Uneven bevel using Veritas Mk2 jig

[Stewie Simpson]

Thanks Patrick; appreciate your thoughts.

regards Stewie;

[Andrey Kharitonkin]

Is this a technique problem, or a tightening of the blade problem? Maybe the jig needs to be replaced?

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but...

There is a trick that is not mentioned in the manual and not very obvious. Any pressure on the roller of the jig will result in pressure on one side of the edge if it is not perfectly aligned. So, I stopped trying to align it perfectly and instead try not to have much weight or pressure on the roller. My thumbs hold the blade from below and lift it up a bit. Think like you try to sharpen freehand but with jig on :-)

Basically, it defeats the purpose of having wide roller... In my experience it actually takes less time than to try to align it square each time. Perhaps until I try to make that wooden jig with straight edge and blade stops for different angles. Should help better alignment.

I use it for two years and might be not very good at it myself.

[Mike Brady]

The jig discussed in this thread requires a series of procedures to be done correctly or failure will result. I used the MkII, with its top clamping design, from its introduction until it was recently replaced with a premium side-clamping honing guide. In my opinion, the top clamp is a design/manufaturing compromise and the main weakness of the MkII. It holds a wide plane blades well enough, but becomes less effective as narrower blades are inserted. It fails on most chisels due to their narrow width and tapered profile. In my opinion, the blade clamp is and made of an inadequate cast alloy material that flexes and is too smooth to grip hardened, machined steel. The problems with uneven bevels cited in this thread are related to the projection guide that attaches to the body of the guide. Use of this guide depends almost totally on the care taken by the user to center it properly for the width of the blade being sharpened and then getting the blade clamped against the projection stop and exactly parallel to the side rail. At this stage, the user is responsible for properly tensioning four different brass thumbscrews while securing the work piece itself in proper alignment. This is assuming that the appropriate projection scale was selected on the attachment. Lastly, yet another brass thumb screw (#5) needs to be rotated on the wide roller itself to assure that your will be honing either the main bevel or a micro-bevel. With all of these steps done correctly, you should be able to hone the desired edge. The side clamp attachment that eventually was introduced solved most of the blade movement problems that were common when honing chisels and narrower flat blades such as shoulder planes cutters. This clamp also somewhat simplified the use of the projection / angle attachment because the variable of blade squareness to the jig itself was solved automatically and just the projection needed to be adjusted. I won't comment on the skew attachment or the camber roller other than I had both and used them successfully.

The jig I have currently has one thumb screw and uses a blade projection board that cost me nothing to make from scraps and can set the desired angle in seconds......bingo.... ready to sharpen.

If you are going to utilize the Mk. II effectively, you simply have to be sure that each step in setting it for the particular blade desired has been done carefully and in sequence. Using it is a skill to be learned along with the broader skills of woodworking.

[Prashun Patel]

I too have come to find the MKII a little fidgety when compared to free-hand honing.

However, every now and then a guy just needs a reliable bevel at a perfect angle. I find an angle grinder quicker, but less precise than the MKII. Yes, it can be fidgety, but I've always been able to correct and make it work - no matter how narrow or wide the blade. In fact, I just bought the mortise chisel attachment for it, which was a problem for me before.

[Mike Cherry]

As the originator of this thread I'd like to thank everyone for their input. I will say, I long ago abandoned the MK II as I learned to freehand. Now I am jig free save for my eclipse style that I use for precise bevel up angles.

Its a great jig, and I'm not surprised the thread was resurrected because I know several folks who have had the issue. Part of it, for me, was my inexperience. Thanks to the community here, I have learned to sharpen in a manner that works for me and I would encourage anyone to learn freehand sharpening. You might have need to sharpen a gouge one day and when you do, the best jig might be the ones you were born with. Cheers!