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New (Simple) Veritas Honing Guide

A

Andy Kev.

Nordic Pine
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A bit of idle internet trawling has just turned up this:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/to ... em=05M0940

Essentially it seems that Veritas has taken the idea of the old Eclipse guide and enhanced it in every sensible way that they can think of. The price looks reasonable and given Veritas's track record, the quality will probably not generate complaints. I've got a feeling that this could prove popular.
 
Can’t see nowt wrong with that and as you say, it should prove popular, but at nearly $50 folk may not be inclined to give it a punt - Rob
 
I have an eclipse so won’t be needing another one. I seem to remember Veritas doing something similar but with a cambered roller for honing a slight camber on a smoothing plane iron.
 
Interesting that they feel the need to produce an old style honing guide but I like my Veritas Mk11 honing guide too much to change plus as I get older I find having something more substantial to grip when sharpening small blades a bonus.
 
I have the MKII with the plain roller, bought in wealthier days. It's very good, but I only ever use it on BU blades, because then an accurate bevel matters, whereas for chisels and Bailey planes, it's not critical.
My honing jig is beautifully made, and that one looks to be just the same. But £50 (as it will be by the time it gets over here, I suspect)? Really?
As I get older I am beginning to think that some things can be too good. But I suppose there will always be a market of people who want the best and don't care about the price. It's possible that I was once one of them.
S
 
That's all fair comment but if you compare it to its nearest competitor (in terms of quality) which is the Lie-Neilsen guide, it's a lot more economical and of course it is simpler than buying into the Veritas Mk II system. I reckon it's well placed to be a good seller.
 
I've got the Veritas 'Simple' Guide referred to in the OP. It is disappointingly poor at clamping cutting irons but excellent for chisels. It just doesn't clamp cutting irons easily, I've spent far too long trying different techniques. This means for regrinding the primary bevel I use my Eclipse for plane blades and the Veritas for chisels - and freehand for the secondary.

You can't get the Veritas in the UK, I bought mine from Lee Valley.
 
There's nothing like the views of somebody who has actually had hands on.

Because it's from Veritas, I'm genuinely surprised that it doesn't function 100% from the word go. I think that when Classic Hand Tools gets them in, I will order one just to check it out.
 
As threatened, I got one and tried it out last night. I took a 1/2“ Ashley Isles Mk 2 chisel, reground it and put a secondary bevel on it using a couple of diamond stones. It worked a treat. I then tried a few other chisels for fit. The narrowest Isles chisel which it held perfectly was 3/8“. There was however, no difficulty whatsoever with the Veritas 3/16” chisel. So it looks like Veritas used their own chisels during development of the guide.

I also had no problems with a Veritas low angle plane blade. I’ll dig out a Record blade over the weekend and see how it goes.

The build quality is what you’d expect from Veritas and in use the thing that struck me most is how smoothly it works. A nice touch is the supplied projection setting guide to get the angles right. This can be glued on to a bit of wood or Perspex or similar.

On the whole, it seems to be an excellent bit of kit and it would probably cover all normal honing needs.
 
Both Axminster and Classic hand Tools are selling it for around £35

https://www.axminstertools.com/veritas- ... ide-108353
https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... M0940.html

I have the MKII honing guide and think it's great. The only thing I dislike about it is the projection depth adjustment stop thing. It attaches via a very poorly machined dovetail (coated in thick paint) that doesn't then match the other side. So unless you clamp down hard (on soft brass knobs), it can easily become loose.

It's interesting to see they have gone back to basics with the Side-Clamping Honing Guide in terms of setting the projection.
 
Oops, - my finger slipped on the buy button!

I’m a mark II owner as well and find it a bit of a faff to set angle and projection on occasions. This sometimes makes me delay sharpening longer then I should.

This is the type of jig I started out with so is something of a return to my roots. With a simple projection jig I can see the setup time greatly reduced so more likely to use.
 
I'm not knocking sharpening jigs at all, indeed I have its big brother (before they did a cambered roller, so is that the Mk1?), but...

Am I the only one who sharpens chisels and planes freehand? My dad taught me when I were a lad, and I've done so ever since.

The only time I use a jig for sharpening is for my Bevel Up planes. There, the angle matters, and the blades are a bit short for holding, too.
 
No, you're not. The only time I use them is to regrind a full primary bevel, so essentially repair/restoration work. The sort of stuff I'd use a bench grinder for if I had one.
 
