Veritas MKII Honing Guide

[Alf]

I've found an easy way to camber with the Mk II. I wrap a piece of black electrical tape twice around the center of the roller and it gives me enough flexibility to put a nice camber on the blade while being wide enough to flatten the blade flat if i want to.

How much difference does it make to the angles, Dave? And where've you been anyway? I was getting worried about you.

Mike, of the Midnight variety; Mike (he of the W) has, as everyone seems to, put it better than I. Like I said, I can get a camber, but I strongly object to it being such a struggle to do when it could be so much easier. You shouldn't have to fight to get products from the same manufacturer to work together to achieve such a common requirement as a cambered blade, IMO.

Cheers, Alf

 

[ydb1md]

Hi Alf,

I'm not sure how many degrees of camber that I get -- I usually hold the edge up against a flat reference surface to check it visually. I try to shoot for between 1/64" and 1/32" at each corner. I can get that much camber really easily.

Wrapping electrican tape around the roller can leave a bump where the ends of the tape overlap so I use a razor to trim the overlap and make the transition as smooth as possible.

Thanks for the concern. I've been absent because of the usual busy-ness of summer.

 

[Alf]

Sorry, I meant how much does it alter the bevel angle you get at various settings as opposed to what it is minus the tape?

Cheers, Alf

 

[Noel]

Or throw down a narrow, thin strip of veneer, plastic, tin or laminate on the stone. Easy to get the hang of keeping the roller in the middle. Much handier than winding and removing tape from the roller.

Noel

 

[MikeW]

Or throw down a narrow, thin strip of veneer, plastic, tin or laminate on the stone. Easy to get the hang of keeping the roller in the middle. Much handier than winding and removing tape from the roller.

Noel

There's a technique on this, too, that will make it into a tips section...from what I understand...but not on the stone. That too alters the primary bevel angle...

 

[Midnight]

like I said... what's the fuss about...???????

changing technique never entered my head... I use DC's method...

<shrugs...

no tape... no re-turned rollers.. no fartin around fussin over what I can n canna do... I chuck the blade in the angle setter... square it.... lock it...... remove the setter an get on with it...

trust me it aint rocket science...

My stones are flat, irons razor sharp and cambered if an when I need em to be...

what the hell's so hard about applying pressure selectivly onto 5 points across the edge of a blade....????? sheeshhh......

 

[Alf]

Mike, you've never struck me as big user of bevel-up planes. Has this changed? 'Cos that's what's causing the additional difficulty. Higher angles, shorter projection, greater camber required to allow for the low bedding angle. Bevel-down irons are a walk in the park; so much so I wouldn't even bother with the honing guide, mainly 'cos the bevel angle is so much less critical...

Cheers, Alf

 

[bugbear]

I guess this entire thread is yet another vote for a cambered roller accessory for the MKII jig?

BugBear

 

[Alf]

Depends; how many votes am I allowed? :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[ydb1md]

Alf: I don't imagine the angle changes to a large degree -- maybe half a degree or so.

General notes:
I leave the tape wrapped around the roller permanently. I don't need to unwrap it or pull it off to hone a straight blade because the width of the tape provides enough support for that.

I highly doubt that Rob will release a cambered roller for the jig, although someone else might.

Applying five points of pressure on a roller as wide as the Mk II's takes a lot of effort and has a high risk of digging the corner of the blade into the relatively soft surface of a water stone. I think that most users would be lucky to get three pressure points, much less five, with the wide roller.

 

[Midnight]

Mike, you've never struck me as big user of bevel-up planes. Has this changed?

with the #9, #62 and a half dozen or so block planes I reckon I've covered all the bevel up types I need; when I need high angle I use york pitch with my bevel downs... horses for courses I guess.... for the record, my #62 is honed with a very aggressive camber, primary still at the stock 25 deg with a 30 deg secondry...

Higher angles, shorter projection, greater camber required to allow for the low bedding angle.

every silver lining has a cloud..????

