Silly sharperning question...

[bob blakeborough]

When I am sharpening my new chisels and plane blades, I notice that frequently it seems that the bevel is not perfectly straight across and that it seems to smooth slightly higher up one edge than the other. It isn't like the cutting edge seems skewed at all... Just the top edge of the bevel. At first I thought this was just from being slightly askew in the honing guide (Veritas MKII) but now I think that may possibly not be the case, but I am not sure because it doesn't always seem to change when I play with it...

Is this normal and nothing to really worry about? When I sharpen a micro bevel it seems to work fine and whatever I am sharpening is very sharp (can shave hair no problem), but will it cause any difficulty working wood? Is there something I can do to help eliminate this if need be?

[David Weaver]

There's a chance that it was square and you're taking it slightly out of square, and there's a chance it wasn't square and you're squaring it up.

Regardless, it's not an issue in any plane that I've ever used unless you do something really bad to it - even planes that are relatively tight between the cheeks and the iron will have enough room to adjust that out.

Don't worry about it unless it becomes a problem in use. Sharp is what counts.

[Prashun Patel]

If the bevel is not straight across then eventually the cutting edge will skew. Since it's on all yr chisels, I'm guessing your jig is slightly skew.

The proof's in the cutting; if it works fine for you, then I wouldn't fix it. The bigger issues are a keen edge and a flat back.

[Michael Peet]

I've noticed on my MKII that primary bevels and micro bevels are not parallel across the blade width. I don't *think* it's ever caused me any issues though.

Mike