TOLESA Honing Guide Yellow for Wood Chisel Edge Sharpening Holder,Fits Chisels 1/8” to 1-7/8”, Fits Planer Blades 1-3/8” to 3-1/8”

This is a useful tool for maintaining a consistent edge on your chisels. Clearly made of high quality products, it completes its function to satisfaction.Be careful when using the lower clamp to hold your metal, as it is important to keep it level to the stone, and it can be easy to try to set it inside the included bevel (if it doesn't fit you will have issues doing it that way).Advice- clean the bearing wheel between grits to avoid contaminating your stones. Look up dual beveling planer blades and chisels on YouTube or Google to cut down on time spent sharpening. And concentrate on maintaining a straight line while sharpening to avoid uneven bevels.

Like many such guides, this is closely modeleded on the old English "Eclipse" honing guide. The reasons that this style has been copied so much, is that it is very simple, and it works.This tool looks and feels well-made. Roller is smooth - though it's a good idea to apply a drop of oil before first use...it may help to keep honing liquid and swarf out. One of the gripping surfaces is slightly cambered (arched). Some reviewers hate this, say it prevents getting the blade (plane iron or chisel) positioned straight for a square edge. Not true. The flat side provides the blade's orientation, and the cambered side gives the guide a tight hold on the blade. I've used this type of guide with two flat sides, and the grip is weaker - I needed to tighten with a screwdriver to hold the blade. This guide's knurled knob does have a slot for a screwdriver, but I haven't used it yet - tightening by hand seemed to be fine. Besides which, tightening too much on a plane iron - because of the slot running down the iron - will cause the honing guide to actually distort the iron, giving you a curved cutting edge.ALSO...like all Eclipse-style guides, the small central roller allows you to tip left or right. Sharpening a plane iron, the width of the cutting edge itself acts as a level-guide - that is, IF its last sharpening was square. If someone skewed the edge the last time, that will hurt rather than help. Even on a square edge, if you apply more pressure on one corner than the other, you can skew it in a heartbeat. For chisels, espacially the narrow ones, this tipping or leaning is even harder to avoid. You must take extra caution to keep the edge absolutely horizontal on the stone, and check frequently to correct any skewing.If you can accept and live with those "features", this is a good little guide, at a very good price.

I tried free handed sharpening but the results were inconsistent. With this tool’s bearings and it’s solid clamping mechanism it made sharpening a breeze and my chisels came out razor sharp. I am very pleased with the results and ease of use. I believe it’s high quality and a great value.

I was free hand sharpening my tools and decided to get this honing guide. This was a wise buy. It has suggested measurements for different angles depending on what you want to sharpen. My chiseling and planing experience is now superb.The only drawback it has is that small chisels like 3/8 and smaller are harder to keep flat so you have to move slower when sharpening.Works well with my diamond stone and oil stone.

Most important is to hone your tools on a dead flat surface. Use a 1/4" thick piece of plate glass 8 1/2" by 11" or a black granite surface plate if available. I recommend using wet or dry abrasive paper. If the edge is damaged or out of square start with 80 or 100 grit and work your way up to 400 grit. If you are using a honing stone that is not dead flat your chisel edge will not be consistent side to side. Also, make sure the chisel or plane blade is firmly clamped in the "V" grooves on the honing guide.

I had to file the space for my chisels to fit. Would not buy again. Better ones out there

I haven't got around to using this yet. But it's an essential aid to sharpening different wood working toolsas such a chisels and lathe tools, and maybe cutter blades. Actually, I guess that would be it as far as the type of tool this will hold goes. Anything you want to sharpen on a stone that will allow the Holder to grasp it would work, but I guess it's mostly for chisels. It simply holds the tool and keeps it at the existing bevel angle. And Yes, many woodworkers have the control to hold the angle without assistance. But, it is a helpful aid to most of us. To be clear this is an item on Amazon that different wholesaler's put their name on it. I think they are all the same item in different colors and slightly different pricing. That said these Folk's have it in Blue and I love blue. They were cool on the price, it arrived on time, and was as described. I'm happy! :)

Surface that the item to be sharpened sets against was not flat, I had to file it down . Poor quality workmanship on that part. After I filed it it works ok, but one must be careful to get the tool square in the bracket. Simple design and smooth running wheels makes for easy operation.