New attachment for Veritas MKII honing guide

[Dave Shepard]

I just oredered a new attachment for my Veritas honing guide. It is a cambered roller that allows you to rock the guide as you are honing so you don't get a perfectly straight cutting edge. I like the MKII, but this was one complaint I had about it, I like to have some of my plane irons have a curved cutting edge so they don't leave ridges between cuts. Veritas also has a new setup guide for skew chisels.I ordered mine from Highland Woodworking. They may be available elsewhere, but I have not seen them. I use my jig with the 4"x10 DMT diamond "stones", and it is a pleasure to use. I'll report on it when it arrives.


Dave

[getoverit]

I'm quite happy with my Veritas MKII honing guide also. I dont have the cambered rocker for my hone, but it sounds like a neat idea. Sometimes flat chisels arent the best tool for a job and I could see where a curved one would be better. Honing a curved chisel would pose a problem without something like this tool.

One bit of advice.... dont try to catch a falling chisel after you have honed it using this device. I have a 1/2" flap of skin hanging on my knuckle right now. Was one of the cleanest cuts you could ever immagine too. 

[Dave Shepard]

  Every time I hear about someone getting cut it gives me a full body shiver. I hate sharp things, especially when they are in someone elses hands, and especially when that someone runs their finger down the length of the blade to see if it is sharp. Why don't you just stick yourself in the gizzard to see how sharp it is. :-\

I was actually going to get another MKII and turn the brass roller on a lathe, but this is much cheaper. One of the things Jack Sobon told us during the workshop was that cuts from a sharp tool heal quicker. ;) Although that is little consolation for hacking yourself to bits.

goi, what do you use for stones, I am guessing you have to do some delicate chiseling when making your guitars, and probably keep them really sharp. I am using the DMTs, which are great, but I need to get something finer, like an 8000 grit Japanese water stone for final polishing.


Dave

[Dodgy Loner]

Dave, I use the MKII honing guide with a diamond stone also.  I love it, but it does bother me that I can't hone a curved edge for my jack plane.  Let me know how that cambered roller works out.

As far as putting the final polish on your edges, I recommend a felt buffing wheel with polishing compound.  Lee Valley sells both of these.  I have a 4000 grit waterstone that gets my edges very sharp, but I find that the buffing wheel is much more convenient.  It's quicker, less messy, and you can take an edge straight from 220 grit and get a mirror polish, which means less time with your stones (I usually hone up to 600 or 1000 grit anyway, though).  Also, it doesn't need to be flattened like a waterstone.  It does take a deft touch to prevent rounding over the bevel, but I got the hang of it very quickly.  I use my buffing wheel to put the final polish on everything, from chisels and plane to axes and drawknifes...and I could shave with all of them ;D

[getoverit]

I use the Veritas diamond papers. This way I can use them until they are no longer abrasive and then discard the paper and get new ones. The new papers that fit the guide are inexpensive and I am assured of a true flat edge too. You can literally see yourself in the honed edges when I am done with them and they cut really nice too.

I have some really corse stones that I use on a new (or very old) chisel to get them headed the right direction and then I hone them using the guide and the papers.

[Max sawdust]

I have the Veritas guide but not the cambered roller. (It is on my long list of things I would like.)  Very pleased with the guide.  I find if I press harder on the edges I can get a slight camber on my plane irons.

Here is my sequence. 
Coarse diamond stone on damaged edges, then to PSA backed paper on a flat plate, where I work down from 40u, 15u, 5u, 1u and .5u

Used to use waterstones but find the micro abrasives faster and more accurate than waterstones.

Just got the new Lee Valley catalog, sure seems like prices went up quite a bit from last years catalog   I love the stuff but can not afford it >:(

max

[TexasTimbers]

I have the guide as well but have not used it much lately. I used to use it all the time. i started free handing my plane irons after I got pretty darn good at the chisels using the Scary Sharp system I have preached about before. I am a diehard convert to the SS system.

I am not nearly as good at the plane irons as I am the chisels yet but part of that reason is because I don't sharpen nearly as much as I used to because I have not had much time to do any WWing recently.