Steve Maskery":26ofk4un said:
I'm not knocking sharpening jigs at all, indeed I have its big brother (before they did a cambered roller, so is that the Mk1?), but...

Am I the only one who sharpens chisels and planes freehand? My dad taught me when I were a lad, and I've done so ever since.

The only time I use a jig for sharpening is for my Bevel Up planes. There, the angle matters, and the blades are a bit short for holding, too.
Click to expand...
As a D&T teacher, Steve, I had of necessity to sharpen free hand (until I gave the irksome task to my technician :D ) and if pushed, I could hone and reset a 'shop full of No.4 or 5 blades (that's 20) in around half an hour and then leg it up to the hall for the head's daily 'prayer meeting' or Assembly. The blades weren't supersonic sharp but good enough for a few days work with the little oiks in class - Rob
 
In the main I hollow grind and freehand hone - or rather did, in The W'shop Years.
 
Steve Maskery":1mz7gyct said:
I'm not knocking sharpening jigs at all, indeed I have its big brother (before they did a cambered roller, so is that the Mk1?), but...

Am I the only one who sharpens chisels and planes freehand? My dad taught me when I were a lad, and I've done so ever since.

The only time I use a jig for sharpening is for my Bevel Up planes. There, the angle matters, and the blades are a bit short for holding, too.
Click to expand...
I routinely rehone by hand. However, when it’s time for a regrind followed by setting the secondary bevel, then I see it as an opportunity to reset to guaranteed true settings and that’s when guide comes out. Certainly in the case of very narrow chisels, I don’t have the skill to guarantee accurate results by hand, either when grinding or honing.
 
Steve Maskery":325afeuw said:
The only time I use a jig for sharpening is for my Bevel Up planes. There, the angle matters, and the blades are a bit short for holding, too.
Click to expand...

In part that’s why I went from free hand sharpening to the Veritas MK II Jig, I mainly use Veritas planes which I really like as the side grub screws mean the blade goes back in exactly the same place after removing for sharpening . The only deviation would be in the sharpening itself so the jig eliminates this, the time lost setting the blade in the jig is more than made up for by not having to faff around resetting the blade in the plane.
Also as I’ve got older I struggle to hold small blades as I was once able to, I presume the discomfort I get in my finger joints is the onset of arthritis, using the jig makes sharpening a more pleasant experience for me.
 
Personally, I think honing guides are an absolute must for anyone starting out. I think before you even begin to freehand sharpen you have to know the goal you are trying to achieve. i.e you need to first know what a sharp tool looks and feels like. Once you have something you can compare against. I think only then should you attempt to replicate it freehand.

If you have someone to teach you, and to show you what you need to achieve, then perhaps they're not as necessary. But if you're a hobbiest at home learning by yourself. They're a must.

I've seen countless woodturners getting very frustrated and almost quiting the hobby all because they were told they should start out free hand sharpening (at the same time as trying to learn to turn). Which resulted in a terrible grind and therefore a difficult tool to use, and frustrating results. Where as all they really needed to do was to start out with a jig, learn what the grind should look like and how it should cut. Actually learn to turn. And only then perhaps try to replicate the grind freehand ... if they really must.

I think that a lot of people set themselves up for failure purely because they feel that jigs are cheating. And unfortunately this advice is often repeated even by those who are experienced.

Using a jig is no more cheating than using stabilisers when learning to ride a bike. It's a stepping stone.

Just my opinion of course.
 
You make some very good points, especially in reference to turning.
If I ever produce a YT video entitled The Ultimate Guide To Turning, you can be sure it is an April Fool job.
 
Ayreon":3kq6tmh2 said:
I've seen countless woodturners getting very frustrated and almost quiting the hobby all because they were told they should start out free hand sharpening (at the same time as trying to learn to turn). Which resulted in a terrible grind and therefore a difficult tool to use, and frustrating results. Where as all they really needed to do was to start out with a jig, learn what the grind should look like and how it should cut. Actually learn to turn. And only then perhaps try to replicate the grind freehand ... if they really must.
Click to expand...

Yes agreed. Jigs give repeatability or should that be consistency? Anyway, although I could do it by hand, using a jig is quick and easy and ensures I remove the minimum amount of material to get a good edge.
 
I couldn’t agree more with the first paragraph of Ayreon’s most recent post above. That was certainly my view when I was a complete beginner.
 
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