't familiar with any of the machines he had. They all looked like metal working tools of some sort... but no TS, Jointer, planer, essential woodworking tools.... I dunno, its very odd situation to me.

And yes, truly small world. Did you once live in Lawrence as well??
-Rock Chalk

[Todd Young]

Hey Will, thanks for the post.

I too am not up on sharpening and got a couple of combo waterstones for X-Mas. I just bought my first set of Narex chisels from Highland and needed to get a handle on this sharpening thing that I have avoided forever.

I just bought an MKII and am awaiting it's arrival. Had heard a lot about it and how good it is and your post just added to it's endorsement. I've seen personal endorsements for the Worksharp and Tormek, but they were more than my wallet could handle at the time. Plus I feel the need for me to use some elbow grease at times.

Couple of questions though. I've been reviewing some techinques and I see where it's mentioned to use coarser sandpaper (300 + grit or so) on glass or granite backing in the beginning stages of sharpening. Cliff mentioned granite in an earlier response. From what I can see, you spray some adhesive to the back of the SP and that can be the first step in flattening the back of the chisel before you move to the stones and finer grits.

This may sound kind of stupid. Is it regluar glass that's used or a tempered glass or does it matter? How easy is it to remove the adhered sandpaper when you're in need of a change?

T

[Dave Lehnert]

Hey Will, thanks for the post.

I too am not up on sharpening and got a couple of combo waterstones for X-Mas. I just bought my first set of Narex chisels from Highland and needed to get a handle on this sharpening thing that I have avoided forever.

I just bought an MKII and am awaiting it's arrival. Had heard a lot about it and how good it is and your post just added to it's endorsement. I've seen personal endorsements for the Worksharp and Tormek, but they were more than my wallet could handle at the time. Plus I feel the need for me to use some elbow grease at times.

Couple of questions though. I've been reviewing some techinques and I see where it's mentioned to use coarser sandpaper (300 + grit or so) on glass or granite backing in the beginning stages of sharpening. Cliff mentioned granite in an earlier response. From what I can see, you spray some adhesive to the back of the SP and that can be the first step in flattening the back of the chisel before you move to the stones and finer grits.

This may sound kind of stupid. Is it regluar glass that's used or a tempered glass or does it matter? How easy is it to remove the adhered sandpaper when you're in need of a change?

T

Any glass you may have will work. I have also used a 12x12 marble tile from Lowe's. Can get them cheap on the clearance rack at times.
I do not use any glue. A mist of water on the wet dry paper will make it stick.

[Phillip Bogle]

Interesting post - why do you suppose that the guy down the street who has been at it for 30+ years can sharpen a planer / jointer blade with "terrific result" but he can't sharpen a chisel? I would think that a chisel would be child's play for him.I sharpen professionally. It is easy to miss or by pass the back of the chisel thus forgetting to completely remove the burr. The other issue is the joiner may get sharpened to a lesser refined edge. You want the joiner to stand up to more work, hence the bevel is less acute, and not as refined (through the 8000 grit level). The chisels need a more refined edge. Turning chisels are less refined, and wood carving chisels are very insanely refined.

I am of the opinion that you shouldn't sharpen what you do not know how to use. Is it possible the other sharpener used a joiner and not chisels? You will do a better job when you know how it is supposed to work.

Just my opinions. Warning! I started just with one machine, now I have one of almost everything made! Sharpening can be addicting, especially to those of us that are retired with time on our hands.:D
Phil B.