# Honing Guide

Hewn Tool Library · https://hewn.build/tools/honing-guide

Corrected: An independent reviewer read this entry and found corrections. They have been applied to the text, and the reviewer re-checked the correction that mattered most for safety and found it done; the others have not been re-checked yet. The list at the end is the record of what changed.

Cite as: "Honing Guide." Hewn Tool Library, hewn.build/tools/honing-guide. Reviewed 2026-07-29.

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## Identity
- **Name**: Honing guide (also: honing jig, sharpening jig, blade-honing guide). Common named variants: Eclipse-style side-clamp guide, Veritas Mk.II (top-clamp/roller), Richard Kell guide, Stanley No. 50. "Honing guide," "sharpening guide" and "grinding rest" overlap historically; a guide for a flat bench abrasive is not automatically compatible with a powered wheel or another maker's jig.
- **Family / category**: Abrading family, sharpening accessories. Sibling to the Sharpening Waterstone, Diamond Bench Stone, Tormek, Grindstone and ProEdge entries, but distinct in kind: it is not an abrasive medium. It is a blade-positioning fixture.
- **One-line**: A fixture that holds a chisel or plane iron at a set projection and roller geometry against a compatible flat abrasive, making a chosen bevel easier to reproduce than unaided hand positioning. It does not abrade the blade and does not guarantee squareness or an exact angle.

## ✦ How NOT to use it
- **Not-for**: a blade the guide's maker does not list within its stated width, thickness, length, edge-shape and jaw capacity; an abrasive the maker advises against; a gouge or continuously curved edge in a standard guide; any attempt to modify the clamping surfaces unless the maker explicitly authorizes the procedure.
- **Dangerous**: a honing guide holds an exposed, increasingly sharp edge under hand force. **The guide is passive; the edge is not.** Cuts from the edge are the principal hazard, and this section replaces the earlier assurance that the injury profile was "genuinely thin." *"No incident report was found" is a research result, not a hazard grade.* Controls, in the order you meet them:
  1. **Inspect before use:** the guide, fasteners, roller, abrasive and blade. CCOHS (re-read this pass via a fetch summary) says to check the tool before use and to discard broken, dull or rusty blades, and notes that dull blades need more force and raise the risk of injury.
  2. **Use a stable, non-slip sharpening surface,** and keep the bench, floor and grip from becoming slippery with water or oil. CCOHS likewise advises a stable surface, slip-resistant matting, and a mechanical device to hold the item where possible.
  3. **Keep the cutting edge and its likely slip path away from your hands and body.** CCOHS: keep the edge out of the cutting path and out of any path the blade might take if it slips; keep hands clear of blade edges.
  4. **Verify full, secure clamping before every grit,** and tighten only as the maker instructs.
  5. **Use both hands and light, controlled pressure** in the maker's grip and stroke. Do not force a dull, loaded or dry abrasive contrary to its instructions.
  6. **Stop** if the blade moves, cants or slips, the roller binds, or the guide is damaged. A jammed roller can wear a flat and change control.
  7. **Protect or cover the edge during transport and storage.** CCOHS covers storing edged tools securely and not leaving them where they cannot be seen.
  8. **Wear eye protection where the maker or the particle risk requires it.** CCOHS says safety glasses protect the eyes if a blade shatters or breaks; its Wood Chisels page also calls for eye protection when sharpening may release particles `[manual, relayed]`. **Kell specifically requires eye protection and clearing others from the area, because circlips can be dangerous.**
  9. **Follow model-specific service warnings** and clean grit and slurry as both makers direct.
- **Damaging**:
  - **Concentrated stone wear.** See `correct use`, step 3. The earlier claims that a guide dishes a waterstone faster than freehand, and that imprecise resetting stacks more bevels than freehand, rested on a single retailer site and were not supported by the Lee Valley care page; they are removed. Resetting the blade to the same projection and settings avoids an unintended facet with either method.
  - **Incompatible abrasive.** Using an abrasive a maker advises against can jam a roller, wear a flat, or release control unexpectedly (see `matching`).
- **Beginner-trap**:
  - **Uneven clamp pressure skews the edge.** Pressing harder on one clamping screw than the other cants the blade in the jaws, giving an out-of-square edge that looks fine until you check it with a square. Reported by Sawmill Creek threads and Lost Art Press comments (forum, anecdotal).
  - **Narrow blades slipping.** Forum posters report blades under roughly 10 mm sliding or tilting in Eclipse-style side-clamp guides; others report the opposite with the same style. **If a blade slips, stop.** Clean the guide as its maker directs; verify the blade is within the stated width, thickness, length, edge-shape and jaw capacity; install the correct jaw or carrier; and tighten only as instructed. If the blade remains insecure or canted, use a guide designed for that blade or contact the manufacturer. **Do not modify the guide's clamping surfaces. A forum-suggested practice of filing the gripping surfaces is withdrawn: it is an unauthorized change to a precision clamping and registration surface, and a poorly retained sharp blade can shift or release under hand pressure.**
- **Lineage-misuse**:
  - **Standard guides do not follow curved edges** (see `matching`); this is a category error, not a technique problem.
  - **Powered-system jigs are a parallel solution, not this tool's descendant.** Expect a different mechanism and setup discipline.

