New Veritas Honing Guide Mk II – Review

[derekcohen]

Saturday May 21st was a bit of a first for Perth when local Galoots congregated for a sharpening workshop, and were able to see and use the new Veritas Honing Guide Mk II. There were a number of excellent presentations, both of technique and jigs, but center stage was definitely held by the Veritas guide which quickly received many positive comments.

The new guide (Mk II) not only overcomes all of the criticisms levied at Mk I (which was an excellent guide, nonetheless), but certainly now impresses as the best honing guide on the market at present.

Finish is in black anodized steel with brass fittings. As we have come to expect from all LV tools the quality was immaculate and everything worked perfectly out of the box. (A little confession – in true Aussie male style I did not read the instructions that came with the guide. The fact is this guide is so logical that it does not take more than intuition to work it out).

In use the Mk II felt solid and smooth, much more so than Mk I. Conversely, in spite of the wide wheel, it was still possible to add pressure to the blade ends to hone a fine radius (to feather shavings).

Several members of the workshop has the opportunity to try it out for themselves, and the unanimous decision by those present was that they would buy one as soon as they became available.

My thanks to Rob Lee and the staff at Lee Valley for the amazing efforts made to get this guide to me in time for the workshop, knowing that there had been late alterations to its machining, so delaying production. It arrived the night before, much to my great relief.

Details of the Mk II are in successive posts, below.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[derekcohen]

Notable new features include:

- a wider track, ensuring greater stability
- ability to use wider blades (up to 3”or 75mm)
- a wide range of bevel angles, from 20° - 54°
- the ability to cater for both micro bevels (in 1° and 2° increments)
as well as backbevels (10° - 20° range)

[derekcohen]

Setting up the Mk II involves attaching the protractor. This slides on and is then positioned according to the width of the blade, which ensures that it is always centred. As seen in the picture below, there are separate scales for High and Standard blade settings, which covers all the angles found in both bevel down and bevel up planes (these are depicted by the red and yellow numbers, while the back bevels are written in green). All settings are clearly marked and accessed by a drilled stop. The opening picture shows a blade being sharpened for a cutting angle of 62° for a LV LA Smoother. This involved honing the blade in three stages, first adding a secondary microbevel of 20°, and a final microbevel of 5°.

One of the criticisms levied at Mk I had been the difficulty some experienced with setting the blade square within the guide. The last picture shows the underside of the protractor. Here is a depth stop for the blade plus a fence against which the blade is pressed before the hold down is tightened.

I will post further observations as I use the guide over the next few weeks.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Groggy]

One of the criticisms levied at Mk I had been the difficulty some experienced with setting the blade square within the guide. The last picture shows the underside of the protractor. Here is a depth stop for the blade plus a fence against which the blade is pressed before the hold down is tightened.

Indeed, this was the major disappointment that I had with mine; an edge that is not square with the blade is more than an embuggerance. It made it the only LV tool I didn't use (other than a flush cut saw that had a crimped blade). I'll be interested to see how you go with narrow chisels.

I will post further observations as I use the guide over the next few weeks.

Great, I look forward to it.

BTW, you're a lucky bugger for getting one to play with!

[Pete J]

I would like to second Derek's thoughts. Having been present yesterday at the World Premiere of the LV guide Mk II and using it briefly myself, I found it smooth to use, but much more importantly, easy to set up. I had a small bullnose Record No. 076, which has a blade with a much smaller shaft than cutting head. It was set up centred, square and to the required angle in next to no time. Like Derek, I didn't read the instructions either, but had the benefit of watching him set up a blade. The jig impressed me as being simple and accurate.

By the way Derek, thanks for the rest of the day, particularly seeing your belt and disk sander sharpening system in operation. Thanks also to Rodm for his impressive Star Wars sharpening station - to carry on the analogy Rod, I think it should be dubbed the Millenium Falcon!

Regards

[NewLou]

Thx for the Peek Derek,

Sounds like A quality product.....................another thing to add to the wish list!!! Congratulations on your positive ongoing relationship with Lee Valley keep us posted.........................Darth

REgards Lou

[lesmeyer]

Well,
what can I say. I was present at the special moment AND my LV blade is seen in the jig on the first photo above getting a 50 degree edge. What a fantastic result. The shavings produced from a piece of Karri was nothing short of spectacular. I picked up some more than very helpful tips visiting the other side. What impressed me most is that Derek takes a rather simple approach to sharpening, and yet produces results second to none. He showed us that one does not need to spend excessive amounts of money to produce fine edges on a blade. Much practice with the basic setup, and patience is all it takes. Having said that, Derek has many years of experience with this and makes it look so easy - which it is not, of course.
Thank you to Derek from all of us who attended the workshop.
Regards
Les

[paul.cleary]

Good to see this new honing guide, especially the way the angle is now setup using the protractor.
I have the Mk I Veritas sharpening guide and with advancing age my eyesight is not as sharp as it used to be - thus setting the sharpening angle on the Mk I now requires me to do lots of checking and fiddling and rechecking.
This takes all that away so I'll be buying one.
Paul
PS The late but not great Stanley blade sharpening guide used the same method to set the sharpening angle. It was the only good thing about it!

