The work is tightly held. Because of the odd shaped bits of wood I work on, I built a vice a while ago out of some sort of New Guinea hardwood. I would describe it as a modified leg vice but with an adjustable jaw that conforms to the taper of the bit being held, within reason. It was a make it up as you go along job, but it works quite well.
Concerning honing, I would be most reluctant to go back to stones. Professional wood workers I know have three or four stones of different grits that they use in sequence on plane and chisel blades. Good quality stones are hellishly expensive here in NZ, too dear for me. We do have some from India which are pretty crummy, double sided stones called 'coarse' and 'fine'. Ok for kitchen knives, maybe. So I lay abrasive paper on my sawbench which of course is totally flat. If I have some serious correction to do I will start with 180 grit. Otherwise, normal honing will be 400, 800 and then 1500grit, bevel and back. This produces a shaving edge. Sometimes I finish with 2000grit and this will give a mirror finish to the steel and an edge that will cut you just by looking at it. With standard sized sheets each stroke is much longer than you can do on a stone, in my opinion it is also much quicker and when the paper is worn out you buy a new bit for $2.
As stated, the chattering is an irritant rather than a big problem and I can overcome it with pressure on the toe. But I see people using a block plane one-handed. I can't so I think something is wrong with my set up and it annoys me.