## Correct use
- **What it is good at**: a correctly matched and set guide makes a bevel angle easier to reproduce by constraining blade projection and roller geometry, which addresses a common failure of freehand technique (the bevel drifting out of square). **It does not make the result automatic.** The outcome depends on blade seating and projection, clamp balance, guide configuration, roller condition, abrasive flatness, abrasive thickness and pressure. Even Lee Valley's replica description says precision is limited by the user's ability to align the reference marks `[manual, relayed]`. Verify full bevel contact, secure and square seating, roller movement and abrasive flatness every time; a camber guide intentionally allows angular variation.
- **How to use it well (short version):**
  1. Follow the exact instructions for your guide. Set the projection with the registration jig or stop, and clamp evenly, tightening as the maker instructs and not favoring one screw over the other.
  2. *Pressure and grip are model-specific.* For the Veritas Mk.II, Lee Valley's current page (re-read this pass via a fetch summary) says to hold the guide with both hands, thumbs resting on the roller body and index fingers on the blade, and to apply only light downward pressure on the blade so the abrasive does the work, with back-and-forth strokes. Do not force the cut, and do not use the roller body as a substitute for blade control. Kell's guides are honed with the edge toward the operator on the push stroke, per his page.
  3. *Use the whole stone.* A guide's blade and roller tracks can concentrate wear on the abrasive if the user repeats a narrow path. Lee Valley's care page for ceramic and water stones (re-read this pass via a fetch summary) says to vary strokes across the entire length of the stone, and notes that waterstones wear in use and need regular flattening whether or not a guide is used. Use the full usable surface where the guide permits, check flatness, and flatten as the stone's maker directs. Reproduce blade projection and guide settings so you do not create an unintended facet.
  4. Stop if the blade shifts, the roller binds, or the guide is damaged (see `dangerous`).

