Richard Kell Precision Honing Guide - User Report

**MajorPanic** · 18th March 2005, 09:45 PM

It arrived in 5 days from the US!! It came well packaged complete with instructions & catalogue (drool, drool.... remember the budget! ). The guide is beautifully made & 'feels' precise. It will handle blades up to 1", maybe a little more.

So it was off to the workshop with the honing guide in hand.
Setup was easy, just measure from the tip of the chisel to the first stainless rod. Measurements are given for angles from 30° to 12½°.

The instructions indicate NOT to tighten the clamp nut with a spanner & just use finger pressure. I experenced NO slippage while in use & it 'feels' tight when you do it up by hand.

I selected a 24mm chisel to do the test on as it's one I use a fair bit & was in need of a touch-up
On initial contact with the water stone I found that the primary grind was not as square as I thought. I had to change to a 800 grit stone to do some quick squareing of the blade.
The guide will give you a perfectly square blade edge as the wheels are outboard of the blade.

This is when I found an interesting idiosyncrasy with the guide. Because of the lack of places to apply pressure, the blade will chatter when you push it foward down the stone. It took me a little while to work out the best way to hold the chisel to stop this.
The photo below shows HALF of the holding technique I found to work.... you need two hands to acheive enough pressure to stop the chattering. (I also needed the other hand to take the photo

The final photo shows the final micro-bevel acheived on a 8000 grit stone. I gotta say the chisel is now razor sharp.

All in all I'm pleased with the honing guide from Richard Kell, it might take a little getting use to but it makes sharpening Japanese chisels very easy

As DanP pointed out, I forgot to mention the price and value combination. So here ya go;

The cost was $70.50AU to have it delivered to my door (PO Box).
The results are, in my opinion are excellent while a little fiddley at first but soon overcome. I think it is well worth the money especially if you have a few Japanese chisels or short blades to sharpen.

**Dan** · 18th March 2005, 10:09 PM

Do you leave the tool in the guide when you take the burr off the back?

By the look of photo 2 you don't get the option to use the whole surface of the stone to try and minimise dishing.

**Peter36** · 18th March 2005, 10:44 PM

G'Day Major Is there any difficulty in resetting the length of blade protruding past the first rod in order to grind the microbevel and would cutting on the pull stroke be an option to overcome the chatter . If you dont' mind me asking , who did you buy from . Google threw up a few sources

Peter

**DanP** · 18th March 2005, 10:45 PM

Great review Major. You forgot price/value for money though.

Dan

**MajorPanic** · 18th March 2005, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by Dan

Do you leave the tool in the guide when you take the burr off the back?

By the look of photo 2 you don't get the option to use the whole surface of the stone to try and minimise dishing.

G'day Dan,

You won't get to use the whole stone with any guide that has wheels outboard. I just adjusted the position of the guide on the stone to give max stone coverage while maintaining enough contact for each wheel.

I did take the chisel out of the guide to take the final burr off using the 8000 grit stone.

**derekcohen** · 18th March 2005, 11:03 PM

Great review, MP.

You mentioned using a micro bevel. How did you measure for this?

Regards from Perth

Derek

**MajorPanic** · 18th March 2005, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by DanP

Great review Major. You forgot price/value for money though.

Dan

Thanks DanP,

I've edited the original post with the info

**MajorPanic** · 18th March 2005, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Great review, MP.

You mentioned using a micro bevel. How did you measure for this?

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi ya Derek,

It would appear from the supplied instructions that every 2mm change in blade projection equates to 2½°.
I just shortened the projection by 1mm to give me a 1.25° microbevel

**MajorPanic** · 18th March 2005, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by Peter36

G'Day Major Is there any difficulty in resetting the length of blade protruding past the first rod in order to grind the microbevel and would cutting on the pull stroke be an option to overcome the chatter . If you dont' mind me asking , who did you buy from . Google threw up a few sources

Peter

Hi Peter,

I bought from The Japan Woodworker

Adjusting the blade projection length was as easy as undoing the clamping nut, measuring & adjusting 1mm less projection.
Yes you could cut on the pull storke but it would take twice the time.
I just used my thumbs to apply upward pressure to the rear part of the blade & downward pressure to the front.
This will be a bit tricky with narrow chisels say 9mm & less :confused:

**Harry72** · 18th March 2005, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by MajorPanic

I gotta say the chisel is now razor sharp.

Prob be sharper than a shop brought razor!

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