A twist on the ruler trick?

[Randy Klein]

I was re-reading the instruction manual for the Veritas Honing Guide (yes, I admit I read manuals) and saw this picture.

That gave me an idea on how to flatten/polish the face of an iron. Since the ruler trick puts a very small back bevel, I figure I could replicate this back bevel angle using the guide and the appropriate offset.

My stone sits on 3/4" ply bench hook and it only took a 1/2" MDF board to provide the required offset.

I think I'm going to like this way better, since the ruler seems to always move around on me and other annoying things.

So has anyone else tried this and/or know that there is a flaw here?

[Ryan Cathey]

I don't have that jig but I can see more things that could go wrong by using a ruler.

[Eddie Darby]

The Ruler Trick puts a very small back bevel on the blade. I would say less than 1 degree. My ruler is 0.8 mm thick, so you'll need to make sure you are just above the edge of the stone if you want to replicate this trick.

[Randy Klein]

I agree with the need to get the right angle is important. But once done, I just store that offset with everything else and pull it out when needed.

With this method, you can use a stabbing motion as opposed to a side-to-side motion. This motion allows, I believe, more control. I notice that when I go side-to-side, I tend to move in a slight arc.

[David Marcus Brown]

I have the veritas mkII honing guide and have tried exactly what you mentioned doing. It works pretty well. I tried freehanding "the ruler trick" and ended up w/ a backbevel that didn't allow enough of a relief angle to cut a good shaving. So, I've gone back to the ruler trick -- even after using the mkII with a subbase to emulate the ruler trick.

I've had the mkII for about two years now and I use it almost as much my eclipse style honing guide. The mkII is great for when I need to guarantee that my blade is square w/ the guide but fixing a blade in the eclipse is so much faster that it usually gets grabbed first.

[Todd Holbrook]

Randy.

I also own the MKII and have thought about trying the same thing. One thing that bothered me though was that since the Jig does not ride on the same surface (the stone) so how do you ensure that they are parallel (the jig and the stone) ? Frequent flattening of stones may cause the top surface of the stone to be out of parallel with the bottom of the stone.

Have you experienced any problems with this?

[Randy Klein]

Randy.

I also own the MKII and have thought about trying the same thing. One thing that bothered me though was that since the Jig does not ride on the same surface (the stone) so how do you ensure that they are parallel (the jig and the stone) ? Frequent flattening of stones may cause the top surface of the stone to be out of parallel with the bottom of the stone.

Have you experienced any problems with this?

Actually, it was only an idea I threw out there, but never implemented.

However, you only hit the back bevel on your finest stone which doesn't require as much flattening as the others.