## ✦ Matching (the workbench's first read)
- **Does**: holds compatible straight-edged blades at a reproducible projection and roller geometry on a compatible abrasive surface. It adds micro-bevel, camber and skew only where the specific guide and accessory permit them.
- **Does not guarantee**: squareness, edge angle, flatness, camber or retention without correct setup and verification.
- **Blade match** must include width, thickness, blade length, side shape, taper, bevel orientation, skew, and jaw or carrier compatibility, per the maker's stated capacity.
- **Abrasive match** must include material, flatness, width and length, lubricant, slurry or grit effects, and whether the roller runs on the abrasive or a parallel reference surface.
- **Suits**: honing and sharpening of straight chisels and plane irons with a compatible stone or abrasive film. **A honing guide can register a blade during coarse hand grinding as well as fine honing when the guide and abrasive permit it.** The McLean patent describes the basic bevel as defined by coarse grinding, and Norton markets a 220-grit bench waterstone for repairing damaged tools, as the reviewer notes `[manual, relayed]`. For large chips, major angle changes or badly misshapen edges, a powered or dedicated grinding system may be faster. Choose by damage severity, steel, heat risk, abrasive cut rate, guide capacity and the control wanted. A powered grinder adds heat and rotating-wheel hazards of its own; it is a speed choice, not the definition of repair.
- **Kit-fit.** *Abrasives:* **compatibility is model-specific.** Honing guides commonly work on flat bench abrasives, including waterstones, oilstones, diamond plates, ceramic stones and abrasive film, but follow both the guide and the abrasive instructions. Lee Valley's own wording that a guide works "regardless of the sharpening media used" is a marketing generalization and is not adopted here. **Lie-Nielsen, for example, advises against diamond stones with its guide because diamond grit can get into the roller and eventually cause the guide to fail** (page re-read this pass via a fetch summary). That page also says to keep the threads free of grit, rinse after use, and wipe off excess water. *Substitutes for:* nothing fully; the alternative is developed freehand skill. *Cannot replace:* a dedicated curved-edge system for gouges.
- **Not-for (project-keyed)**: **standard bench guides are chiefly designed for straight chisels and plane irons. Gouges and other continuously curved edges usually need a dedicated fixture or freehand method.** **A drawknife must be evaluated by its actual edge shape, blade length, handles, bevel orientation and the guide's clamping range; do not assume every drawknife has a curved edge.** Gouges, drawknives and quirk-router cutters are outside what most guides handle, per Vintage Tool Patch and a Lost Art Press commenter. A powered wheel is not covered by a bench guide.
- **Access**: beginner-friendly when bounded by model setup, exposed-edge handling and fit checks. Camber and skew setups have a learning curve of their own, and attachments and unusual blades add complexity.
- **Revival**: experienced freehand sharpeners still reach for a guide for repeatability, camber, or oddball blades (a tiny spokeshave iron, a very short chisel). The debate is live in the trade (see Human side).

## Anatomy
- **Clamping jaws / bar**: two plates that grip the blade by its edges (side-clamp, Eclipse-style) or across its face (top-clamp, Mk.II-style).
- **Roller / wheel**: the rolling contact against the abrasive. Single rear roller (Eclipse-style, Stanley No. 50), twin side rollers (Kell, using shims), or a wide single roller (Veritas Mk.II). A wide straight roller resists rocking; a narrow or barrelled roller permits more cambering motion. Neither is universally "more precise" without naming the intended edge. Side-clamp, top-clamp, rear-roller, twin-side-roller, wide-roller, camber-roller and registration-jig are independent attributes, not brand names.
- **Eccentric roller / micro-bevel mechanism**: patented by Lee Valley (GB2182589A / US 4,733,501), described above.
- **Registration jig**: a separate accessory that squares and positions the blade before clamping, supporting repeatable projection (Veritas Mk.II system).
- **Angle-setting gauge**: printed or scribed angle markings, or a discrete-track base, used to set up before the first clamp.

## Variations (living)
- **Side-clamp / Eclipse-style**: blade clamped by its edges; single rear roller; good for chisels and narrower blades. Modern Veritas and Lie-Nielsen versions share ideas with it but are different products, with different roller widths. Lee Valley's current product is named the "Side-Clamping Honing Guide" (the reviewer; the earlier draft's "Mk.1" is not a sourced product name and is removed) `[manual, relayed]`.
- **Top-clamp / roller (Veritas Mk.II style)**: blade clamped face-down under a bar, squared via the registration jig, riding on a roller base. The Standard guide is listed for blades up to 2-7/8" wide and 15/32" thick (original run, from Lee Valley's manual, not re-read). Its eccentric roller adds a micro-bevel setting.
- **Narrow-blade / parallel-jaw guides**: for example the Veritas Mk.II Narrow-Blade guide, built for 1/8" to 1-1/2" blades.
- **Skew-capable jigs**: for example the Veritas Skew Angle Jig, with bevel angles of 20°, 25°, 30°, 35° and skew angles of 10° to 45°. Entering the blade from the rear caps usable width at roughly 1/2" once skew is applied; side entry works around it (original run).
- **Camber-capable jigs**: for example the Veritas Camber Roller Assembly, a barrel-shaped roller that lets the user rock the guide to hone a slight curve. A camber guide intentionally allows angular variation.
- **Twin-side-roller precision guides, Richard Kell.** Kell's page (re-read this pass via a fetch summary) gives the **No. 1 a capacity of 0 to 1 inch**, for narrow, short and Japanese chisels, with the chisel's underside as datum against two location rods, and the **No. 2 LGE a capacity of 0 to 2-5/8 inch (70 mm)**. These spans reach wide plane irons, so Kell's family is **not** a narrow-chisel-only match, and the earlier "about 1-1/4 inch" limit is withdrawn. Kell advises placing the cutting edge closest to the operator and honing on the push stroke for his guides. Whether sandpaper on glass is the best surface for the side wheels is an unconfirmed retailer-and-review suggestion from the original run. **Safety (see `dangerous`):** the No. 2 LGE listing warns that circlips can be dangerous, and its page says to wear eye protection and clear others from the area. Prices are not stated here: the No. 2 LGE price could not be pinned from the page read, and prices change.
- **Budget / generic guides.** Unbranded clones exist. Low price does not by itself establish lower precision. Judge any guide by measurable concerns: jaw geometry, roller play, finish, squareness, stated tolerances, warranty and verified testing.
- *Prices and stock.* No prices are quoted. If prices are later added, give market, currency, tax basis, availability and access date.

