Straightening irons and chisels

[Russell Sansom]

As mentioned, mark a square line on the back with a sharpie. If you're very careful, you can draw it a uniform width and very close to the edge. This is the only way I know of to gain the feedback you need about squareness during grinding and sharpening. I'm an experienced and confident sharpener and I still do it.
A file should not work unless your tools have been softened. The file would be destroyed in short order. If the steel file were hard enough to sharpen hardened steel it would be too brittle. This is why people use diamond plates, ceramic wheels, and ceramic stones instead of hardened steel.

If you're strapped for dough, you might give serious consideration to a hand grinder. You can glance at the Krenov books ( can't remember which one ) where he demonstrates the hand-grinder approach in depth. Honing a hollow-ground blade by hand can be a lot quicker and easier than honing a flat bevel with a guide.

[Bob Deroeck]

I have the original Veritas honing guide and gave up using it because the blades skews within the guide as you use it. The attachment method of the tool to the guide is just not adequate for holding the tool 90 degrees to the guide body. I considered buying an MKII and posted a query to SMC members on whether the new model solved the problem. The response was essentially "not really".

I solved the problem by buying a Lee Valley $10 side-clamping guide (Eclipse clone) for sharpening plane blades and wider chisels and a Richard Kell side clamping guide for narrow chisels. The Kell guide is expensive (about $60), but is high quality and keeps even 1/8" chisels spot on 90 degrees to the guide. End of problem.

Bob

[mike holden]

I have one chisel that does this, because the top and bottom surfaces are not quite parallel. So, one side gets more pressure and grinds away faster, causing a skew. All my other chisels work fine.
Mike

[Bruce Haugen]

I use my MKII with plane blades, not chisels. Chisels have a large enough bevel that they register just fine on the stone without any jig. Actually, I've never used a jig with a chisel, even my little bitty 1/8" ones.