Your thoughts on Kell Honing Guides

[Ron Kanter]

The discussion in another board about Lie Nielsen's new honing guide not working well with chisels that have tapered lands made me wonder if the Kell guides were a better choice for me. I have lots of older tools - Witherby, Stanley, etc. a great set of Barr bench chisels, and a couple of Ray Iles mortise chisels. I'm wondering if the Kell guides would be the most accepting of my varied lot.
Another question/concern stems from the Kell's two-wheel setup. Do you find it this a problem when sharpening plane blades because the wheels (rollers) would have to ride on a surface next to the stone rather than the stone itself.
Any thoughts or insights you can offer would be much appreciates.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

Never used one so I can't speak from experience but it doesn't look like it would be easy to camber a plane iron with it. I honestly find my old $15 eclipse guide perfectly suitable for everything I do. I had to do a little filing to get the chisel slots to fit well but that was easy. After that little bit of tuning it works wonderfully.

I haven't tried this honing guide either but it looks like it could be nice:

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/852...llIaAiQu8P8HAQ

Then of course there is the Veritas honing guide that I would bet works pretty well. That and the one above are both about the same price as the one Kell honing guide, and are both more versatile from what I can tell.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The one I have the wheels ride on the stone and I believe that is the design for all of them. The overall Best Buy is the Veritas, but Kell is high quality and serves the purpose well. Two different means to the same end.

[Jim Koepke]

I have lots of older tools - Witherby, Stanley, etc. a great set of Barr bench chisels, and a couple of Ray Iles mortise chisels. I'm wondering if the Kell guides would be the most accepting of my varied lot.

My chisel and blade accumulation is also rather eclectic. One system that seems to always work no mater which blade is being sharpened is freehand sharpening.

My gouges and such are also worked freehand on my Veritas Mk.II Power sharpening system when more metal removal is needed than is practical on a bench stone.

jtk

[Matthew Springer]

I have the original Kell but I honestly don't really use it except on my (recent) crown mortise chisels. It works fine.

I use the Veritas mk2 jig for plane blades and my eclipse for bench chisels. I found that my two cherries bench chisels are just enough out of parallel it didn't clamp quite as well as the eclipse which only clamps better because of the slop of the sides. I've started using the eclipse for plane blades more too.

[Bill White]

Eclipse style in my shop. Works well for me and very inexpensive.
Bill

[Niels Cosman]

I bought one about 12 years ago and used it for a couple of years before switching to an eclipse clone (and then switching to LV, and then to LN...).
I only use it now for my pig sticker mortising chisels. I think it is the best for these chisels and can work the bevel and the back of the blade without removing the guide. I wouldn't buy it just to work one type of chisel but it does excellent with those and it does look pretty!

[Paul Saffold]

I have the small one and only use it on my narrow triangular shaped Japanese chisels that are difficult for me to freehand and can't be held in either the eclipse or veritas. It works well.

[Derek Cohen]

The discussion in another board about Lie Nielsen's new honing guide not working well with chisels that have tapered lands made me wonder if the Kell guides were a better choice for me. I have lots of older tools - Witherby, Stanley, etc. a great set of Barr bench chisels, and a couple of Ray Iles mortise chisels. I'm wondering if the Kell guides would be the most accepting of my varied lot.
Another question/concern stems from the Kell's two-wheel setup. Do you find it this a problem when sharpening plane blades because the wheels (rollers) would have to ride on a surface next to the stone rather than the stone itself.
Any thoughts or insights you can offer would be much appreciates.

I have the Kell #1, which is the smallest guide. I bought it to use with morticing chisels (before I decided to freehand them - the one time I use Paul Seller's technique). I even upgraded the small wheels to the latest large wheels. Frankly, I would not recommend this guide to anyone. It is beautifully made, but awkward to hold. Also, I am never sure if the blade is registered fully on the cross piece of the guide, which would lead to errors in honing.

For BU plane blades I prefer the LN guide. It is side clamping, and registers against the back of the blade. Very solid. With a 50 degree marker, it is quick to set up.

For chisels, I think the new Veritas Mk2 small blade accessory is the best guide available. Like the LN, it is both side clamping and registers the back of the blade. Very easy to set up (use shop made markers, as one would the LN), and will take a wider range of chisels than the LN.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Georg Zudoff]

I have a big one. Besides some questions with holding I have a problem with wheels. They don't move free as original Eclipse's does. And sometimes Kell wheels sleep over the stone but not turn.

[Wes Harper]

I have the small one w/ small wheels. I have used Eclipse style & Veritas old/new.

Pros: Well made; works consistently; excellent for honing squarely

Cons: small footprint compared to other jigs; wheels need to ride on stones surface which can be a problem w/ larger jig & narrower stones.

I like it. I would only intend to use it for chisels (bench/beveled edge/mortise) & plow plane blades such as for Record 044/043.

The smaller footprint does take getting used to compared to the other popular jigs. I didn't have much of a problem--keeping finger tip pressure close to the cutting edge and used a pulling motion.

I did have a problem with a set of green plastic handled Woodcraft chisels as the sides were ground out of square to the back. I had others I could use instead so it wasn't a priority to deal with at the time.