## Trades
- Cabinetmaking, joinery, hand-tool restoration and teaching shops, anywhere chisels and plane irons are honed by hand.

## Lineage
- **Ancestors / early evidence.** No dedicated ancestor tool. The earliest commercial evidence located is two catalog listings that a later patent cites: **McLean's 1986 patent (US 4,733,501) states that the Marples 1909 catalog item 7314 and the Millers Falls 1915 catalog page 159, item 569 illustrate earlier jigs.** The patent prints the firm's name as "Millers Fulls." **Neither catalog was independently inspected here;** the patent's account is the evidence, and the earlier draft's "p.59" was a transcription error. The patent also cites R. A. Salaman's *Dictionary of Tools* (Scribners, 1975), pp. 215 to 216, which was not read.
- **Descendants / contemporaries.** The patents below document a network of design moves, not a single parent-to-child line. Its living contemporary is the integrated jig on powered systems (the Tormek and ProEdge entries), a parallel solution to the same problem.

## History

**A map of documented design moves.** A later patent that cites earlier patents shows awareness or examination history, not a single commercial descent. "Direct lineage" is reserved for evidence of product or design continuity beyond a citation, and none is claimed here.
- **Early jig and catalog evidence.** The 1909 and 1915 catalog items above (patent-relayed). **GB215818A** (Chadwick, filed 1923, published 1924) and **GB326370A** (Wobst, filed 1929, published 1930) were located only as citation nodes; their content is unread. McLean's patent cites them. The reviewer notes that the same patent's citation list also includes earlier sharpening machines, tool rests and tool holders dating back to 1875, whose relevance has not been examined `[manual, relayed]`. **The earliest chisel or plane-blade guide patent actually read in this run is GB605333A (1945).** Whether an earlier patent exists is a search not yet completed, not a confirmed absence.
- **Roller-supported holders.** **GB605333A** (Newcombe and Blood, filed 1945-07-27, published 1948-07-21): a rigid support riding a roller on a control surface to hold the tool at a constant angle. Lee Valley's current Replica Honing Guide page connects it to the Stanley No. 50 pattern `[manual, relayed]`. **GB726050A** (Cooke, filed 1953, published 1955) cites GB605333 as prior art: two clamp plates, brass roller, tin-plate angle gauge.
- **Side-clamping geometry.** **GB924579A** (Bower, assigned James Neill and Co. (Sheffield), filed 1961, published 1963): two clamping members, a roller on a two-handed screw, convex risers on one side for self-centering and straight risers on the other, three tread positions for wide, intermediate and narrow blades. It matches the widely repeated description of an Eclipse-style guide, but it does not establish that every later Eclipse-style product copied it, and **the James Neill and "Eclipse" brand connection is unconfirmed** and stays unresolved unless a primary corporate or catalog source is found.
- **Eccentric roller for micro-bevels.** **US 4,733,501** (McLean, Lee Valley; US granted 1988-03-29; UK counterpart GB2182589A). Re-read this pass via a fetch summary: the roller sits eccentrically on its shaft, so turning the shaft changes the roller height and varies the angle, with detents holding preselected positions, so a micro-bevel can be set consistently without reclamping. The patent distinguishes coarse grinding, which defines the basic bevel, from finer honing that adds the micro-bevel. In its own words the problem was that it had not been possible to set bevels and micro-bevels consistently. The patent's "about 5°" difference is the patent's description of earlier practice; current Veritas guidance describes its eccentric setting as about a 1° to 2° change `[manual, relayed]`.
- **Side rollers and a flat datum.** **GB2397788A** (Richard Kell, filed 2003, published 2004, withdrawn): relocates rollers to the sides of the blade so the clamp sits closer to the edge, for short, thick, Japanese-style chisels, with a flat datum face. It cites several earlier patents as alternatives it improves on.
- **The later Mk.II carrier system.** **US 7,553,216** (Lee Valley, granted 2009). Re-read this pass via a fetch summary: its claims cover a guide with a tool holder and roller, a removably coupled jig that sets the bevel angle, and a securing bar with a triangular central section, and its description relies on the roller-shifting teaching of US 4,733,501 (cited as McLean, March 29, 1988). It is the more complete primary source for the current Mk.II-style system. A design patent, **USD767360S1** (2016, chisel blade carrier), was found by search and not read.

