veritas mkii honing jig question *LINK*

Re: veritas mkii honing jig question

G Piper

>I have heard of other quality issues with the Veritas honing guide. Take it back to Woodcraft. You can learn to sharpen freehand, its easy. I got a friend to show me it took about an hour to perfect the art. Good luck

Re: veritas mkii honing jig question

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>i'm having is when i went to put a micro bevel on it and the micro was not paralell to the first bevel.is the micro bevel really needed?

Hi Fred

It is unimportant that the microbevel is parallel to the primary bevel. Concerns are more aesthetic here. What is more important is that the primary bevel's edge is square.

From reports on the forums, it appears that some of the LV honing guides do produce the effect you describe, while others do not. I suspect that this is in the manufacturing. The tolerances for the parts are very fine. My own guide does not evidence this issue, but I have friends whose does. Still, LV likely will take it back without question if you so desire.

Is a microbevel important? Only if you wish to save a huge amount of time in regrinding a flat bevel. Or if you wish to keep the profile of a chisel as low as possible to facilitate ease of penetration (e.g. on a mortice or paring chisel). As an alternative, you can create a microbevel a different way - by hollow grinding and then using the guide on the leading edge.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: veritas mkii honing jig question

thomd

>How is it unimportant if the microbevel is not parallel to the primary bevel? If not parallel then then final polishing either won't run out to the edge or the edge will be askwew, neither of which is why we bother with jigs. What for of non-prallelism is this thing causing?

I don't doubt one can learn to sharpen freehand in an hour, and to get a good edge. But it takes years of practice for most people to perfect this part of the craft. Most of us probably have a jig in reserve to re-establish some hard lines if so required, or just regrind on a power device, depending on the tools.

Re: veritas mkii honing jig question

mikew

>For myself, a microbevel, whether established by hand or the MK.II, the only thing that matters is that it extends fully across the primary bevel.

With a jig, the MK.II and every other jig I have used--and that's a ton of them--an uneven microbevel will be created by the slightest of uneven pressure on the iron.

Also, a stone which is beginning to wear uneven will help create an uneven bevel, and a microbevel will show that quickly. A microbevel I feel should only be created on the highest grit stone. And if one is creating microbevels, there is no need to use this highest grit stone for anything more, preserving its flattness.

Oh, one can watch its creation and make adjustments in the amount of pressure that is being applied and on which side, but as concerns the wood, it doesn't matter as long as it is fully across the primary bevel. Can someone learn to apply even pressure and thus create a fairly even microbevel? Sure. But I would argue let that be after the next session with the stones and do some work in the meantime.

Now, the above does not speak to "faulty" manufacture: if something is improperly made it should be sent back or at least the maker contacted and consulted to help identify a problem, if exists.

Take care, Mike

Re: veritas mkii honing jig question

thomd

>One accessory to the new jig is the rounded roller, so one should be able to english the microbevel wherever one wants it. And since one is into polishing at that point one only need to work the edge until a hint of wire appears across the edge. So a person ought to be able to either with the rounded roller, or the straight one, get the job done.

Another thing is that most folks are trying to work a little transverse arc into their edges these days, so parallelism might not even be all that apparent. There are always rebate planes that need to be square. Or chisels, if one can hold them in a jig.

Still, assuming the jig is being used correctly, no problems in the different stones etc... It should adjust in parallel, and it should be returned if it doesn't.