So, I got sucked into the Lee Valley free shipping shindig going on, and my package already made it to my door today. Eagerly, I ripped open the box to check out my new chisels and the Veritas MKII honing guide that I plan to use to sharpen them. The chisels look great, and are lighter than I had expected. But I suspect I'll enjoy them quite a bit. The Veritas MKII, however, was what I was really after. I've tried sharpening some blades before, and it's always been difficult to really get a good edge on them. I knew this would really help me become consistent in my sharpening efforts. Since this is my very first experience with it, I thought I'd share. I apologize for the long post. Hopefully it's helpful.
Firstly, let me express that I'm a complete and total noob to true woodworking. I had woodshop in high school and absolutely loved it. But that was 15 years ago, and much of what I had done was forgotten, aside from vague happy memories and a couple of surviving projects. (I still use my large round cutting board made of maple and black walnut for pizzas!) But I don't have much experience building projects at home, away from a fully-equipped shop environment. I don't have a planer, jointer, bandsaw, tablesaw, drill press, etc. All I have are a few handheld power tools and some basic hand tools. The set of Narex Classic Bevel-Edge and mortise chisels I ordered are my first-ever woodworking chisels. And I just acquired a few old hand planes that need sharpening (or even a blade, for that matter). I've never used these tools, let alone sharpened them. So, having something like the MKII could be critical for my success.
Before beginning any work on my Narex chisels, I figured I would try this MKII out on my only other chisel; one with which I didn't mind experimenting. It's a 3/4" bevel-edge chisel from Ace Hardware that could very-well be 40 years old. And not only was it old, it was dull as a butter knife. I had some work cut out for me...
The Veritas MKII came with excellent instructions. And once I figured out how to use it, the honing guide was very easy to use. Here are the steps:
- Attach the "registration gauge" to the guide and choose an angle setting with the stop.
- Slip your chisel or blade into the guide with the side (if the sides are parallel) against the fence on the registration gauge, and the tip against the stop on the gauge.
- Clamp in the chisel or blade with the tightening screws.
- Remove the registration gauge.
- Have at it!
It really is quite simple. The gauge, stop, and markings really make it easy to set this tool up consistently. My only issue is that the chisel can slip a bit if you're putting sideways pressure on it during sharpening. The clamp bar isn't textured, so there's not a ton of friction holding the blade in place, even when the screws are really tight. Just don't put excess sideways pressure against the tool and it'll be fine.
I started with a marble plate and sandpaper with spray adhesive holding it to the marble. First I worked on flattening the back of the chisel. I did a rough flattening using up to 220-grit paper on the entire back, but got lazy and only finished through 600-grit within about 3/4" of the edge. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. If it is, I'll go back and really polish up the back of the chisel. Then I worked on the bevel. It took a LOOOOOOOOONG time, even with 100-grit sandpaper, to get the bevel set. This blade had a convex bevel and needed some help. But once that bevel was good to go, the rest of the progression moved quickly. I went through 100, 220, 400, 600, and 1000-grit paper. Then I moved on to lapping film. (I got this for my straight razors.) The progression was 12, 5, and 3 micron films. I have a 1-micron film, but was too lazy to grab it.
In the end, the chisel came out REALLY sharp! It's not quite to a point where I could shave with it, but I think it's definitely ready for some chopping. I still need a little more practice sharpening, and it's possible that I need to do more work to really make this chisel razor-sharp. The first thing to try is probably putting a micro-bevel on it.
Overall, I really like the Veritas MKII. It's going to help a LOT as I start into using hand tools that require sharpening. I feel it'll pay for itself in no time at all. I'd highly-recommend it to anyone new to sharpening, or someone looking to get consistent results. It's an excellent tool, and I'm looking forward to getting my Narex chisels in tip-top shape using it.
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On a side note, I also discovered that I'm not a fan of my Naniwa 1K Superstone. I don't know why, but I just couldn't hit the whole bevel with that stone. It would polish up most of the bevel face, but it kept missing the edge. I didn't have that problem on the lapping film and marble. I've had some serious difficulty sharpening my straight razors on the Naniwa, too. I'm starting to question if the stone is the problem, rather than my technique. Either it's not a high-quality stone, or how I use it isn't a good technique on that stone. Perhaps it might be time to move on to harder natural stones.
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Lastly, I figured I would share some pictures of this old chisel that I worked on tonight. Here it is! The Ace Hardware 3/4" bevel-edge bench chisel. It was my grandfather's. When I got it, this thing had paint and grime all over it. I used a wire brush on my dremel and cleaned it up a bit. Now I think it looks pretty good! Notice in the second photo, you can actually see some letters reflecting on the bevel from my phone as I took the photo. The last photo shows the back of the chisel. It looks more scratched than it is because of the lighting. But you can tell where I concentrated my efforts along the edge.