## Human side
*All accounts below are single practitioners' views, reported from their own blogs and a comment thread. The comment-thread voices are pseudonymous. None of it is a standard.*
- **Traditions & trades**: a bench-woodworking accessory used wherever chisels and plane irons are honed by hand: cabinetmaking, joinery, hand-tool restoration and teaching shops.
- **Paul Sellers** is often repeated as reflexively "anti-honing-guide." His own December 2024 post says he is "more an advocate for freehand sharpening because of the speed and efficiency it gives me," and that he prefers methods that rely on developing skill, yet he designed and shared a shop-made wooden guide for plough plane irons, whose narrow blades he finds hard to grip and keep square freehand [Sellers blog, as read in the original run].
- **Christopher Schwarz** (Lost Art Press, "The Case for a Honing Guide," 2023): "Simple side-clamp honing guides are a godsend for quick and repeatable work... I have found no valid downside to using them." He uses a base-model side-clamp guide and honed everything at one secondary-bevel angle (35°) with a wood stop block.
- **Sean O'Donnell** (Vintage Tool Patch, Oct 2024): collects guides but rarely uses them now, notes freehand "tends to take my irons out of perfectly square," and keeps three guides for jobs freehand does poorly: two Veritas Mk.II (a cambered roller, and a straight-roller side-clamp for very narrow chisels) and a Richard Kell No. 1 for tiny spokeshave irons.
- A commenter in the Lost Art Press thread who says they teach at the Woodwright's School describes a bevel-length-to-thickness ratio method in place of a jig; another commenter argues jigs rob students of freehand practice; others say freehand skill never came for them and they rely on a guide. The debate is live, and is reported as such, not settled.

## ✦ Proof of existence
- **Earliest dated commercial evidence.** Two catalog items as cited in US 4,733,501: Marples 1909, item 7314, and Millers Falls 1915, page 159, item 569. **Neither catalog was independently inspected here;** the patent's citation, including its "Fulls" spelling, is the evidence.
- **Museum / collection records.** None located. Targeted searches of specific institutional collections (Smithsonian NMAH, Science Museum Group, Mercer Museum) were not attempted: a search not yet completed, not a confirmed absence.
- **Patents (read directly in the original run unless noted).** GB215818A (Chadwick, 1923/1924), GB326370A (Wobst, 1929/1930), GB911900A (Cox, 1960/1962): citation only, unread. GB605333A (1945/1948), GB726050A (1953/1955), GB924579A (1961/1963), GB2182589A and US 4,733,501 (1985/1986), GB2397788A (2003/2004, withdrawn): read in the original run; US 4,733,501 re-read this pass. US 7,553,216 (granted 2009): re-read this pass. USD767360S1 (2016): not read.
- **Archaeological / documentary evidence**: none expected for a twentieth-century tool.

