LV MKII Honing Guide Undocumented Feature?
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>I got this new gizmo sitting on my metalworking/sharpening/dirty bench. While playing with it, I noticed a rabbet, or a fillitster maybe depending on your definition, across the lower back end, behind the roller. Obviously intentional, but nowhere in the documentation or reviews have I seen any mention of its intended purpose. Following is a drawing from Lee-Valley's web site, which shows this feature. In particular, this is a link to Lee-Valley's website, to a figure used in the new honing guide's instructional page:
The feature in question is at the bottom left of the drawing. Anyone figured out any good uses for this? It seems to be some sort of alternative tool rest, to be used instead of the roller. I tried setting it on top of the LV grinder tool rest, but that didn't seem to work as well as the blade holder that is designed to work with the tool rest, so I didn't turn the grinder on.
So far, I have only verified that the honing guide will do what I asked Rob to make it do, which is hold and hone the blades from my L-N #8 and L-N #112. For some reason, the bevel angle of my large scraper plane blade is currently ground at 60°, and the honing guide's protractor does not work beyond 54°. I see no reason why I should not regrind the bevel at 45°, which is where both LV and L-N grind them, so that is not a problem.
Note: How I obtained the honing guide, or what I paid for it, or whether I intend to offer further opinions on its functionality is totally irrelevant to the question and comments at hand.