Honing Guide and Squareness

[bugbear]

There's a presumption here that an accurately straight edge is a design goal.

I'm not so sure about that.

It depends what planes you are using, BB.

Err. I know.

That's why I gave examples, with detailed reasoning.

BugBear

 

[Paul Chapman]

Err. I know.

Err. I know you know :wink: Just thought it would be helpful to give some examples of where a straight, right angle edge is important.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mickthetree]

To the OP I have the MKII guide and I cannot fail to get a skewed blade every time I use it to regrind a bevel (using abrasve on float glass).

I set it using the supplied guide and it even looks out of square to my eye. After grinding I check it and its not square, put the guide back on and it says its fine!!

So I'm obviously doing something wrong, but it doesnt seem to be the blade moving. Something more fundamental than that.

I also find that it holds a wide plane blade so flat that I cannot get a radius on the bevel even when applying more pressure to one side, so I've gone back to using my cheap wickes guide (with the narrow wheel in the middle) which does just the job I'm after.

Hope you get it resolved.

 

[matthewwh]

Dave,

A valid point, but blades made in the last 120 years are almost certainly going to have parallel sides. At what point should we accept that things have moved on? I would even venture to suggest that mastering the contemporary honing method, freehand, is another enjoyable part of the experience of owning and using antique tools.

If you do want to use a honing guide with such blades I would reccommend filing the jaws of an eclipse type guide to suit the taper in width and thickness of the iron and adding referance plates to the top (so that the guide is regisering from the back) as recommended by David Charlesworth.

Rob,

Again I take your point, but if the nominal effort requred to screw two accurately planed pieces of wood to a board yields a system that will deliver fast, accurate, repeatable results almost indefinitely, it is surely time well invested.

Bugbear,

Squareness is not necessarily a goal, but more of a key. Once your guide and blade together are producing square results you can adjust the whole assembly by shimming to produce accurate, repeatable skews and cambers to your hearts content.

 

[woodbloke]

Rob,

Again I take your point, but if the nominal effort requred to screw two accurately planed pieces of wood to a board yields a system that will deliver fast, accurate, repeatable results almost indefinitely, it is surely time well invested.

Agreed...may have to have a re-thunk :-k - Rob

 

[bugbear]

Err. I know.

Err. I know you know :wink: Just thought it would be helpful to give some examples of where a straight, right angle edge is important.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Sorry - I thought you were contradicting (with a narrow sample!), as opposed to widening the scope with additional samples.

Now back to your usual program

BugBear

 

[Benchwayze]

Of course you will know if the blade isn't square across its width, as you'll have checked it.

But sometimes when you have to move the lateral adjuster on your plane more than a fraction, to get the blade square in the mouth, it could be the frog isn't square to the mouth.

This could be due to sloppy adjustment of the frog, or it could be inaccurate machining of the frog or bed.

HTH.
John

 

[ivan]

I have several LN blades that do not have // sides. Presumably this is a result of polishing the edges - looks nice but not always helpful. Judicious bit of grinding needed for LV Mk2 (which I like) setting guide to work.

 

[studders]

Of course for the more basic approach there's always something like this:

(With thanks to MrGrimsdale)

Not sure where to put the blade. Any pointers?

 

[Doctor]

Of course for the more basic approach there's always something like this:

(With thanks to MrGrimsdale)

Not sure where to put the blade. Any pointers?

I've got a pointer after seeing that honing jig :lol: :lol:

 

[BradNaylor]

I just blurted a mouthful of Black Sheep all over my keyboard!

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Brad

 

[Screw Loose]

That saddle must be razor sharp

 

[BradNaylor]

To paraphrase Prince Charles;

When I die I want to come back as that saddle!

:lol:

Brad