## References
- [GB605333A](https://patents.google.com/patent/GB605333A/en), patent claim
- [GB726050A](https://patents.google.com/patent/GB726050A/en), patent claim
- [GB924579A](https://patents.google.com/patent/GB924579A/en), patent claim
- [GB2182589A](https://patents.google.com/patent/GB2182589A/en), patent claim
- [US4733501A](https://patents.google.com/patent/US4733501A/en), patent claim; re-read this pass (via fetch summary); catalog page is 159
- [GB2397788A](https://patents.google.com/patent/GB2397788A/en), patent claim (withdrawn)
- [US 7,553,216, Honing guide assembly](https://patents.justia.com/patent/7553216), patent claim; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [Lee Valley Replica Honing Guide](https://www.leevalley.com/en-gb/shop/tools/sharpening/guides/114954-lee-valley-replica-honing-guide), maker product page, relayed via the reviewer
- [Very RARE! Patented STANLEY No. 50 Plane Iron Honing Guide, Jim Bode Tools](https://www.jimbodetools.com/products/very-rare-patented-stanley-no-50-plane-iron-honing-guide-70587), retailer
- [Stanley plane iron honing guide Patent 605333 1948, Worthpoint](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/stanley-plane-iron-honing-guide-288454243), retailer
- [Side Clamping Honing Guide, Highland Woodworking](https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/side-clamping-honing-guide.aspx), retailer/blog
- [Eclipse Evolution, Henry Eckert Hand Tools](https://www.thetoolworks.com.au/eclipse-evolution-the-honing-guide-of-choice/), blog
- [Another Guide From the Paul Sellers' Stable](https://paulsellers.com/2024/12/another-guide-from-the-paul-sellers-stable/), named practitioner's blog
- [The Case for a Honing Guide, Lost Art Press](https://blog.lostartpress.com/2023/08/01/the-case-for-a-honing-guide/), named practitioner's blog, with pseudonymous comments
- [Freehand vs Honing Guides, Vintage Tool Patch](https://blog.vintagetoolpatch.com/2024/10/20/freehandvsguide.html), named practitioner's blog
- [A Guide to Honing and Sharpening Woodworking Tools, antiquetools.com](https://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/), retailer. *The stone-dishing and bevel-creep claims once attributed to it are withdrawn.*
- Sawmill Creek threads (forum, anecdotal, pseudonymous): [Sharpening trouble ~ help](https://sawmillcreek.org/threads/sharpening-trouble-help.180711/), [Veritas side clamping honing guide issues](https://sawmillcreek.org/threads/veritas-side-clamping-honing-guide-issues.296035/), [MK.II honing guide question](https://sawmillcreek.org/threads/mk-ii-honing-guide-question.279398/), [Uneven sharpening with Veritas honing jigs](https://sawmillcreek.org/threads/uneven-sharpening-with-veritas-honing-jigs.314681/)
- [Veritas Mk.II Standard Honing Guide, Lee Valley](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/guides/101899-veritas-mk-ii-standard-honing-guide), maker product page; and [manual](https://assets.leevalley.com/Original/10091/101899-veritas-mk-ii-standard-honing-guide-c-01-e.pdf), relayed via the reviewer
- [Veritas Mk.II Deluxe Honing Guide Set](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/guides/51868-veritas-mk-ii-deluxe-honing-guide-set); [Narrow-Blade Honing Guide](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/guides/101900-veritas-mk-ii-narrow-blade-honing-guide); [Camber Roller Assembly](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/tools/sharpening/jigs-mounts-and-rests/101439-camber-roller-assembly-for-veritas-mk-ii-honing-guide-system), maker product pages
- [Setting Up the Mk.II Honing Guide, Lee Valley](https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/discover/post-purchase/mk-ii-honing-guide/setting-up-the-mk-ii-honing-guide), maker instructions
- [Using the Mk.II Honing Guide, Lee Valley](https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/discover/post-purchase/mk-ii-honing-guide/using-the-mk-ii-honing-guide), maker instructions; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [Lee Valley, Choosing a Honing Guide](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/tools/choosing-a-honing-guide), maker page, relayed via the reviewer
- [Veritas Side-Clamping Honing Guide](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/guides/111759-veritas-side-clamping-honing-guide), maker product page, relayed via the reviewer (current name)
- [Lie-Nielsen Honing Guide](https://www.lie-nielsen.com/products/honing-guide-bladesstandard?path=sharpening-tool-care), maker product page; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [Richard Kell honing guides](https://www.richardkell.co.uk/honingECom.htm), maker page; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [CCOHS, Working Safely with Sharp Blades or Edges](https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/sharp_blades.html), safety authority; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [CCOHS, Wood Chisels](https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/safety_haz/hand_tools/chisels.html), safety authority, relayed via the reviewer
- [Lee Valley, Care and Maintenance of Ceramic and Water Stones](https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/discover/sharpen-net/care-and-maintenance-of-ceramic-and-water-stones), maker advice; re-read this pass (via fetch summary)
- [Norton, Sharpening Planer Blades and Chisels](https://www.nortonabrasives.com/en-us/resources/expertise/sharpening-planer-blades-chisels) and [Norton Single-Grit Waterstones](https://www.nortonabrasives.com/en-us/product/norton-ao-single-grit-waterstone), manufacturer pages, relayed via the reviewer
- Retailer, blog and forum items from the original run (Woodworkers Journal, Fine Woodworking x3, Schwarz's substack, Canadian Woodworking, Blood Sweat and Sawdust, Woodsmith, inthewoodshop.com, VSC Tools, liutaiomottola.com, Woodcarving Illustrated forum, Popular Woodworking): background reading, not relied on for any safety or compatibility claim in this copy.

