S&J Honing Guide instructions?

[Harry Bloomfield]

Hi,

Does anyone have one of these and could point me towards some user instructions for it?

[Rob Morley]

My Stanley honing guide has a little flap that folds out to show you how far the blade should protrude from the clamp for various angles. If you know the blade angles you need, you can probably work out the distances by measurement and a bit of trigonometry.

[Andy Hall]

them, materials and stones etc.

The main difference between brands is how far out of the jig the tool should project to achieve the desired angles.

Other than that, the more important aspects are the steps to use.

Google using keywords "honing guide" and "using" and you will get a good selection of articles on the complete process.

e.g.

[Justin Time]

Cheap prices on Ebay if you want one. search "Honing"

[EricP]

lifetime ago.

I think there are also numbers on the thing, but without running out in the pissing rain to look, I can't be sure.

You can work it out by putting it on the stone and duplicating the tool manufacturers grinding angle by eye.

The bit they might not mention is that the wheel on the thing makes a groove in the stone unless you make sure the thing is used at different angles when pushing it to and fro.

[..]

put the chisels out from the end.

As another poster says a little Trig would be easy to work it out.

[Harry Bloomfield]

I got one for half that price, but it lacked any instructions and it would be long way back to where I bought it. The hints cast into the side of the unit were not very readable - just thought someone might have the instructions to hand.

Thanks for the other replies, Trig it is then :-)

[nightjar]

Slide guide along chisel, until it reaches stone. Tighten clamp. That is probably not the way the instructions tell you to do it, but it works well.

Personally, I prefer to grind chisels on a wheel, as the changing angle of the curve allows you to use a very fine angle at the edge without weakening the bit behind the edge too much.

Colin Bignell

[Chris Bacon]

A long time ago, enough information to use the things was on top of the tool, cast in - "Plane iron - project X units", "Chisel - Y units", etc.

[Chris Bacon]

After you've used it for a while, and got used to sharpening things, you may find that you can do without it! EricP's right, and you can also get this effect sharpening narrow blades, too.

[Andy Dingley]

narrow roller designs are very hard on your stones. They're unusable if you use waterstones. The Veritas guide is even better.

It's schoolboy trigonometry to work out the projection of the chisel to get a particular angle. Post the dimensions (length of the top flat area, distance from chisel to axle, wheel diameter) and I'll do a table for you.

As an approximation though, set the stick-out of the chisel (from the axle line) as wheel_radius / tan (half_chisel_angle). 25° isn't a bad start, which is 70mm for a 15mm wheel or 85mm for 3/4"

Or do it the other way and buy a little brass angle guide (couple of quid from Axminster).

Personally I just don't bother wih these guides. I resurrect worn chisels on a powered wheel with a toolrest setup with a gauge, but everyday sharpening I just do by eye.