Lie Nielsen honing guide

[AndrewG]

Hi all,

I’m looking at getting the Lie Nielsen honing guide to sharpen my chisels/plane irons. I have blue spruce cabinet and dovetail chisels that I want to sharpen.

I know they say they are made to fit LN tools, but from my research they will work with other tools. I found some posts saying they will sharpen blue spruce chisels, and some that say they don’t. I’m not sure if those who say they don’t were not using the chisel jaws.

Can someone who has BS cabinet and dovetail chisels please confirm this for me before I order? I’d really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.
Andrew

 

[Birdhunter]

I have the LN guide and use it with BS and other chisels and LN planes. I use the water stones that LN sells.

I bought a number of LN inserts for the guide that enable sharpening of skewed blades.

I made a jig that allows me to set the angle for whatever I am sharpening. LN’s web site has the plans.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

My advice?

Veritas honing guide, plus a selection of DMT Dia-Sharp diamond plates. 36 years on the tools as a pro - I've never found anything which comes anywhere near close. Don't be misled by claims of mythical unicorn-tears chisel sharpness powers, especially when applied to products with insanity-level price tags.

 

[rst]

I use the same system as Woodbutcher, works perfect.  I recently bought the 3m films as I had a piece of tempered 3/8" glass I could use...perk of being a glazier. 

 

[mattgam]

I use the LN jig with many brands of chisels with no issues on diamond plates.  I would ask though since you are all Blue Spruce on your chisels why not use their honing guide designed for them?

 

[AndrewG]

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve been using the veritas mk2 honing guide for 10 plus years. The LN looks easier to setup with no fuss.

I got the narrow attachment for the veritas for chisels which works fine, but my 1/8” still moves in the guide.

As for the blue spruce honing guide. I had one and sold it (got it second hand cheap). It’s limited to only chisels.

I guess I just like to continually review how I do these things, the LN as mentioned just looks easier to set up. Both jigs require changing jaws for chisels/plane irons but it seems the LN has a broader range of widths it can handle with just the standard jaws. I think the chisel jaws will handle the 1/4” and below.

 

[aCircle]

I've got both the LN honing guide and the woodpeckers guide that they just re-released as a one-time tool.

Because I'm not too far away from the LN office, I once had a chat with Deneb when I was in. (Side note: if you can ever make it, you should go! The showroom is a delight and my techniques have benefited so much from my visits there.) He's understandably proud of the LN guide. I also built their angle-setting station.

First on the guides: I use the LN for chisels, and the woodpeckers for larger plane irons. The single wheel on the LN makes it much easier to handle and you can use more of the stone because you don't have the wheel outriggers. The trade-off, though, is if you like to keep plane irons at 90º then the two wheels keeps you on autopilot more. They're more stable.

It's worth noting that if you like a bit of camber on some irons, which I do, then the single wheel of the LN guide is far superior.

And one more note: if you can get it still, the LN guide will not work with the woodpeckers angle-setting jig. The woodpeckers angle-setting jig only works with their honing guide. So while I don't use the LN angle-setting jig for holding stones or anything like that, I do still keep it around for setting the angle on the LN honing guide.

Happy to answer other questions if you've got 'em.