## The reviewer's corrections (12)

- `BLOCKER` — 1. Remove the forum-sourced instruction to file gripping surfaces — Exact claim: For narrow blades slipping in an Eclipse-style guide, “a commonly suggested fix is lightly filing the guide's gripping surfaces for more bite.”
- `BLOCKER` — 2. Replace the incident-search paragraph with actual sharp-edge and retention controls — Exact claim: “this tool's injury profile is genuinely thin — no source found this run documents an injury caused by the guide itself”; “Reported honestly as an evidence gap, not manufactured into a hazard.”
- `BLOCKER` — 3. Make abrasive compatibility model-specific — Exact claim: A honing guide “pairs with waterstones, diamond bench stones, and sandpaper-on-glass”; Lee Valley says a guide works “regardless of the sharpening media used.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 4. Correct the operating-pressure instruction — Exact claim: “let the roller/wheel — not extra downward hand pressure — carry the guide in a straight line across the stone.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 5. Remove the categorical “grinder's job” boundary — Exact claim: The guide is “specifically NOT a grinding-stage tool”; it “doesn't fix a chipped or badly damaged edge quickly; that's a grinder's job”; “don't reach for it to fix a chipped or badly rounded-over edge.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 6. Correct Richard Kell capacities, use cases, and safety warning — Exact claim: “Richard Kell (No. 1, No. 2) … limited to blades up to about 1-1/4″ (chisels, not wide plane irons)”; “Richard Kell No. 2 around £75.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 7. Stop treating drawknives as inherently curved-edge tools — Exact claim: “don't reach for a standard honing guide on a gouge, drawknife, or any curved cutting edge”; “forcing a waterstone against a curved edge dishes the stone fast.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 8. Correct the 1915 catalog page and bound the “earliest” claim — Exact claim: “1915 Millers Falls Company catalog (p.59, #569)”; the 1923 Chadwick filing begins “the earliest patented honing/grinding-jig lineage located.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 9. Replace the linear five-patent lineage with a patent-design map — Exact claim: Kell's application creates “a clean, fully-documented five-patent lineage from 1945 to 2003”; US 4,733,501 is “the direct engineering ancestor of the Veritas Mk.II.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 10. Reframe stone dishing and remove the bevel-creep comparison — Exact claim: A guide “repeats the exact same stroke path every time” and therefore can dish a waterstone faster than freehand; imprecise resetting creates progressively stacked micro-bevels and “more total honing work over time than freehand, which naturally re-registers against the existing bevel by feel.”
- `SHOULD-FIX` — 11. Make repeatability conditional rather than automatic — Exact claim: The guide “fixes a chisel or plane iron at a constant, repeatable honing angle”; it reproduces “the exact same bevel angle, run after run.”
- `MINOR` — 12. Update nomenclature, prices, and availability — Exact claim: “Veritas Mk.1 (side-clamp) around £47,” “Lie-Nielsen around $125,” “Veritas Mk.II Standard set around $45,” and generic clones have “correspondingly lower precision.”