Veritas Honing Guide Gone Awry - Resolved

[El Barto]

Disclaimer: this isn't a topic about sharpening techniques or what works better than what.

I've been using the Veritas Honing Guide for about a year and have been happy with it but recently I've noticed that my irons are slowly going out of square. This is irritating. Upon investigation it appears that one side of the iron is being honed more than the other. It's not a huge amount but over time it leads to the edge coming out of square.

I thought maybe I’d developed a bad habit and was putting too much pressure on one side of the blade/guide so I made sure to keep the pressure even and still it persisted. I also thought my diamond stones were out of whack (they're Ultex) so I bought new ones, checked them for flatness and still the problem persisted.

What makes me think it's not me is that it happens in a very uniform fashion across all my irons so it feels like something in the honing guide must be off and I can’t figure it out. I've cleaned the guide and checked everything for square, it looks good. The amount of blade protruding from the guide is equal both sides down to 0.5mm. It's as if there's a camber on one side of the wheel but as far as I can tell there isn't.

First photo shows the blade as I really started noticing it, second is using marker to highlight it.

It hasn't always been like this so maybe the grit and use has worn something away in the wheel...

Any thoughts?!

 

[Roxie]

I also have noticed the same problem with my Veritas so will be interested in any replies.

John

 

[bugbear]

Disclaimer: this isn't a topic about sharpening techniques or what works better than what.

Oh, but it soon will be.

BugBear

 

[El Barto]

Disclaimer: this isn't a topic about sharpening techniques or what works better than what.

Oh, but it soon will be.

BugBear

I know

 

[Chip shop]

Disclaimer: this isn't a topic about sharpening techniques or what works better than what.

Oh, but it soon will be.

BugBear

I know

But why would you want to use a jig?

Just kidding :lol:

Edit: Could there be some sort of swarf build up under the roller? I know naff all about these things so please ignore me.

 

[ColeyS1]

Grind it more frequently.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[MikeK]

From what I read when deciding on which honing guide to use, the most common cause for what you are experiencing is uneven or excessive tightening of the locking knobs when securing the blade.

 

[El Barto]

But why would you want to use a jig?

Just kidding :lol:

Edit: Could there be some sort of swarf build up under the roller? I know naff all about these things so please ignore me.

Yeah I did think that so gave it a good clean. There was a bit of build up but nothing too drastic...

From what I read when deciding on which honing guide to use, the most common cause for what you are experiencing is uneven or excessive tightening of the locking knobs when securing the blade.

That's interesting Mike. I do always make sure I tighten the bolts equally but maybe they're too tight. Though I'm not sure why that would cause this issue?! I'm gunna try that anyway and see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the tip!

 

[custard]

Even though it's a flat roller I'd bet a pound to a penny that you can still produce a camber by taking a few strokes while putting selective pressure on the outside corners of the plane iron. Therefore a bit more pressure on the high side should progressively bring it back to square. Maybe you unconsciously apply too much pressure on one side?

 

[MattRoberts]

If the problem has very gradually materialised (or become noticeable), it might be uneven pressure when sharpening - assuming that you haven't spent weeks trying the more even pressure approach?

The uneven tightening of the knobs is a good call, but I'd be surprised if it was consistently tightened unevenly each time?

Have you checked the roller is sitting correctly? Have you tried one of the alternative detents on the roller camber?

 

[Setch]

Uneven pressure is very likely. Even if it isn't the cause, it's an easy solution. Lean a bit heavy on the otherside until the edge is square, problem solved.

 

[El Barto]

Even though it's a flat roller I'd bet a pound to a penny that you can still produce a camber by taking a few strokes while putting selective pressure on the outside corners of the plane iron. Therefore a bit more pressure on the high side should progressively bring it back to square. Maybe you unconsciously apply too much pressure on one side?

Correct! And I have have deliberately cambered a few blades by doing that, it doesn't take much. And I did consider putting more pressure on one side to correct the problem but it proved fruitless. In my "tests" I gave the iron light taps with a hammer until I was getting a consistent edge across the iron. This worked but the actual amount one side had to be lowered to get an even edge was ridiculous, it was a good few degrees - far more than just a few gentle taps or increased pressure on one side to square things up. Frustrating. I also considered that my pressure is uneven so again, in my "tests" I gave the guide a few light strokes with the pressure exactly in the middle and the marker came off in the same way.

If the problem has very gradually materialised (or become noticeable), it might be uneven pressure when sharpening - assuming that you haven't spent weeks trying the more even pressure approach?

The uneven tightening of the knobs is a good call, but I'd be surprised if it was consistently tightened unevenly each time?

Have you checked the roller is sitting correctly? Have you tried one of the alternative detents on the roller camber?

It's been about a week since I noticed so I've had a fair amount of time to try compensating by changing pressure etc and I don't think that's it. Like I said, the results are really uniform across different irons and more recently with the conscious effort to find any mistakes I might be making. It's weird.

I'm sure the roller is sitting correctly but that's a good shout on the alternative settings on the roller (I'm guessing you mean where you turn it to add a micro bevel?), I will try that.

 

[ColeyS1]

Grind it more frequently and use the lateral adjustment lever to correct any difference. It doesn't have to look pretty to be effective.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[custard]

Another random thought, maybe the iron isn't uniformly thick across the width? You'd only need a few thou of thickness variation to produce a skew.

 

[El Barto]

Grind it more frequently and use the lateral adjustment lever to correct any difference. It doesn't have to look pretty to be effective.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

A fair point but it's also an expensive "premium" guide so it's expected to work correctly.

Another random thought, maybe the iron isn't uniformly thick across the width? You'd only need a few thou of thickness variation to produce a skew.

Hmm maybe but it's happened across multiple irons. Two Ray Iles' (which I'd expect generally to be pretty bang on), one Stanley spokeshave and one Quangsheng block plane.

 

[MattRoberts]

I'm sure the roller is sitting correctly but that's a good shout on the alternative settings on the roller (I'm guessing you mean where you turn it to add a micro bevel?), I will try that.

Yes, that's the one. I couldn't think how best to describe it!

 

[custard]

Another random thought, maybe the iron isn't uniformly thick across the width? You'd only need a few thou of thickness variation to produce a skew.

Hmm maybe but it's happened across multiple irons. Two Ray Iles' (which I'd expect generally to be pretty bang on), one Stanley spokeshave and one Quangsheng block plane.

Okay, scratch that idea!

Are these irons consistently wrong? In other words is it always the left side or the right side?

 

[El Barto]

Another random thought, maybe the iron isn't uniformly thick across the width? You'd only need a few thou of thickness variation to produce a skew.

Hmm maybe but it's happened across multiple irons. Two Ray Iles' (which I'd expect generally to be pretty bang on), one Stanley spokeshave and one Quangsheng block plane.

Okay, scratch that idea!

Are these irons consistently wrong? In other words is it always the left side or the right side?

With the bevel facing me it's always the left side that's had more taken off it. Emailing Lee Valley got a very quick response and an offer for a replacement... hope it still stands when they find out I'm in the UK.

I just got a message from another user saying they had the same problem and it was caused by wear to the through hole of the roller causing it to become conical in therefore skewing the bevel. Wonder if that's what's happened :-k

 

[custard]

Emailing Lee Valley got a very quick response and an offer for a replacement

Kudos to them, you can't say fairer than that.

 

[El Barto]

Emailing Lee Valley got a very quick response and an offer for a replacement

Kudos to them, you can't say fairer than that.

Agreed. Impressed.