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I use wet/dry sandpaper to sharpen my plane irons and chisels. But I’ve always had two concerns with this method. First, I don’t get even wear on the sandpaper. And there’s another problem. I’m only able to sharpen one tool at a time. How great would it be to have the ability to sharpen several chisels at once? And doing so would give me even wear on the sheet of sandpaper.

Enter the Veritas® Honing Guide Mk.XXXXII. It’s a new design that every shop needs for sharpening tools. I had Lee Valley send one of these to me for evaluation. I have to tell you that I’ve not been this excited about a new tool for a long time. I was able to have a complete set of chisels sharpened within ten minutes! And I could sharpen the irons in my No. 3, No. 4, No. 4½, No. 5, and No. 6 planes all at the same time!  What a time-saver!

My only complaint with the unit is the weight. It requires two steady hands to move back and forth across your sharpening media of choice.  But at around $140, I think the trade off is worth it!

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Oh…by the way…Happy April Fool’s Day!  

I’ve added a new link to the tabs at the top of this page. It’s for WoodNet.net.

WoodNet is the internet side of the three great woodworking magazines published by August Home Publishing. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. It has links to PlansNOW, Tips & Techniques, Forums, and Tool Reviews. I also was amazed by the huge amount of interesting links they’ve tracked down on the Links page.

There was a time when any meaningful discussion about which cabinet-style table saw one should buy was limited largely to comparing the relative merits of the Powermatic 66 to the Delta Unisaw. But that’s certainly not the case anymore.
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