# Plane iron honing with Stanley guide and stone.



## asevereid (Apr 15, 2012)

Has anyone used the Stanley honing guide and stone to sharpen their irons? I just picked one up and need to sharpen some irons soon. Just looking for some feedback. If it doesn't work very well....then I guess I will try the scary sharp technique.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Not familiar with Stanley's guide but I'd guess it's a cheapie with their name on it. Either way it'll likely be fine for either stone or paper.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

asevereid said:


> Has anyone used the Stanley honing guide and stone to sharpen their irons? I just picked one up and need to sharpen some irons soon. Just looking for some feedback. If it doesn't work very well....then I guess I will try the scary sharp technique.


From the reviews given on it, if it is one of the old ones it might be OK but the newer ones are not made in England now. If you bought it and the stone from Amazon... well you read the reviews
http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-16-05.../180-6399030-4239904?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

jiju1943 said:


> From the reviews given on it, if it is one of the old ones it might be OK but the newer ones are not made in England now. If you bought it and the stone from Amazon... well you read the reviews
> http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-16-05.../180-6399030-4239904?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1


I have the guide from the above link. Mine has to be 20+ years old.

Mine says "Made in England".

At the time I purchased the guide it would have been for use with chisels. It has an indent in the casting for chisels. This did not work for my chisels since the blade was beveled along the length, so it did not make consistent contact.

There is a little plastic guide which swings down to set the length of extension to match common angles.

I have not tried using this guide with plane blades. It may work better. It will be a challenge to insert the blade so that the end of the blade when honed will be 90 deg to the side of the blade. This would be my biggest concern in trying to use this guide.

I do not see a difference in using this with stones or wet-dry paper (scary sharp). The issue for me is how to get the blade aligned in the guide and keep it from moving during honing.

If I were not a pack-rat, I would have discarded this a long time ago.

I eventually purchased the Veritas Mark II honing guide. This is what I use to sharpen my plane blades. Not cheap, but it is well designed, well made, and a joy to use.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

#1 with Dave. I've had the same experience and use the VT MKII. I also have an eclipse knock off that is good for cambered blades since I don't have and don't plan to buy the camber guide right now. I'd free hand before I used that contraption from Stanley.


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