[sinjin1111]

Can this jig take the very wide japanese blades by chance?? the blades are also tapered down length so would be a prob?
sinjin

[TrevorOwen]

Thanks for the road test report Derek. I must say it was quick because only last week I read that Rob Lee was sending you a guide to test. I have been wanting to buy a guide to do better than the eclipse I am using and was lining up for the Mk1 until I learnt that a new model was pending. Do you have any idea when it will be generally available? I assume one has two choices, wait for an Australian dealer to obtain stock or order direct from Lee Valley. I am interested to hear from other forum members which way they would go!

Regards from Adelaide
Trevor

[derekcohen]

Can this jig take the very wide japanese blades by chance??

Hi Sinjin

According to the manual, the Guide will take blades 2-7/8" wide (my rule indicated 3" but this may be an error of parallax) and 15/32" thick. Although I have not yet had a chance to check out how very thick and very narrow blades are managed (but - hopefully - will this week), there is little doubt that the Guide will accept the thickest blades available on the market (just how many do you know of that are 15/32" thick?!). OK, I am talking plane blades here - some mortice chisels may the exception.

I also have yet to test out blades that are tapered along their length (i.e. thickness). A mild tapering thickness should not be a problem, but I am curious how much taper can be handled. I will let you know.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[derekcohen]

Do you have any idea when it will be generally available?

Hi Trevor

Yes, LV really have great customer relations, and this is well-illustrated in how much effort they went to to get the Guide to me in time for the workshop.

When will the Mk II be out in the shops? I am not sure about Australia. It is due out on the 23rd May in the USA and Canada. Try contacting Carba-tec and/or Timbecon - they may know.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[DPB]

Derek, I own a Mark I. In your opinion, is the Mark II a sufficient improvement over the Mark I to justify purchasing?

[Rocker]

Emma chisit? It is not featured yet on the Lee Valley website.

Rocker

[derekcohen]

is the Mark II a sufficient improvement over the Mark I to justify purchasing?

The short answer is a definite YES.

This honing guide is a truly excellent product. About a year ago I posted a modification to the Mk I, which added an internal fence to improve the ability to hold blades square. Soon after doing this, Rob Lee contacted me to describe the improvements that were planned for Mk II. I have been sitting on pictures of it for 6 months. What stands out is that LV have listened to every bit of criticism levelled at honing guides, theirs included, and sought to address these in the next version. And that is what they have done here. Indeed, what they have done is design an up-to-date honing guide, one that recognises the future demands of bevel up planes as well.

I have reproduced below a copy of an answer I gave to a question raised on another forum:

Question: "I have found it somewhat difficult to get the old guide to set up easily. I believe most who have the guide know the problem".....

Response: I assume that you are referring to the difficulty some (myself included) experienced with the Mk I in getting, and then keeping, the blade straight in the Guide. I resorted to two stratgies in the past - building a fence into my Mk I and tightening the hold down with vicegrips, or using a jig to set the blade square (and tightening the hold down with vicegrips). I recall Rob's advice in this regard. He said that he did not tighten the hold down much and that then the blade would remain square on its own (the idea being that the guide is just an extension of your hand, as if you were honing freehand). Someone else reported the same. But this did not work for me, and I found I was starting to prefer the Eclipse guide since it is a side clamping guide and its strength of lies with keeping the blade square (as long as it is constructed accurately - not all were).

Some time back (the articles are in the records somewhere), I posted a jig I designed to set up honing angles on the Mk I and the Eclipse as quickly and as securely as possible. Others responded with similar ideas. The point is that even the Eclipse is fiddly to set up - it takes two (sometimes three) hands to hold the blade in the guide, extend it the correct distance over, and hold the jig securely so that the measurements are accurate (and all at the same time!).

What the Mk II does is deal with all these issues in one fell swoop. The protractor (or "registration jig") attaches to the body of the Guide, the depth stop is adjusted and fixed in place with a knob, and the fence is integral. All this can be done with two hands, perhaps one with some practice. Yes, the Mk II is a lot easier to set up.

Regards from Perth

Derek