Veritas® Sharpening System

The Veritas Sharpening system is unique and innovative. The system includes the Veritas woodworking precision honing guide and angle jig. This system offers a fast and easy way to produce a very sharp edge on blades.
I use it to sharpen the blade of a plane, and chisels when needed. You can use it to sharpen a variety of tools.

The angle jig gives you the correct angle for sharpening. The Honing guide has a brass bolt that allows you to set a second bevel. This gives you a sharp edge with little effort. I think Lee Valley Tools gives you an excellent sharpening system.

Features from Lee Valley Tools:

First, use the guide in its normal position to grind the basic bevel angle for the tool. Then, on a fine stone, hone a micro bevel at a slightly different angle, set by a turn of the guide-setting knob. Since the secondary bevel is small, you remove less steel and arrive at a sharp edge quickly and with little effort.
This is all done without unclamping or resetting the tool in the guide.

The guide will hold blades up to 2-3/8" wide and 5/8" thick and, in combination with the Veritas angle jig, lets you set blade projection to obtain any one of the five most common bevel angles (15°, 20°, 25°, 30°, and 35°). You loosen the knurled brass bolt, turn the wheel to the selected angle facet, and use it to set your blade angle. With a blade loosely held in the honing guide, roll the guide up to the wheel and clamp the blade. You are ready to hone.

The wide roller on our guide and the positive positioning action of the jig automatically square the blade in the guide as you set the angle. The bed of the guide has a series of parallel lines to let you visually align narrow chisels or square up blades that have accidentally become skewed. Because the roller on the guide is mounted on a spring-loaded adjustable cam shaft, you can set the roller at any one of three different heights where it automatically locks in position. Most important, you can return to exactly the same angle each time you want to hone a blade. This improves the accuracy of the process and substantially reduces sharpening time.

The Veritas woodworking sharpening system includes a honing guide, angle jig, and instructions.

Made in Canada. Patented.

Water Stones

The Norton Combination Water Stones are ideal for sharpening. The ones in the picture have a different grit on each side.

You can keep them stored in water. When ready to use, put them in a stone holder. Set the angle of your honing guide. Make a few passes, and then turn the stone over for a finer grit. Can't get much easier.

I store the water stones in a Tupperware style container. It makes for easy access and doesn't' cost much. The water stones fit tightly in the stone holder that you can buy reasonably.