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Thread: New Honing Guide Information

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469

    New Honing Guide Information

    I recently purchased both the new Veritas Small Blade Honing Guide (cheapish as I had an unused base section with the straight roller), and at the Perth Wood Show I had the opportunity to use the new LN Honing Guide at the Perth Wood Show, and purchased one as well.


    Why .. especially when I freehand hone most of my blades? Well, I use a honing guide when sharpening blades for bevel up planes since these receive a high micro secondary bevel (typically 50 degrees) on a low primary bevel (typically 25 degrees). This strategy makes it easier to camber the blades.


    I was also looking for a guide for mortice chisels since these receive a secondary bevel of 35 degrees on a 20 degree primary bevel, and this is one blade that cannot be hollow ground. Neither the Veritas nor the LN are designed for mortice chisels. Frankly I was curious about this guide and was wondering if I could modify it someway. The LN was destined for the BU plane blades, however LN do have a mortice accessory in the wings.


    I thought there may be others wondering how these blades could work in these guides.


    Here is the LN guide with the Veritas 3/16" thick x 2 1/4" wide plane blade ..





    This is the extension at 50 degrees ..





    It looks tight, but it works very well - pulled along the stone and never pushed. The guide has a great, solid feel. This is beautiful precision work by LN. Unlike the Eclipse, finger tight on the knurled knob is all that is needed.


    Note how the blade is pushed upward by the dovetail on each side, and held against its back. This should ensure that the angles ground will always be repeatable.


    The extension measurements:








    The LN guide will also hold my 1/4" Ray Iles mortice chisel securely. This is a testament to the clamping pressure exerted (through the fine threads). Although this is not a recommended method, the guide did a fine job holding the chisels securely enough to hone the secondary bevel ..








    Now the surprise was that, in addition to holding small chisels incredibly well, the Veritas Small Chisel Guide was capable of holding this mortice chisel as securely as the LN. Like the LN, the Veritas has fine threads that hold well. Still, neither guide is designed for this purpose as clamping is low and does not support the full sides of the chisel ..








    Indeed, the Veritas was preferred when honing the mortice chisel owing to the extra stability of its wide wheel.


    This is not a recommendation for either of these guides for this purpose. This is not their brief.


    With regards small chisels, the Veritas had no difficulty holding a 1/8" bevel edge chisel very securely. The smallest chisel in the LN, on the other hand, was a little over 1/4".


    Regards from Perth


    Derek

  2. #2
    I learn something new here every single day. Derek, it never crossed my mind that one of those Wixey gauges could be useful to me, but you thought of one I never did Sir. Thank you. I'm gonna buy one.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  3. #3
    Derek,

    There are tall Mortice chisel jaws. Also jaws which hold very small chisels. 3/16" and 1/8" as well as the L-N fishtail chisels.

    I am enjoying mine a lot ! It is a beautiful job. A comment which almost everyone who sees it makes.

    David Charlesworth

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    Hi David

    Yes, I know there are mortice jaws, and I plan to get them - one of the reasons I purchased the guide. I hope my comments did not convey that I saw the guide in its form to have a limitation in this regard - I did say that both the LN and the Veritas were not intended (as is) for that task.

    The LN guide is indeed a beautiful job of machining, like a precision instrument.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  5. #5
    David
    How is the fishtail chisel held in the LN jig? I have have both and don't quite get it. I understood they were still developing a jaw set for the fishtail style.

  6. #6
    Mike,

    I thought the fishtail fitted into the smaller V jaws.

    Will have to check that today!

    David

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    Is there a special jaw for the fishtail chisel? If not, then the result is not certain.

    If the shaft of the fishtail is a tad over 1/4", then it will be held in the standard jaws. The standard jaws will not hold a Blue Spruce 1/4" dovetail chisel, which has a 1/4" wide blade and 1/8" thick shaft. However it will hold a 1/4" Veritas chisel, since this has a shaft that tapers to a thicker thickness at the handle end. The extra width there enables the LN guide jaws to grip this shaft securely. The LN fishtail chisel tapers and should be held by the guide in spite of the front of the jaw not making direct contact.

    This is a case where the Veritas (original) top-clamping guide may be the better choice.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Derek:

    Would you say that the LN product is worth the cost?

    What do you think of its likely toughness and durability?

    Stan

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    Would you say that the LN product is worth the cost?

    What do you think of its likely toughness and durability?
    Hi Stan

    Worth the cost? That depends on what you can afford. I cannot say that everyone should purchase one in the same way that I cannot recommend that everyone should purchase LN or LV handplanes. The LN Honing Guide is expensive. With the accessories it is even more expensive still.

    It is worth the cost to me since I see it as having low upkeep - the stainless steel construction is going to outlast anything else around (not rust like the Eclipse). Durability, per se, is not an issue for other guides, such as the Veritas, which will likely last many, many years.

    I like the simplicity with which the LN (and the Eclipse, and the Veritas small blade guide) work. All these are preferred with just a projection setting block, including the Veritas (when one uses just one or two angles, then the Registration Jig is an unnecessary complication). However the Veritas (above) is not in the running here as it is not for plane blades. I shall use it for small blades, such as a 1/8" bench chisels, which are really quite tricky to freehand hone square.

    The main use I have for the LN is for BU plane blades, perhaps also for mortice chisels, and this reduces the cost factor of the LN for me. I am tempted to write that I really could not imagine spending on all the extras, such as the skew blade guides - not only that is a value judgement that only the purchaser can decide, but also because I like to keep it simple and all the bits-and-bobs then start to detract from the simple attractiveness of the basic LN Guide.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  10. #10
    Mike, Derek,

    I was wrong. The My L-N fishtails have a shaft which tapers and curves, if that makes sense.

    This means the shaft is only gripped at one point, in the small V jaws. Not satisfactory.

    David

  11. #11
    [QUOTE=Derek Cohen;2454378]
    This is a case where the Veritas (original) top-clamping guide may be the better choice.
    /QUOTE]

    I have tried your suggestion as well as several others for the fishtail chisels. No jig works. I just free-hand it lightly. Fishtails become narrower as you hone them so a light touch is essential. I also never strike them.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Southwestern CT
    Posts
    1,392
    +1 Frederick's comment about the angle gauge. It would work on the standard Veritas guide (clamps top of blade to platen) as well, as long as enough of the blade is available. That's really a great way to index repeatable angles.

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