Thread: New Veritas Honing Guide Mk II – Review

Hi Mat

There is no rubber pad on the Mk II.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I've been playing with the new MKII sharpener and had a slight epiphany. After sharpening a few chisels I changed to plane blades. The technique I'd used for chisels was similar to what you see earlier in this thread with Derek pushing the MKII. i.e. I set up the device then place it on the stone with the blade edge facing away from me.

While pushing a plane blade in this same manner, I started wondering why I was using the same technique I used for chisels, which reduces the pressure you can apply to the bevel. This is ok for chisels which are generally small and allow for a high PSI on the surface area presented to the stone, but a plane blade is much wider (up to three times) and needs greater pressure to achieve the same PSI. The answer is fairly simple, turn the sharpener around.

By turning the MKII around so the blade faces you, you get three distinct advantages:

1. you can apply much greater pressure with your thumbs pushing directly on the back of the blade,
2. by pushing the bevel away from you, you draw a burr along the edge, and
3. finally, you can better use your weight to evenly distribute or correct a skewed bevel.

I realise sharpening technique is somewhat subjective, but for plane blades I've found this a much improved technique and faster.

Does anyone know if the M11 is available in OZ yet and If so at what price?

Have been thinking of buying the carbatec guide at $25, which also fits mitre slot on grinder. Or is there a better alternative ?

Do you think there is a chance that the M11 might be at the Melbourne show ?

Paddy

Originally Posted by Paddy

Does anyone know if the M11 is available in OZ yet and If so at what price?

Have been thinking of buying the carbatec guide at $25, which also fits mitre slot on grinder. Or is there a better alternative ?

Do you think there is a chance that the M11 might be at the Melbourne show ?

Paddy

I bought the MkII at the Canberra WWW from Mik International for $89.

Derek, does this beast handle skew chisels?

Hi Pat

The "Beast" can handle skew blades (and much better than the old Mk I - no contest). However, LV have not yet come out with their attachment for this, and I have no idea when it will be released. I don't even know what it will look like.

Consequently, I have published an article, Advanced Angles on the Lee Valley Honing Guide Mk II on the Wood Central website which will guide you through this procedure. I have posted the info here as well, but in bits-and-pieces. Mike (MikeW) has also some good ideas in this regard and, if he sees this request of yours, will have useful things to say.

The Wood Central link is:

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/r...cles_566.shtml

Regards from Perth

Derek

Looks like a great piece of kit. I want one but I guess Ill need to wait until May. Are you talking about the veritas sharpening system as being the predecessor to this. Or am I confused.

Are you talking about the veritas sharpening system as being the predecessor to this.

The LV Honing Guide Mk II is the latest version of the "veritas sharpening system" you refer to (which might now be termed Mk I). They are similar in concept but the Mk II is a redesign and has much greater versatility.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by Pat

Derek, does this beast handle skew chisels?

Hey Pat,

Along with Derek's templates in the article, one can also go to the following web page:

http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/guide/index.html

As it was just a quick demonstration at one time, it is not very polished, and so if you have any questions, feel free to ask here or email me (usually gets my attention quicker).

The LV skew angle jig will most likely be soon. It works well for reliably determining and setting any angle I've seen on an edge tool.

Take care, Mike

Thankyou to both Darth(Derek) and MikeW for their simple answers to my question. I will be printing them out and adding them to my folder of "web" woodworking solutions.

Hi there,

Recently found this forum. Hopefully someone will see the new post and reply.

I just bought a Veritas MkII honing guide as well, and I notice that when I rotate the cam to produce a microbevel, the final bevel that I hone is rather skewed. I saw the behavior on two rather cheap chisels and ignored it, but on a decent plane blade the microbevel setting immediately started to produce a bevel line that wasn't even close to matching the line formed by the back of the blade and the bevel.

Does anybody else have this problem? Am I doing something wrong, or should I be contacting Lee Valley for a replacement?

Thanks

I have the Mk II and I haven't noticed the problem you mention. My microbevels seem fine. I don't really know what would be causing your problem.

I'm sure some others on this forum will see that this thread has kicked into gear again and will offer some suggestions. I'm interested to hear what they say.

Regards,
Mirboo.

I used my Mk II extensively over the weekend to sharpen about 8 or 9 plane blades. I used the microbevel feature for all of them. In every case the microbevel was dead square.

If you're getting this problem consistently, I would suggest that you have a defective tool. Contact Lee Valley is my advice. They have a justifiably great reputation for customer service. Rob Lee is also a member of these forums so he'll probably see your post.

Incidentally, I assume that you are setting the microbevel by turning the cam adjuster with the blade still set in the Guide? In other words, the blade is set square, using the squaring device, then you grind the main bevel, and, without altering any other setting, adjust the cam for a microbevel? If so, and your micro bevel is at a different angle from the main bevel, then you may have a faulty Guide.

However, if you are making any other adjustment before adjusting the cam, you may well be taking the blade out of square. Does that make sense?

Thank you for the feedback so far.

Yes, I have not adjusted anything other than the cam between honing the primary bevel and honing the microbevel. The stones are new Shapton's and seem to be perfectly flat.

The bevel is quite pronounced. On a 1 5/8" wide Stanley block plane blade, for the microbevel to just barely appear on the right side of the blade results in an almost 1/16" microbevel on the left side. It is also at a consistent angle with the previous two chisels I have honed.