Veritas Mk II guide trouble

[davemc444]

I recently strated using the Mk II to sharpen my chisels and plane blades. Previously I used the original Veritas guide and angle jig with no problem. But with the MK II, my plane blades and chisels always sharpen at an angle. When looking at the bevel side, the edge slopes downward to the right. The wider the blade, the greater the slope. This occurs with the primary bevel and the micro-bevel. Using the registration jig (and double-checking it with a square after the jig is removed), the blade is at a perfect 90 degree angle to the guide.

While I can compensate for the plane blades by adjusting the blade laterally within the handplane, there isn't much I can do when chopping dovetails with the chisels except hold them tilted to the side until the edge rests squarely on the line.

I have been a woodworker and woodcarver for over 20 years and have never had this problem before with any of the various methods I've used for sharpening over the years. I also am a technician in the production-print/laser field for over 30 years and daily work with tolerances that require adjustments in the .001" to .005" range. After analyzing this problem I've come to the conclusion that the roller is riding lower on one side than the other causing the guide to ride out of parallel to the stone. While using the guide I've tried biasing the downward pressure on the side of the blade that seems to have the higher point than the other, but even that can't compensate for the mismatch. My waterstones are completely flat. Today I even tried honing a micro-bevel using my brand-new, never-before-used 8000 waterstone from Veritas, and the micro-bevel was still skewed.

Any one else had this problem? Do I have a defective guide?

Dave

[davemc444]

This morning I checked the guide by inserting a plane blade with the bevel side up and the back side down. This side had been lapped flat. I lowered the blade edge onto a piece of plate glass: one end touched the glass while at the other end there was a 1/32" gap.

I'm going to call Lee Valley Monday and see if they will replace it. In the meantime, I guess if I want to fix my chisels and blades I'd have to shim them in the guide and start over.

Dave

[Jay Pique]

If that's the case I'd call them for sure. I've got the MKII and it works flawlessly for me. JP

[Andy]

I agree that that's a good idea - I've only had good experiences with their customer service. In the meantime, could you mount the blade at just a tiny bit of an angle to compensate? That sounds easier than shimming the roller.

My MkII guide has what might be a similar problem - the primary bevel comes out fine (or really close to square) but when I adjust the roller for a microbevel, it doesn't come out parallel to the primary bevel, so I get a long skinny triangle for a microbevel. I've been meaning to play with it more and then call up LV, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Andy

[David]

Mine works exactly like Andy's (primary bevel is perfect, microbevel is off a little). I've tried altering the amount of pressure I use, flattening the stone, cleaning the roller, all without much success. I also haven't gotten around to calling LV yet.

David

Andy wrote:

[davemc444]

Both my primary and secondary bevels come out "triangle" shaped every time. The only way to correct this condition is to place a shim between the blade (underneath it) and the area it rests on the guide bed on the side that the triangle is the widest until both ends of the blade contact the stone equally. I'm confident Lee Valley will somehow take care of my problem. My concern is that this may be a problem with many of their Mk II guides.

[brian_j_roth]

I've noticed a similar effect, primary bevel is square, while adjusting the roller gives a taper. I need to mess experiment with it some more....

[Australopithecus scobis]

Imho, the way the roller pivots when you adjust the secondary angle causes the tilt of the secondary bevel.

You want to use the thing gently. It's easy to knock your blade out of alignment when you are chasing the wire edge. I have to be careful when I turn the blade over to work on the back, on the fine stone. The jig likes to bump into the side of the stone.

Make sure you're putting equal pressure on with the clamp nuts. On mine, the bottom of the clamp assembly has a slight bow. The clamping pressure is only on the edges of the blade.

Use both hands. The ergonomics are awesome. Your fingers and thumbs just naturally fall into position to keep things straight. This jig has the best ergonomic design I've seen since the case of the Mac IISi.

Remember, this thing is a guide, not a machinist's vise.

[Joe Bleau]

I do not have that problem with my Mark II. I think you figured it out--the roller must be off. I'll bet they would replace it if you asked. Great people to deal with.

Joe

[davemc444]

They were very responsive and helpful when I called their customer service. They are sending me a new one. The problem isn't improper technique or the blade not being square to the guide. The problem is that as you lower the blade to the stone, the left-hand edge of the blade contacts the stone before the right-hand edge does. This sharpens the blade at an angle. If you apply enough pressure on the right-hand side in order to compensate and make the blade contact the stone fully along the blades width, the entire guide tilts making it impossible for the roller to ride squarely against the stone. This happens with both the primary and secondary bevels. I've used Veritas's early version of this guide for years and never had this problem.