I know it sounds akin to acquiring the handcut dovetail skills but really you guys ought to try your hands at free hands at least for 5 to 10 minutes everytime you sharpen with your honing guides. Go ahead and sharpen your chisels and irons with your guide, and then take a "practice"chisel and press it down with your clumps of fingers fused together at the point of the chisel and draw it across your stone (check out the Scary Sharp system though and convert to it to get edges so sharp that it's scary!) and practice keepoing the flat of the chisel . . . flat. Mark it with a permanent magic marker before you start and make a few strokes and look at the ink that is gone. Keep maring it until you start to get the hang of it.

Once you can freehand a chisel pretty well, move on to the plane irons. It is difficult to master these I have not yet. There is just not much flat there.

I know I am coming across as a strict purist but I am not. I am just saying freehand is a doable and faster. Maybe most of us ought to reach for the honing guide when it comes to irons but chisels are really not hard to freehand.

[Max sawdust]

Kevjay,
I think your post comes across well and is very true ;)
I personally am a few "steps" behind...
I free hand my big timber framing chisels and slicks, but have not worked up to small bench chisels or plane irons yet, I use the guide for that.  Scary Sharp is awesome.  Once you go to sandpaper you will never go back ;D
max

[Dave Shepard]

I have been playing with my new camber roller, or trying to. :-\ I don't have any plane irons that are square, they are all off just a little, which is kind of messing things up. I put the straight roller on to try and square them up, but all I have is a fine/extra fine stone, and it is taking too long to shape them. I went to a coarse Norton, but it was way slower than the diamond stone. ??? I would say with the camber roller you could put a perfectly straight edge on, or take the corners off howver much you choose. I don't know if it would accomodate the severe radius of a scrub plane, as I don't have a scrub plane iron to try it on. I give it a thumbs up! Now I have to buy a coarse diamond, will I ever have enough toys. :


Dave

[Dodgy Loner]

Dave, do you have a bench grinder?  I use it to square up bevels or to reshape them to a different angle.  You just have to go slowly to prevent overheating - a white aluminum oxide wheel helps a lot.

I've tried sandpaper sharpening, and it wasn't for me.  I spent more time fooling with sandpaper than sharpening.  I find the diamond hone/buffing wheel combo to be the fastest way to put a razor edge on my tools.  The key is to find the method that works best for you.  Like they say, there's more ways to skin a cat than stickin' his head in a boot jack and jerkin' his tail ;)

[Dave Shepard]

I do have a big honkin bensh grinder, but if I was to guess, I'd say the grit was about 2. : I do have some sort of tool grinder that has a fine white stone on it about 12" in diameter. It has an electric motor that came with it, but needs to have it rigged up somehow. The casting around the wheel is designed to hold water, from what I can tell, that would be good. I guess I'll have to go tunnelling around for that. :D


Dave

[Max sawdust]

I have been playing with my new camber roller, or trying to. :-\ I don't have any plane irons that are square, they are all off just a little, which is kind of  I don't know if it would accommodate the severe radius of a scrub plane, as I don't have a scrub plane iron to try it on. I give it a thumbs up! Now I have to buy a coarse diamond, will I ever have enough toys. :

Thanks for the report Dave..
If you have a bench grinder DL's suggestion of squaring/shaping them on the grinder is fast.  (I use a black marker to make a squaring line on the iron, and grind to the line.  I use a 30" belt sander, because I do not have a grinder.)  Then take them to the diamond stone.  Speaking of Diamond stones, shop around, I found a name brand x-course/course for $59 at a web place called "wholesale hunter".  It was almost 1/2 the price of the same stone at woodworking stores. ;)

My scrubs radius is pretty steep, I do not think the camber roller will work with it, but you can send me your new camber roller and I will let you know if it works on my scrub plane :D :D   ;)

max

[Dave Shepard]

I've been using my MKII a lot the last few days. Trying to get everything in top form for a few woodworking and timber framing projects. I did buy a 2"x6" x-coarse DMT, too small for the wide plane irons. Will have to get the 4"x10" at some point. The camber does make a big difference. Repeatability with the jig seems to be spot on. I may try some PSA papers at some point, but I think they want you to have a surface plate. There's a granite surface plate at work, but it's too big to borrow. 4'x6'x18". I don't know how many tons it is, but I'm not picking it up. ;)

I give the MKII a double thumbs up!


Dave