I recently bought the Veritas guide you showed. Good quality, nice to use and yes, good for the money. I found you have to be careful that the blade clamps correctly, without twist. The first time I used mine I put quite a skew on a brand new chisel. Easily avoided with a bit of care.
I recently had the veritas guide and it skewed every single chisel and plane iron. The replacement also had this issue. I had good customer service from the retailer I purchased it from, they found no issues, they have escalated it to veritas and I hope I get informed as to the issue. Looking forward to your results with it. Cant fault the build quality and price.
Only recently discovered your content, and have to say that I am enjoying what I've seen so far. I have, over the years, tried quite a few different sharpening systems. I have an original Eclipse that I bought in the 90s - don't have a problem with it at all. In addition, I also own both Veritas honing guides - the side clamping model you've shown here, and the MkII. The former was £25.99, whereas the MkII cost somewhere south of £150. I have to admit to a severe case of retail regret regarding the MkII. Maybe it's just me, but I've had a few chisels come out sharp, but not square. The angle guide system is a real faff to slide on and off, and I'm not a fan of bumping the business end of the chisel up against the metal stop. I did discover that you can get a side clamping attachment, but it is, IMHO, far too expensive on top of the cost of the original unit. Probably, the absolute worst sharpening system has to be the Trend 'Fast Track'. Goodness knows who thought up that massively misleading name. In use, it is as slow as a week in jail, not to mention painful. I think we can all agree: sharpening - like sanding - is not why people get into woodworking.
Thanks for checking in. More content is coming, I've just had a lot of home improvement jobs that needed attention. Thanks for sharing your experience with the guides. It seems like everyone who has tried a guide gets different results and prefers a different style. I think I've seen the trend, is that the side to side thing?
Tools are wear items. Maybe you can weld a couple of those shortie chisels you have together and get one longer chisel out of the deal? The honing guide also lets you know when your chisel is too short. It's a feature!
Hi , the Veritas guide looks pretty slick, I think I'll stick to sharpening by Hand and eye, as taught at school 58yrs ago, and I'm sure not all my bevel angles will be exactly the same, but they slice wood like butter and get the job done. For a novice I think sharpening guides can get them past the worry of never getting an edge on there tools, which must be frustrating. Like your good self I prefer older chisels as I think the steel structure is finer grained for a better edge, I have some ww2 vintage Tyzak, and Marple that seem to hold there sharpness longer than any I own , and it also gives me the pleasure of using tools whith a family History . Thanks for the video mate, stay safe, best wishe's to you and your's, Stuart UK.
Thanks Stuart. I'm like you, I freehand and I assume my angles are around 30ish. Many people like the guides and swear by them, I find them limiting but there is no "right" way! Cheers!
This new Veritas side clamping guide is the worst Veritas tool I have owned, plane blades of different sizes and various chisels every single one of them skewed. This new guide simply does not hold anything square in the jaws,there are plenty of reviews online with the exact same opinion .
I purchased a Veritas Side Clamping Honing Guide and tried it out today. It does a good job of keeping the blade flat with the wide roller, it's made well with precision machining. Problem I'm having with it is, it's difficult to keep the blade in place while you turn it over to set you angel. The pros make it look simple but my old arthritic fingers aren't very nimble any more. It always slips out of the grove when I'm trying to tighten it. Anyone else have this problem? I try to support the blade up against the correct area for my long chisels, It's frustrating.
This sounds very painful! Sorry to hear that you have this discomfort. Have you tried a cheap eclipse No.36 clone? The knob used to tighten it has serrations instead of being smooth like the Veritas.
I am having the same skewing issue. As a newbie to hand tool work, this is kind of aggravating. I'm using this on a set of Narex chisels. I'm sure one day I will free hand it...but that day is not now :).
Old chisels are often the best and well worth emphasising. Many of them eclipse the overpriced and overhyped stuff available today. Short chisels are a byproduct of Woodworking and in some cases when people choose butt chisels. Thanks for the duration feedback.
The best thing I ever done is learn to sharpen free hand, it takes the monotony of setting up the guide. I practiced on some old thrown out chisels before trying it on my vintage marples clover leaves.
I'm 100% behind you with this. I've had anecdotal feedback that the Veritas doesn't hold the tool square. I think the makers of honing guides have a hard time. How they can satisfy everyone's needs is beyond me.
I use honing guides for restoring old chisels. Many of previous owners had sharpened the chisels on a bench grinder without a tool rest, and the geometry of the bevel was terribly out. So I reset the bevel with a honing guide. I now free hand sharpen. It's so much easier to sharpen free hand if the primary bevel is set correctly.
Hello, have you had a chance to test the “skewing” issue some are having with side clamping. Any more thoughts? I’ve read that it just happens with the cheaper chisels whose sides aren’t milled equal. Right now I just do free hand, but I feel like I’m doing it too often, so perhaps a jig would ensure more consistency.
Hi T. No sadly it's on the to-do list! I'm delighted to hear you're making your edges blunt! I expect your freehand isn't so bad. Can you describe the process you use?
@@faceedgewoodworking Sure, I use a king waterstone, 800/4000. I also have a cheap Norton stone to flatten my water stone every now and then. If my tool is really out of whack, I use an old hand crank grinder to square the edge. Then I just feel for the primary angle, back/forth with two hands, similar to how Paul Sellers, but minus the convexity he puts into it. Feeling for bur is really my main goal, then strop with medium-hard leather/paste from craft store. I don’t do microbevels often…maybe I should.
@@qigong1001 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Cvimw7h7pyE.html My only advice is to make sure you raise a burr with the 4000. It's easy when working the whole face of the bevel, not to hone the edge, failing to raise a burr but be tricked by a polished looking bevel.
@@faceedgewoodworking yes, thanks. I Will make sure I do that. Since my last comment I went ahead and ordered the veritas. Comes in next week. And I think I will try the secondary bevel too. Excellent practical channel you have here.
