Another MKII overview

[John Miliunas]

I think that maybe Dave Richards may be looking for THIS thread!

OK, some of you may know that I've been hanging out a bit on the "Dark Side". Yes, it's true. It's also true that I'm having a blast! Now, that side of the WW equation requires not only tail-less tools, but many of them have to stay quite sharp in order to use them properly. To the best of my knowledge, carbide tipped hand tools are not to be found, which in turn means, one must incorporate the sharpening of cutting tool edges on a regular basis. Sending everything out for sharpening just don't cut it. After some serious soul-searching, I decided that I would make a corded tool part of my hand tool effort. That tool would be the Veritas MK II Sharpening system.

Some of this may be a "rerun" of a couple other threads and for that I apologize. So, what do I think of the MK II? In a word: Fantastic! Awesome! Wonderful! Fast! Easy! Efficient! Brilliant! Ahhh...OK. so that was more than one word! (Did I mention fantastic?!)

Setup was quick and painless. Adjust the motor tension on the belt driving the platter, install the platter, the guide rail and stick the various grits of paper on two individual discs, which then attach to the platter. The instructions are pretty clear and loaded with information germaine to sharpening.

The first thing I tried was an el'cheapo Marples (Borg "edition", no less.) 1" chisel. It's supposed to be ground to 25*, but was off. I used the 80 grit to get it back down to the 25*, and although I went clear up the entire ground area, one doesn't need to. Flattened the back on it first. Here again, I found one more reason those chisels were cheap. A very concave spot on the back, running clear up the middle. Once flattened, I continued with the primary bevel. Once done with that, swapped out the discs (went to a 3mm thickness disc, down from the 1st 4mm). The differences in grit and disc thickness are what automatically give you a micro bevel edge. Took it off the rest, knocked the wire off the edge and was cutting hair off my forearm! Worked slick! The whole process for my very first was all of about 7 minutes or so. For that system, long, but I was going at it slowly. Once satisfied with that one, I moved down to the 3/4" chisel. This one's bevel was darn-near dead on, so I skipped the 80 grit. Without having to establish a totally different bevel, plus already having got a bit of the feel for it, this puppy took all of about two minutes! Went from the original and serious factory grind marks to mirror edge! (and more forearm hairs!)

Know something? Sharp tools are really neat! Heck, even with the 25* bevel, I was easily paring off the end-grain on a piece of Hard Maple. So, in the final analysis, if one has this system, no excuse remains for using dull tools! It's great!

The pics in the order shown:
1) The chisel prior to flattening and sharpening.
2) Flattened back.
3) Sharpened business end of said chisel.
4) The MK II itself.
5) The locking de-tented shaft for the tool rest. Once the blade is "indexed" for proper approach, the bevel is set by going to the appropriate setting on the riser. Works great!

Thanks for taking a peek, all!