I bought the new LV honing guide. It is a very nicely made and engineered tool. I am able to get very square, accurate sharpening. Problem is my Marples blue handled chisels have a couple of issues that I was previously unaware of and need to compensate for when I use the guide.

The chisel lands/side bevels are uneven and/or the chisels tend to vary in width slightly, and some chisels will stop as I try to slide them forward to the depth setting. Then I have to loosen a bit more to slide it forward more.

One Sargent plane blade bowed when i snugged the guide using the hex key after it had slipped when just finger tight. This was revealed when I could take a shaving on the edges of the blade for a light shaving, but not in the middle. Inverse camber I guess 🙂. Sharpened again with less snugness and all is well. Blade is pretty thin, but I didn’t think I had tightened so much as to cause it to deflect.

My last issue is if I try to orient the honing guide for depth setting as shown in the manual - chisel back on layout board/guide upside down - one side of the guide tends to slightly fall down and chisel locks in lower on one side than the other. This can be solved by two methods perhaps. One way is by turning the guide over and having chisel back on top so the guide rests on the back of the chisel by gravity, but this requires a stop block to be used to push the chisel against since the end of the chisel is raised above the depth line, complicating the depth stop guide. I may be able to learn to hold the guide and chisel in the manner shown in the manual, but with great attention to making sure I keep the guide pressed on the back of the chisel. This is not a natural move at this point and feels awkward.

To date it is not faster than when I use the Mark II guide, but maybe with some more practice it will be.