Trend Honing Guides...

[Harold Burrell]

I anyone familiar with the Trend Honing Guide system??? I am mostly wondering if the thing is "well built".

http://www.mcfeelys.com/product/TR-2526/Trend-Sharpening-Diamond-Honing-Guide-Set

[phil harold]

I have a honing jig of same design with out the gauge plate
I just measure from the end of jig to blade
One of mine cost 5 bucks at menards, does a good job on plane and chisel blades

[glenn bradley]

I have the Lee Valley MK-II (http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078,51868)which is a little more refined but, uses the same basic concept. It has served me well and I am glad I have it. It cost less when I bought it, seems they've gotten pretty proud of it lately. The version you show should do well.

[Kevin Bourque]

I've got the Veritas MkII. I use the Scary-Sharp method for sharpening my chisels and plane irons and it works very well for that.

[Gary Pennington]

I also have the Veritas MKll system which I really like except it clamps top to bottom rather than side to side like the Trend. I have trouble keeping narrower and tapered chisels square with the Veritas no matter how hard I crank down the thumbscrews. I like this design I think I'll give one of these a try. Thanks for the link.

Gary

[Harold Burrell]

I also have the Veritas MKll system which I really like except it clamps top to bottom rather than side to side like the Trend. I have trouble keeping narrower and tapered chisels square with the Veritas no matter how hard I crank down the thumbscrews. I like this design I think I'll give one of these a try. Thanks for the link.

Gary

I have the older Veritas model and my only complaint is the top to bottom clamping. It make it a little difficult to make sure it is square. That's why I was looking into a good side clamping model.

[glenn bradley]

The side clamping would be an improvement. The 2" width limit leaves a few of my plane irons out although it would certainly handle any chisel I have ;-).

[Gary Pennington]

I was at Lie-Nielsen today for a Chris Becksvoort workshop. Deneb said they have a side clamping jig in the works that should be on the market within two months. I think I'll wait for the LN.

Gary

[John Coloccia]

Nothing against LN and nothing against Trend. I know they both make great products and they're great companies, but why keep reinventing the wheel? The Eclipse style honing jig has been out there forever, costs $15 and is highly effective. It's the only one I recommend to people buying their first sharpening setups. For $15, you can't go wrong and for most people it's all the jig they'll ever need, plus the small center wheel makes it trivial to camber plane blades. It's just very well thought it.

http://www.woodcraft.com/product/2003114/576/honing-guide.aspx

Setting up a stop block with a piece of plywood is practically free and again, highly effective. If you want a microbevel, keep a little 1/16" or 1/8" shim around to put between the blade and the stop block. This is just far too simple of a task to spend $50. For that kind of money, you can buy a Veritas MKII, which is superior in the sense that it can clamp blades that don't have parallel sides.

edit: one thing I wanted to mention
One of the things I'm finding most useful about studying acoustic guitar building with my mentor is he's teaching me what to stress over and what not to stress over. There are a handful of things that just have to be absolutely as perfect as you can get them, and the rest is just not all that critical...you can eyeball it and it just doesn't really matter. If not, it will take a year to make each guitar and you'll starve. It's quite liberating and relaxing, actually. This sharpening jig business is definitely one of those "don't stress about it" areas.