Veritas Mk.II Honing Guide
Veritas's Mk.II honing guide solves many of the problems associated with sharpening jigs. As a top clamping sharpening guide, it holds blades firmly in precise position for honing. Its long roller wheel prevents tipping and utilizes a three-position eccentric cam for applying micro-bevels without repositioning the blade. It includes an Angle Registration Jig that automatically squares your blade to the guide — no more skewed blades. The Angle Registration Jig has three color-coded bevel ranges: high (25° to 54°), standard (15° to 40°) and back-bevel (10° to 20°). The easy-to-use, built-in bevel stop allows you to choose your bevel angle without trial and error.
In short, the Mk. II jig makes sharpening easy and repeatable for first timers or veterans. It holds firmly flat or tapered chisels and provides a reliable way to clamp oddly-shaped blades or blades with angled edges.
The Mk.II Honing Guide is available in two versions: the standard guide and the narrow guide. Both versions use the same roller base. The standard head and narrow head can be swapped in less than a minute. If you already the standard jig, the narrow-blade head is also sold individually for your existing jig.
Standard Mark II Honing Guide
The Standard Guide clamps blades down to the reference face of the guide using a wide bar and two thumbscrews – ensuring a tight grip and no slippage. It holds flat and tapered chisels and oddly-shaped blades from 1/2" to 2-7/8" wide and up to 15/32" thick. It can hone bevels from 15° to 54° and back bevels from 10° to 20°.
This is the preferred option for woodworkers who are primarily sharpening plane irons and wider chisels. It also handles unusual blades like short Stanley-type 151 spokeshave blades and skew chisels. (It's easy to precisely align skew chisels using the Veritas Skew Jig – sold separately.)
The Standard Mk.II Honing Guide includes a standard roller base, a standard clamping head and an angle registration jig.
Narrow Blade Mark II Honing Guide
The Narrow Blade Guide clamps blades from the sides using canted parallel jaws. The clamping mechanism is self-centering to keep those narrow blades in the middle of the wide roller. It holds blades from 1/8" to 1-1/2" wide; bevel-edge chisels up to 15/32" thick and squared-edged chisels up to 11/32" thick. It hones bevels from 15° to 40° and back bevels from 10° to 20°.
If you sharpen chisels and narrow plane blades most of the time, the narrow jig is the right choice for you.
The Narrow-blade Mk.II Honing Guide includes a standard roller base, a narrow-blade clamping head and an angle registration jig.
(Please note: the Standard Clamping Head is not sold separately at this time, so buying the standard head later is currently not an option. If you need both narrow and standard clamping heads consider purchasing the Deluxe Set.)
Camber Roller Assembly
Camber Roller
This barrel-shaped roller assembly replaces the standard roller base on either Mk.II Honing Guide. The Camber Roller lets you alternate finger pressure over either side of your plane blade to produce a slightly convex radius on the cutting edge. Instructors such as Toshio Odate and David Charlesworth advocate curved or cambered edges to prevent ridgelines when smoothing wide panels. Once installed, you still use the sliding stop to set bevel angles and the 3-position cam for micro-bevels if desired.
The Camber Roller Assembly is not standard equipment on either jig, but it is included in the the Deluxe Set.
Deluxe Mark II Honing Set
If you sharpen a variety of hand tools, the Deluxe Mk.II Honing Set should handle most of your needs. The set includes a standard roller base, a camber roller base, a standard clamping head, a narrow-blade clamping head and the angle registration jig.
Jig Upgrades
If you already have the standard jig, we also offer the narrow-blade head by itself so you can upgrade your existing jig.
Additional Information
Instructions for MKII