Premium Honing Guide Reviews

4 Rating 7 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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“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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 months 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 5 months 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 5 months ago

“Not a review as I am still deciding if I should by this one or the LN. But I am a bit baffled after reading the first two reviewers who both state they are extremely qualified at sharpening and have 180 degree experiences using the same tool. ..???? I welcome feedback. Cheers”

2 Helpful Report

Posted 8 months ago

SharpeningSpecialist

Unverified Reviewer

“I have used 3 different honing guides in this style, and all had their own flaws. The cheap guides which are available everywhere (including here on woodcraft) for less than 20 dollars do not hold the blade truly perpendicular to the guide, resulting in a skew to the edge. Another guide I tried would not accommodate many blades due to a poorly designed shape in the portion of the guide that clamps to the blade. And now, unfortunately, I must say that the same is true for this guide. As it comes, the guide will not hold a plane iron. The portion of the guide in which the blade seats is shaped like this \__/ , resulting in the blade being squeezed upward and popping out as the screw is tightened. I attempted sharpening on 3 different plane irons, all with similar results. I was able to get one iron clamped in long enough so do some of the rough sharpening, but then it popped out while in use. One must also be careful when tightening the screw that the top of the iron or chisel stays flat against the rails, as the slanted sides combined with the twisting motion involved with screwing are wont to make one side of the blade raise up and no longer be in contact with the rails. In order to render the device functional one must take the slant out of the inner sides of the guide using a file with a safe side (or just put tape over one side), so that the portion where the blade is clamped looks more like this |__| . After that modification, which should certainly not be necessary on a simple device with such a steep price tag, the guide works just fine. Additionally, although no a big deal, the wheel does want a bit of additional lubricant. The base marked with where to clamp for specific bevel angles is a very nice feature for those of us who need to sharpen many different tools at different angles... Thumbs up on that.”

4 Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

DT From South Park

Verified Reviewer

“I've had this guide for a few weeks now, and have used it extensively. Absolutely one of the best on the market at any price. For reference, I have and use Lie Nielsen's guide, the new Veritas side clamping guide, Veritas Mark II guide, and I do freehand sharpening. I mention this to make it clear I have a lot of experience in sharpening. The guide is well made and includes a top notch setting jig for just about any angle you would ever want to use. It most closely resembles the Lie Nielsen guide in design, which is a good thing, since the LN guide is, in my opinion, the best side clamping guide available today. The Woodriver one here is a very, very close second. I have had no problems with the guide holding both chisels and plane blades perfectly straight and getting perfect 90Â° cutting edges, even after taking the blade out and repositioning it for a tiny secondary bevel. That shows a very well made guide with some tight tolerances in manufacture. This Woodriver guide can handle any chisel or plane blade that will fit in the opening of the guide, regardless of how thick or thin the edges of the chisel are. This is a serious limitation of the inexpensive Eclipse style guides that sell for under 20 dollars, and can be a problem for the Veritas side clamping guide. The cheaper made guides cannot handle less expensive chisels with thicker side edges. Those chisels are Childs play for the Woodriver one due to the sides of the guide having a large single plane reference surface to grab the chisel. One slight issue is with the main screw grabbing sometimes when adjusting the guide. I believe this is due to excessive clearance between the threads of the stainless screw and the aluminum body parts of the guide. It's not a game changer, and is pretty easy to get around, but it's an area they could make improvements in future versions. Another small issue (so far) is that I had the bearing seize up on me about a week into using it. After freeing it up and applying a drop of lubricant it's free again and hasn't happened again. Highly recommended.”

3 Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago