Honing Guide

Hi

I have recently purchased this item from Amazon.

It works fine for plane blade that sit on upper slots, but honning chisel in lower slot cause problem and chisel moves to side and result into multiple slanted bevels.

Looking at amazon reviews it looks like many other face this problem and some suggested modifying it with file by taking excessive curve and make it little bit flat so that it grips chisel properly and doesn't move. Before this I would like to know why this problem is there and why it is not changed by manufacturer if it is design fault? Is there any spefic reason to keep that lower slot jaws like that??

Asked by Vijay on 9th of May 2019

The Faithfull honing guide is based on a traditional design that has been in production for decades.

One side of the tool is curved so that it can grip chisels and plane irons with 3 points of contact instead of 4. This is preferred because it forces the chisel to be square against the flat edge of the honing guide.

It is important to note that there are three blade holding positions:

1. Top jaws for plane blades.

2. The middle V indented chisel jaws are for holding fully bevel edged paring chisels.

3. Bottom flat jaws - Mortise chisels with vertical sides and part bevel edge chisels can be held by the flat edges below the indents with the chisel resting on the rods.

If the chisel sits crooked or twists when using the guide, it is usually for one these two reasons:

1. You are attempting to use a mortise chisel where a paring chisel is supposed to sit, or vice versa.

2. The honing guide is not clamped tight enough. It is advised to tighten with a screwdriver rather than just hand pressure.

Answered by Faithfull Tools on 9th of May 2019