Applying five points of pressure on a roller as wide as the Mk II's takes a lot of effort and has a high risk of digging the corner of the blade into the relatively soft surface of a water stone.

its been my experience that the effort required is about the same using either the Mk1 or Mk2 jig... what changes is the time required, the Mk2 taking a little longer... the extra width of the roller makes it far less likely for the corner to dig in irrespective of the stone used....

 

[Alf]

Higher angles, shorter projection, greater camber required to allow for the low bedding angle.

every silver lining has a cloud..????

With a wide roller guide it certainly has... :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[bugbear]

I highly doubt that Rob will release a cambered roller for the jig

I think it's possible - LV have a substantial history of both neat accessories, and responding to customer requests/requirments.

BugBear

 

[mahking51]

Hi All
As I have banned my use of all power tools until my hearing gets back to normal I thought I would get around to the jobs that keep getting put off.

Number one amongst these was to get ALL my various plane blades and cutters on the top line and establish some sense of uniformity, ie marking the blades with the bevel angle and whether they have a micro bevel and so on. The idea being that once this was done properly once it would be the work of a minute or two to keep them sharp.

This gave me the perfect opportunity to give my new Veritas MKII guide a good workout.

I have to say that after using it for nearly 4 hours I think that is is quite simply superb. Very easy to set up and has great repeatability of settings.
It is comfortable in the hand and can be used easily either way round.

The only slight niggle that I have is when using it for narrow irons from plough planes and presumably for chisels.

When setting up and tightening the fixing screw on the extension guage I used only moderate force, just enough to hold it in position.

When the iron is placed in the unit and aligned with the fence, then held while the two clamp screws are tightened it is necessary to tighten these firmly but not hard.

What happen is that the clamping bar bends very slightly as with a narrow iron there is a lot of off-centre leverage. This has the effect of distorting the slide that the guage runs on and makes it very hard to undo and remove the guage. This makes it easier to accidentally move the iron and then start all over again.

I found that if the brass securing nut on the guage were the same diameter or larger as the clamp brass knobs this would not be a problem.

I am not having a go here, I think it is a wonderful bit of kit but maybe a modified knob could be made available?

Regards
Martin (trying hard not to shout at people! )

 

[ydb1md]

The only slight niggle that I have is when using it for narrow irons from plough planes and presumably for chisels.

I agree completely. In fact, I was going to write Lee Valley or Rob Lee to talk about it's usability when sharpening narrow chisels.

When sharpening chisels narrower than 1/2", to keep the chisel from moving out of square, I have to tighten the clamp knobs down so tight that the clamp bar bends slightly (I'm afraid of bending it permanently) or I have to try to hold the chisel at a right angle to the clamp by eyeballing it.

There needs to be a better way of clamping narrow "iron". Maybe a smaller jig, about half the length of the registration jig, whose only purpose would be to serve as a reference to keep the chisel perpendicular.

 

[MikeW]

I added a very thin piece of rubber to the clamp bar--sort of like the MK.I has--but the full length of the clamp bar.

Takes less pressure to secure even narrow blades and lessens the likelihood of the blade/chisel from twisting in use.

I've suggested it to Rob.

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

I like the idea of a cambered roller as an additional option. Any chance Rob?

 

[MikeW]

I like the idea of a cambered roller as an additional option. Any chance Rob?

Kinda like this one, Tony?

Mike

 

[Rob Lee]

I like the idea of a cambered roller as an additional option. Any chance Rob?

Hi Tony -

Been out of the office for the past 10 days (anyone want to see 800 pictures of Yellowstone???? - or should I save 'em for the APTC show....?) Only drove 3600km during that time... :shock:

We're having a look at the best way to this (at a reasonable cost).

It's not an easy task to switch rollers - so one option would be to sell a specific lower unit for that task... but that'd be about 1/2 the cost of the jig again....

That appeal to anyone??

Cheers -

Rob

 

[mahking51]

Rob
As per my post, forgetting the camber issue which I personally don't find a problem, is there any chance of getting a larger diameter brass knob which will allow a bit more torque when UNdoing the guage with a narrow iron/chisel/blade in position?
Otherwise as I said I find it superb.
Best Regards
martin