Easy Honing Guide

I long thought I could do an acceptable job of sharpening chisels and plane blades by hand. Then I used a honing guide and was amazed at the difference. Honing guides are not expensive. YouTube has many honing guides a person could build, but most require machining on a lathe or a milling machine. I wanted to develop a design that works well and mostly uses wood scraps, and can be made with simple hand tools.

• 3/4 inch plywood
• 1/4 inch dowel rod
• #8 or #10 machine screws and wing nuts
• 1/8 x 3/4 inch flat bar steel

I used a 3 inch holesaw in a drill press to make two wheels from 3/4 inch plywood (first photo). The finished wheels are 2 13/16 inches in diameter (72mm). I wanted them to be as large as I can make them, but still have a centered hole after cutting. I could have used a handheld electric drill, but the drill press was handy, even if not mandatory. The second photo shows using a screwdriver and the slots in the side of the holesaw to remove the circular pieces of wood after I finished cutting. When I cut the circular pieces I cut half of the thickness from one side and then finished from the other side. See the third photo. That left rough fibers I smoothed with a wood rasp. A vise held the circular piece while I used the rasp. See the fourth photo. I assembled the wheel truck using a piece of 1/4 inch dowel rod 5 1/2 inches long (14cm).

A chisel or a plane blade will be clamped to the blade support piece. The first photo shows the length of two chisels I have. I have used the 3/4 inch chisel a lot during the last 50+ years. It may be shorter than the 3/8 inch chsel because it has been sharpened quite a few times. The length of the blade support will be just a little over two inches (50mm) to fit the flat part of my 3/4 inch chisel. The second photo shows part of the cut for the length of the blade support has been made on my table saw. The third photo shows the plywood ripped for the desired width of the blade support. The widest plane blade I have is just under 2 inches. Ideally the blade support should be almost an inch wider. (I erred and did not allow enough extra. That meant I did not have space to drill holes for machine screws for clamping a plane blade or a chisel to the blade support. Rather than being able to mount screws in drilled holes, I welded machine screws to bar stock. This is supposed to be a project that does not require welding.)

I need to bevel the front of the blade support to 30 degrees for chisels and about 45 or 50 degrees for plane blades. (Some additional refinement of the honing angle is possible by how much of the blade extends beyond the edge of the blade support when clamped in place for honing.) The first photo shows setting a bevel finder on a speed square to 30 degrees. The second photo shows sawing the bevel by hand. (I would like to have used my table saw, but my fingers would have been too close to the spinning sawblade for safety.) The third photo shows the 30 degree bevel completed and the blade support is marked for cutting a bevel at 45 degrees. The saw I used is one I made.

The first photo shows the bottom side of the blade support. Notice the pencil line parallel to the 45 degree bevel. It is set inward 1/4 inch (6mm) from the edge of the bevel. The second photo shows a kerf I made with my handsaw from the previous step. It is not quite 1/4 inch deep. The third photo shows aligning the 1/4 inch dowel for the axle with the kerf from the second photo and making a pencil like along the other side of the dowel rod. The fourth photo shows both kerfs have been cut. The fifth photo shows removing waste to make a channel for the axle. The sixth photo shows using a round file to smooth, shape, and make the depth of the channel even. The seventh photo shows the blade support resting on the axle. I measured from the top of the blade support to the top of the axle and checked the same measurement on the other side of the blade support to be certain the blade support is not cocked to one side.

Assuming the blade support is wide enough, drill holes for machine screws and insert them. Make a piece of bar that fits over the clamping screws. Use wing nuts to clamp the chisel or plane blade to the blade support. Be careful to keep the chisel or plane blade aligned so the cutting edge meets the grinding stone evenly.

The photo shows the blade mount with the 30 degree bevel forward for sharpening a chisel. The wheels are set wide and provide more stability than a machined honing guide that rides on the sharpening stone. As mentioned before, chisels have a sharpening angle of about 30 degrees. Some adjustment is possible by how much of the chisel extends beyond the front of the blade support piece. (The sharpening stone is a diamond sharpener, but an oilstone works well, too.) See also the photo used in the Introduction where the 45 degree bevel is in the front position for a plane blade. Very little pressure is needed. Apply pressure to the area between the axle and the sharpening stone to avoid stressing the axle too much and to sharpen efficiently.

For easier use and longer life, rub some paraffin on the axle.