blue spruce honing guide

[zapdafish]

https://bluesprucetoolworks.com/collections/sharpening/products/blue-spruce-honing-guide

tempted because I like shiny things, lol. That clear one looks pretty sweet. Any thoughts? Currently I have a worksharp and rarely use chisels but would like to use more handtools in the future.

 

[ChuckM]

I'm not seeing any significant advantages this new jig offers than other premium side or regular clamping jigs in the market, some of which also have wide wheels.

But I don't think the comment that metal wheels would foul the stone holds water. I've seen stone surfaces gouged by chisel corners, but never one ruined by a roller on a sharpening jig. Even chisel gouges can be fixed by flattening the stone, say, with a coarse diamond stone with ease.

Please share your experience after you use it.

 

[Rick Herrick]

Glad you brought this up.  I saw the same ad.  I know next to nothing about hand planes but played with an old one I found and had some good luck with it.  Bought a new apron plane from Lee Valley and some scary sharp grits, but haven't spent the time setting up, sharpening, etc.  I bought a cheap honing guide but curious if this higher quality Blue Spruce option would be a good investment.

 

[Kpp80202]

Looks like a nice, premium device. I have a cheap narrow roller honing guide that's been modified, a Veritas 1st gen model, and a roller guide that came with my Work Sharp WS3000. I tend to use the Work Sharp one the most, and haven't ever had any issue with the wheel (narrow or wide) damaging the stone. The wheel can get a little rough looking from rolling on grit, but works smoothly.

 

[jeffinsgf]

Chuck, When I wrote "fouling", I wasn't thinking of a gouge or groove, but rather metal from the wheel being deposited on the stone, making it less effective.

 

[Birdhunter]

I’ve been using the Lie Nielsen sharpening jig with synthetic stones for years with zero fouling. The LN jig accommodates skewed chisels. Not sure if the Blue Spruce jig does.

I bought the Workshop machine but greatly prefer stones. The Worksharp system is faster but the LN jig with good stones works far better for me. I get a mirror finish on chisels and plane irons.

Feeling a well tuned plane hiss through wood and produce a translucent curl is very satisfying.

 

[ear3]

I'm struggling to find specs on the site about blade width capacity.  From the pictures, it looks like it won't accommodate blades wider than around 2", meaning it would only be good for chisels and, perhaps, a jack plane blade or smaller.

FWIW [member=8208]zapdafish[/member] I started on the Worksharp a number of years ago, since it had the ability to do lathe chisels.  As I started integrating more hand tools, though, I found it less than ideal, particularly for larger plane blades.  The LV guide was next, but I encountered problems with the roller seizing up after about a year or so of use (I was able to replace it, but still).  So I eventually moved to the Lie Nielsen guide, and have used that ever since. 

 

[rmhinden]

I have the Lie-Nielsen Honing Guide that I got after trying a few of the cheap knock offs.

It works with all of my chisels and plane blades with the standard jaws.

It is expensive, but worth it.  The Blue Spruce honing guide is almost 2x as much, I hope it is that much better.

BTW, I watched the video on their web page.  It was the guy from Woodpecker, I wonder what the relationship is between Blue Spruce and Woodpecker.

Bob

 

[ChuckM]

Chuck, When I wrote "fouling", I wasn't thinking of a gouge or groove, but rather metal from the wheel being deposited on the stone, making it less effective.

I have had no experience with wheels other than the brass ones (Veritas), and they all work fine with my Japanese and Norton stones. I didn't notice any contamination, and I suppose that even if there had been any, the flattening step would've taken care of it.

The enemy of water stones is not metal debris (from the wheels or chisels/blades), but oil.

 

[hdv]

[member=66813]rmhinden[/member] : Blue Spruce nowadays is a subsidiary of Woodpeckers. I don't remember the exact date, but I think they bought them the year before last year.

 

[rmhinden]

[member=66813]rmhinden[/member] : Blue Spruce nowadays is a subsidiary of Woodpeckers. I don't remember the exact date, but I think they bought them the year before last year.

Thanks, I had no idea.

Bob

 

[hdv]

I did a search of the forum to find out when it was and found this announcement from 2020:
https://www.festoolownersgroup.com/...purchased-by-woodpeckers/msg604967/#msg604967

 

[kitfit1]

At $220/£168, the Blue Spruce honing guide looks very poor value for money to me.
The Veritas guide that i use was expensive at $150/£114. But at least the MkII Deluxe can sharpen blades 2 7/8 of an inch wide with deadly accuracy.