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Unintentional skewing while sharpening

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Unintentional skewing while sharpening

#1

Unintentional skewing while sharpening

Mark Kozlowski

>When I sharpen with a honing guide I have trouble with the blade skewing. I can't seem to hone the blade square. I have tried 4 different guides (including the Veritas Mk I &II) and the blades always skew on one side. I have had the best results with the Kell honing guide but it is difficult to hold and hard to get a consistent micro-bevel. I have tried squaring the blade to the Veritas Mk I with a small t-square and have changed the glass plate that I glue the sandpaper to. My worst results were with the Veritas Mk II which everyone raves about so I must be doing something wrong. It has been suggested that I may be applying uneven pressure but I sincerely doubt that is the case. In my experiments I have tried pushing much harder on one side than the other and, while it makes some difference, it is not enough to account for my problem. Help!

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

#2

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

Dave (Arlington, VA)

>Hi Mark -

Is this with all blades...or just with chisels? If just chisels, are they vintage chisels or modern chisels?

I have had trouble with skewing on some vintage (second tier) chisels because the top of the chisel is not "parallel" with the bottom -- and since, for example, the Veritas MK 1 jig, registers against the top of the blade it often shapens these blades with a skew.

I also have trouble with some of the Eclipse-type side registering jigs because I can't them them to seat "flat" in the groves (if that makes any sense). I also have trouble with "bowing" (i.e. a kind of camber) in these types of jigs when I tighten with a screwdriver.

I wish you success in figuring this out.

Regards -

Dave

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

#3

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

Dave Thompson - on the Embara river

>There are a few possibilities...

First off, how do you know it's off? Is it possible the blade wasn't exactly square to begin with, and that your honing jig is just correcting to be square?

The Veritas Mk II has a registration guide which insures that your blade is square in the jig. Are you using this? Does it slip in the guide? if so, is the blade tightened down enough?

Are you using a hard flat surface? plate glass? granite?

Another approach... if your plane has some lateral adjustment, then it doesn't matter... the slight angle off dissappears when you put the blade back in the plane. Just insert the blade into the honing jig such that when you set it on the blade and jig on a flat surface that no light shows between the blade and the surface.

enjoy,

Dave

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

#4

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

Chris Knight

>Plane blades often have sides (edges) that are not perfectly parallel. If you consistently measure for square from one one side whilst sharpening, it can look non-square measured from the other - which is often done once you remove the blade from the sharpening jig.

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

#5

Re: Unintentional skewing while sharpening

Mark Kozlowski

>Thanks to Dave, Dave and Chris

👍 This page answered my questions

Your vote helps other woodworkers quickly find the answers and techniques that actually work in the shop.