Veritas Mk.II Narrow-Blade Honing Guide

Thank you for purchasing a Veritas Mk.II Narrow-Blade Honing Guide. We’ve put together some useful information to help you get the most out of it. Although this will be of particular benefit to recent purchasers, we hope those who have had their guide for a while will find something of value here, too.

Setting Up the Honing Guide

Before installing your chisel in the guide, polish the back of the blade, working your way up to the finest grit of your sharpening medium. Veritas blades are lapped flat, so you are simply polishing this surface to the same degree that you will be honing the bevel. Other tools may require lapping. Before increasing the bevel angle of a new blade, consider using it for a time with its factory angle. If you experience edge failure, increase the angle by 5°. This approach lets you optimize the cutting geometry for the work you do.

It is easy and straightforward to install a tool in the self-centering guide. The basic set-up for the Mk.II Narrow-Blade Honing Guide consists of four steps:

1) Assembling the guide
Secure the blade carrier to the roller body in the yellow position with the locking knob, and set the desired primary bevel on the registration jig using the yellow scale (Photo 1).

Photo 1 – In this example, we will be honing a 25° primary bevel.

2) Positioning the registration jig
To set the registration jig, slide it onto the blade carrier and follow these steps:

i) Set the jig such that the pointer on the top jaw of the jig aligns with the approximate width of your blade on the scale on the top of the blade carrier (Diagram).

Diagram – In this example, the stop is set for a 1" wide blade and a 30° bevel angle using the yellow standard-angle configuration.

ii) Tighten the registration jig clamp knob only finger tight.

iii) Set the registration stop to the desired bevel angle, using the preset in the same color chosen in step 1.

3) Installing the blade
With the honing guide held upside down, slide the blade into the registration jig through the clamp jaws until the cutting edge touches the registration stop (Photo 2).

Photo 2 – The blade bears against the fence as well as the stop.

Finally, hand tighten the blade clamp knobs firmly, and slide the registration jig off the blade carrier (Photo 3).

Photo 3 – The clamp jaws keep the blade square to the jig.

4) Setting the Roller Position
In the last step, rotate the micro-bevel knob to the 12 o’clock position to hone the primary bevel, or to the 6 o’clock position for a micro-bevel of 1° to 2°.

Using the Honing Guide

After installing the chisel in the honing guide, you can sharpen its edge in just a few simple steps.

Before you start honing, place the set-up on a flat surface to double check the blade projection (Photo 4).

Photo 4 – For primary bevels, the micro-bevel knob is set at 12 o’clock. If you only want to refresh the micro-bevel, turn the knob to 6 o’clock.

Hold the honing guide in both hands with the thumbs on the lower roller body and the index fingers on the blade (Photos 5 & 6).

Photo 5 – Apply only light downward pressure on the blade to let the sharpening medium do the job.

Photo 6 – Use steady back-and-forth strokes under light pressure to prevent digging into the stone.

When you have progressed through the finest medium, if a micro-bevel is desired, turn the micro-bevel knob to the 6 o’clock position and make a few strokes on the last grit. Lastly, remove the burr on the back with the last grit (Photo 7).

Photo 7 – Place the blade’s flat side on the sharpening medium and make a few side-to-side passes to remove the wire edge.