Veritas Mk II

[George_N]

From the above it seems I'm all back to front.

I always use thumbs for maximum pressure, with the heavy stroke moving away from myself. With the Mk2 it's thumbs as close to bevel as possible (maybe on top of each other) and 1st fingers lightly on the guide to draw it back. Is this the wrong way round for some reason?

If you use water stones the pressure is usually applied on the pull stroke. These stones are quite soft and there is a serious risk of gouging a lump out of the stone if you apply too much pressure with the cutting edge going away from you. Your description of how you hold the guide sounds awkward to me. It just feels natural to hook my thumbs behind the bladeand have my finger tips just behind the edge. If you use the camber roller for plane irons this is almost essential, I would have thought, so that you can apply the pressure at various points across the blade to produce an evenly cambered edge.

 

[ivan]

George, isn't that strange, the only time I've gouged a waterstone was when trying out sharpening on the push stroke! Perhaps it's like a lot of things, you're happy with what you get used to.

 

[David C]

If I used the Mark 2 I would use the curved roller nearly all the time, except possibly for very narrow chisels, which are always challenging.

Squareness of honing is easy to control with the force from two forefingers.

Even force keeps edge as it is.

If double force is applied at one edge and half at the other, the edge with high pressure will disappear faster.

This is a great way of squaring up a slightly out of square grind.

The whole edge is kept flat on the stone at all times.

David Charlesworth