Official Luthiers Forum!

I need a guide for honing plane blades and chisels.
This is what I'm looking at
http://www.garrettwade.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?i temID=105910&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=0&iSubCat=0&iProductI D=105910
What do you guys/gals think ?

_________________
Say what you do, Do what you say.

Here's the link...

Looks like a nice one to me.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I don't think you can beat the Veritas MkII for ease of use and repeatability. I used to hate fussing with a honing guide, now I'm looking for excuses to sharpen more things.



link to Woodcraft

_________________
______________________________
Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I'll second the Veritas MKII. They also make a different roller set for around $20.00 that makes it a snap to put a slight curve on your plane blades - great for those little ibex violin planes...

-Mark

_________________
Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

Veritas MkII for me as well, very repeatable and I like the eccentric roller for adding the micro-bevel. Love mine.

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Let's make it unanimous for the Veritas MkII. Best by far, in my opinion.

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

the guides sold by garret wade are size specific, i.e., you can't use the smaller one for most plane blades. whilst they appear to be very well made, you would need both to do a wice range of chisels as well as plane irons.

i've not used the veritas but many like it as is evident by the comments above.

after using a veriety of honing guides over the years, i have been using the brian burns system for about the past nine or ten years and have been very pleased with the results. the shop built plywood guide described in his book is easy to build. however he or someone else, memory fails me, is selling as steel version if you do not want to build one.

Me too on the Veritas. Of course I am a Lee Valley junkie.

I found out something after a year of using the guide. I only really need it when I'm doing a full course of grits (220 to 2000 grits) to do the initial grinding and honing to establish the proper angle. That said, The Veritas II is the one to use.

Now when I touch them up (600-2000 grits) I do it freehand. It takes a bit of practice but I believe it is faster and just as accurate as using the guide for me. When using a chisel or plane for an extended period, I touch them with a leather strop charged with the green paste honing compound every 15 minutes for the chisel and about every 30 minutes for a plane iron. I also touch them up before putting them away...that way it's always sharp when you need it most. We must use sharp tools...the scarier, the better!

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Id like to echo the sentiments of glorious praise for the Veritas MkII but unfortunely I cant - mine was out 2.5 deg, I bought it at a pace that was closing down, so I couldnt take it back.
When I contacted Veritas about it they were very very UNhelpful. I hear they are great, when they work properly!
Cheers
charliewood

I like my Veritas MkII. The ability to microbevel is easier on this type of gadget than anything I have used.

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I have a ultra cheap eclipse type guide. I've had it for years, and it works very well for me. The small wheel makes it easy to hone any curved plane irons, slightly chamfer edges and so on. Like JJ I touch up by free hand. To add a micro bevel (which I don't always want) I lift the jig slightly off the stone and use a finger under it as a guide for a few passes. To hone spoke shave irons I use a longer iron in the guide and clamp the spoke shave iron to that. About the only thing it cannot do is gouges and skew chisels!

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I've also got the Veritas Mk2. Even a complete sharpening novice like me can get a decent edge using this guide.

_________________
If God had wanted us to drink beer, he would have given us stomaches.

me to for the veritas MKII + japanese waterstones.....can't be easier

Another vote for the Veritas Mark II. I'm here to vouch for the fool proof part.   

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

are you all using these honing guides on stones? or sandpaper?

thumb and index finger, been working for forty years and they're free.

                       Paul

Evan--

Both a water stone for lapping the backs of the chisels and setting the initial bevel and 3M abrasives in 15, 5 and 0.3 micron grits. The abrasives are on plate glass that is glued to mdf.

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC

Evan,

I use my Mk II on sandpaper on top of an inexpensive granite surface plate- a version of the "scary sharp" system. I don't usually glue my paper down, unless I'm really doing a major sharpening on multiple tools. I also do "quicky" freehand touchups by hand- no jig. I also use the leather wheel on a Tormac sharpener to hone the edges as the last step in sharpening.

_________________
Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

Gene...any reason why you use sandpaper instead of the Tormac for your sharpening? Seems like an expensive stropping wheel.

_________________
JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Sandpaper on 1/2" glass plate..

-Mark

_________________
Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook