Problems With My Lee Valley MKII. ETA On New Honing Guide From Lie Nielsen?

[Stew Hagerty]

Deneb showed me the prototype honing guide 2 years ago and I signed up for one. I've asked about it 3 times - he answered two of them with "waiting on a machine" and I never got a reply for the 3rd one.

Ah... So it's going to be one of those kind of "we'll be coming out with a new design real soon" tools. I hate that kind of tool! It's really pretty simple. You just design it so you can make it with what you've got. Then you make it.

[Mark Dorman]

In my experience with guides is my using too much pressure or working harder than the guide was intended to work.

jtk

+1 That is exactly what I learned about guides (as in MKII). Once you realize that, you are gaining understanding about use this for that and free hand for this etc.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I bought the small and the large one some time ago when I was using the Scary Sharp method with sandpaper, etc. Now that I have switched to waterstones, a 2" plane blade places the outrigger wheels partly off the edges of a 3" stone. For now I am using a modified Eclipse type for plane blades and use the small Kell for chisels.

I like the Kells so much that I may make some sort of jig for my stones that will allow the wheels to ride alongside the stone.

I did not consider the width, but I have the Veritas MKII for irons. I use a Pinnacle contraption for chisels now. It's just a bit complicated, but works well. The Kell would be much simpler and I would use it just for chisels. Looks like it would work well with mortice chisels as well as bevel edged. I like the PDF that gives the distances to set for various angles. http://www.garrettwade.com/images/art/62J0212.pdf

[Kees Heiden]

Being fed up with the jig is THE perfect opportunity to start learning freehand sharpening. It's not very difficult, just needs some dedicated practice. It is a very usefull skill you will need anyway as soon as you want to sharpen other tools like gouges, drawknifes, router plane blades etc etc.

Here is a very good article to learn you this basic skill: http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/

[Prashun Patel]

I am an mkii user and i experienced your initial frustration.

You have to tighten the knobs fairly evenly. Tighten them alternately a half twist at a time. Dont be tempted to over tighten. Instead just dont push as hard when you flip it over and sharpen. Use a coarser grit rather than higher pressure.

with narrow blades, the nuts have way more leverage than on wider blades, so the risk of racking is increased. Once i started thinking of that guide as a vise, i understood it better.

freehand sharpening is my holy grail, but your issues with the mkii are surmountable.

[Rob Lee]

Hi,

Just a quick note to say we'll have a MkII body (side clamping) out for chisels in the new year. Tooling is in process right now.

Cheers,

Rob

[Roy Lindberry]

I used to use the Veritas Sharpening System, but had the same issues. So I decided to freehand, and I've never looked back.

[Mike Henderson]

Hi,

Just a quick note to say we'll have a MkII body (side clamping) out for chisels in the new year. Tooling is in process right now.

Cheers,

Rob

I'll be looking for that. Using the existing guide with narrow chisels has been a frustration for me for a long time.

Mike

[Rob Luter]

I just added a thin later of adhesive backed cork to the clamp side. It improved matters a great deal. Narrow chisels still require your undivided attention to keep them straight, but it's not too bad if you're careful.

[Stew Hagerty]

Hi,

Just a quick note to say we'll have a MkII body (side clamping) out for chisels in the new year. Tooling is in process right now.

Cheers,

Rob

We'll alright!!! Save me one Rob. Oh, and I could use a new upper clamping bar. Mine has developed a bit of curvature.

[Stew Hagerty]

Being fed up with the jig is THE perfect opportunity to start learning freehand sharpening. It's not very difficult, just needs some dedicated practice. It is a very usefull skill you will need anyway as soon as you want to sharpen other tools like gouges, drawknifes, router plane blades etc etc.

Here is a very good article to learn you this basic skill: http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/

Freehand sharpening does sound good, but I am physically unable to do it.

I have something called Transverse Myelitis and , in addition to being in a wheelchair, my right arm and hand are much weaker than my left side (even though I'm right handed), and I don't have the fine motor control in it that I once did. Oh, and it tends to shake sometimes.

I'm also not much good at carving.

But I have learned that there are a lot of things that I CAN do. And that is what I concentrate on. Woodworking keeps me from going stark raving nuts. Now I just need some sharp blades.

[paul cottingham]

Freehand sharpening does sound good, but I am physically unable to do it.

I have something called Transverse Myelitis and , in addition to being in a wheelchair, my right arm and hand are much weaker than my left side (even though I'm right handed), and I don't have the fine motor control in it that I once did. Oh, and it tends to shake sometimes.

I'm also not much good at carving.

But I have learned that there are a lot of things that I CAN do. And that is what I concentrate on. Woodworking keeps me from going stark raving nuts. Now I just need some sharp blades.

I am in a similar situation. I use power to develope the primary bevel, and for the initial honing. I use an eclipse guide to polish the bevel on an 8000 or so. It works very well.

[Kees Heiden]

I didn't know that Stew! Then you have a very good reason to use a jig! I would advice to buy the cheap Eclipse style jig. They work a lot better then the LV anyway.

[Stew Hagerty]

I didn't know that Stew! Then you have a very good reason to use a jig! I would advice to buy the cheap Eclipse style jig. They work a lot better then the LV anyway.

I have both of them already. Their deficiencies is this thread is all about.

[Stew Hagerty]

I had sent an email to Richard Hummel (Woodpeckers) telling him that he was just the guy to "Invent a better mousetrap".

Here is his reply:

"Stew,
Thanks for taking the time to make this suggestion. I finished a new Honing Guide about 3 years ago, before OTT’s got started. The first iteration didn’t work as well as I would have liked but it looked real cool. It’s literally been sitting on my desk ever since. I guess I should get back at it.

Richard Hummel
Woodpeckers Inc"

In case you're not familiar, OTT is Woodpeckers One Time Tool program. They develop a special tool and offer it up for pre-orders. Then they make that many of them, and send them out 3 or 4 months later.