Premium Honing Guide Reviews

4.2 Rating 11 Reviews

About Woodcraft:

Woodcraft Supply, LLC is one of the nation's oldest and largest suppliers of quality woodworking tools and supplies. You'll find Woodcraft stores in more than 70 major metropolitan areas across the U.S.; and Woodcraft annually distributes 1.5 million catalogs featuring more than 10,000 items to all 50 states and 117 foreign countries. The Woodcraft catalog is a standard among woodworkers as the most complete offering of first rate products for woodworking available anywhere. Woodcraft also publishes six issues of Woodcraft Magazine annually.

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Phone:

800-535-4486

Location:

1177 Rosemar Rd,
Parkersburg
West Virginia
26105

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“This is an updated review. I’m giving a 5 star rating to offset my previous review. I reread the product description and it plainly says standard bench chisels and plane irons, not chisels in general. All in all, a nice honing guide well worth the money. I would recommend it.”

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Posted 3 months ago

“I’ve used cheap Amazon guides that held blades okay but put a skewed edge on my tools. This one is definitely a step up in that regard. It holds my planer blades just fine and the angle guide is very accurate and easy to set. Once set putting a nice edge on a planer is quite easy. The reason for only three stars is that contrary to the description, it is not the best choice for chisels. My mortise chisels won’t fit into the guide at all. There is not enough clearance between the roller and the guide rails for them to fit. My bench chisels fit into the guide but you have to fit them in perfectly, which is difficult for something with a handle, and then really jack down the screw. With practice it got easier. After saying all this I can imagine the same issues with a top of the line guide, but I can’t say with any certainty. If my mortise chisels fit into the guide, I would definitely bump up my rating to 4 or 5 stars.”

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Posted 4 months ago

“I purchased this honing guide over a year ago and just now purchased a second one. It is a major improvement over the original Eclipse guide. Plus the angle setting guide that comes with it makes using the guide for repeatable accuracy a breeze. I noticed another reviewer claims that plane irons aren't properly held by the guide and pop out at the top. He's confused about how to place a plane blade in the guide. Whether chisel or plane blade, hold the guide upside down and lay back of the blade on top of the guide bars. Use the angle guide to set the desired angle and tighten the guide. When you turn the honing guide over your blade will now be held firming in place under the guide bars and above the wheel. I've freehand sharpened for years, but this honing guide is quick, gives repeatable results, and insures a bevel that is 90 degrees to the sides of my chisel or plane blade.”

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Posted 4 months ago

“Excellent tool, I had a top clamp style guide before and could not get consistently squared bevels, this one gives repeatable results every time. The machining on the threads and block is very precise, so much that after sharpening my new chisel set, [primary and secondary bevels] the swarth caused the threads to bind. I had to rinse the tool, dry it and use WD-40 to flush out the threads. I did not mind the cleaning as the results were stellar. The bevel is well made and works well with the guide. Recommended!”

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Posted 6 months ago

“Seems like a quality tool however I ran into a problem on my first use. The brass knob used to tighten the sides against the chisel is reverse thread. Which is fine, I suppose they do this so you can get it lose after tightening. The only problem is it came loose when tightening against the chisel and I when I would tighten it as much as I could without making it come lose the chisel would not hold position, it came loose every time. I have put some really strong lock tight on it and hopefully it will fix the problem. If not, I will be returning it and get the Veritas system.”

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Posted 10 months ago

William Swayne

Unverified Reviewer

“This honing guide is a huge improvement over the earlier version. Well worth the upgrade. That is not what earned a 5 Star rating. The Woodcraft Store in Roanoke VA and in particular the owner, Doug, deserve more than 5 stars for exceptional customer service. I attended a seminar on hand plane sharpening that was taught by Doug. He did an outstanding job and based on what I saw I purchased the new WoodRiver Honing Guide to replace my old one which never really worked well. After the seminar I mentioned to Doug that I had a WoodRiver 5 1/2 Jack Plane that I just couldn’t get set up correctly. He told me to bring it in one morning the following week which I did. He spent the better part of 2 hours helping me to get my plane sharpened and working correctly. He didn’t need to do that but he did…happily. Above and beyond.”

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Posted 1 year ago

DT From SOUTH PARK

Unverified Reviewer

“Not sure why "Sharpening Specialist" had such a bad experience with this guide. My experience was completely opposite. The guide is at least as good as the LN guide. It works perfectly. Not sure what else to say other than look at my review from 2 years ago. That explains everything.”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“This is a response to the reviewer who had issues with the beveled sides of this jig. If you look at the pictures on this website, read the directions, or look at the box it is clear that the tool being sharpened goes underneath the cross bars and not above it. As a result, the beveled sides actually help secure it more firmly against those cross pieces instead of popping it out the top. There certainly does not need to be any filing done or modifications made. I only just bought this and can’t give a serious review on its use, but it seems like a very well designed and built tool. I liked it quite a bit more than the veritas one I compared it to in the store. Just wanted to clear up a misconception in these reviews and encourage people to take a closer look at this item.”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago