# Richard Kell No. 3 Honing Guide



## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Well, I impulsively/accidentally bought a new honing guide on ebay. I won a Richard Kell No.3 honing guide as the only bidder. 











Looking on the internet, it seems that people who have this guide like it. Anyone have any experience with it? 

I'll give my thoughts and feedback once it arrives and I try it out, but I am just curious what I am in store for. It has to be better than my very basic Robert Larson honing guide. :huh:


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

I've been putting the Richard Kell No3 honing guide through its paces this week and here are some initial thoughts.

For starters, first impressions. Though I bought this item from ebay, it was not used and was in the origianl packaging...a brown unmarked cardboard box. Included was the guide itself, an extra set of tires, and a one page instruction sheet. The instructions are a photocopy of a hand written sheet, but never fear! This Richard Kell fellow clearly has some drafting experience under his belt, because the lettering and diagrams are all clear and easy to read. He takes a little time to list the tolerances that he machines within when he makes each guide by hand. This is a nice touch and the care that he puts into each shows. The finished product very clearly looks hand made...but not in a bad way. What I mean is that no company would mass product anything of this caliber, with the attention to detail that is paid. This honing guide has a feeling of quality that I haven't felt from any other "new" tool that I have handled. Granted, I don't have access to the fancy boutique tools of Bridge City Tool Works or have the budget for Veritas & Lie Neilson, who may have similar attention to detail. The bottom line is this: I am confident that this is the last honing guide that I will ever buy.
















The instruction sheet calls for shop-made wedges to hold whatever you are sharpening in place. I have made two wedges so far, one for chisels and a wider, thicker one for my planes. There are two steel reference pins on the left side of the guide that the chisel or blade is against. This keeps the material square to the guide. I also built a couple of different jigs for placing my chisels and blades in at specific angles. So far I have a jig for 30, 25, and 23 degrees. The process thus far has been highly repeatable. I have taken chisels in and out and have been able to maintain the same angle with no deviation. Even very narrow chisels are held firmly with no problems.





































I have 8 chisels (4 brand new, two old, and two _really_old) being sharpened right now. I am through half of the chisels up to 800 grit. I'll report back when I have them all the way sharpened and in service. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Woodworking Talk


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Well, everything is sharp to 2000 grit! I am very pleased with the repeatability of angle and how consistently square everything is kept. The we being system is simple and near fool proof.

I did encounter on problem, and that was with my cheap Stanley chisels. They were too short on only made contact with one of the locating pins. I solved this easy with a short block of wood spanning the two.




























































Fluffy pine curls from both the Sergent No 3 and my new Stanley #60 LA!









Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Woodworking Talk


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## richard kell (Aug 14, 2013)

many thanks for taking the time and effort to 'get into' my no.3 guide.

i've now got bigger rollers for my no.2 guide ... its a winner !!






see also my workshop blog richardkell.livejournal.com. 

sincerely,
richard kell


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## NetDoc (Aug 6, 2013)

What's the normal price for one of these?


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## richard kell (Aug 14, 2013)

*richard kell honing guides.*

thanks for asking, best look at ...

http://www.richardkell.co.uk/honingECom.htm

My webman will soon be updating my .co.uk sales website to replace small roller no.2 (no.2 LGE is now £43.38) with larger rollers and include the retro-fit large roller replacement kit (ie £10 GBP) ... cap zero to 2-3/4 inch plane iron and chisels. 

The youtube on my prev post here gives lots of insight and shows how quick the large wheel no.2 (ie no.2 LGE) can be to restore an edge, not needing to be re-set to get the second final honed bevel. Because it is so repeatable I can from start to finish get a new edge in say 25 -30 seconds easy with minimal removal of steel and a very square edge. I also explain why my modified 'deep throat' no.3 is so useful and is the best for big mortice chisels etc, conversion kit also available if required. 

my workshop blog http://richardkell.livejournal.com also sheds light on this new large roller development for the no.2 and as time rolls on i'll tweak and develop the material online.

Hartville Tool, Ohio and Infinity Cutting Tools, Florida are the first to get these new large roller guides inc retro-fit kits and in a few days Traditional Woodworker in Texas will also have them. Over the next couple of months we'll gradually get all my other stockists converted.


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## NetDoc (Aug 6, 2013)

richard kell said:


> Hartville Tool, Ohio and Infinity Cutting Tools, Florida are the first to get these new large roller guides inc retro-fit kits and in a few days Traditional Woodworker in Texas will also have them. Over the next couple of months we'll gradually get all my other stockists converted.


 After a search for them, I found www.infinitytools.com A search of their site does not show your tools for sale. At http://www.hartvilletool.com/category/s?keyword=kell I think I have found number 1 and number 3, but they aren't using numbers in their descriptions... that or I simply missed them.


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## richard kell (Aug 14, 2013)

oh heck, it seems I am ahead of the game here, its all in my excitement to get the word out about this no.2 LGE ie large roller no.2 honing guide. I'll give Hartville a nudge to get my no.2 LGE onto their site, they've been sent a consignment recently, also Infinity ditto ... give'em a few days and all should be okay. The holiday season doesn't help for this. 

My own site ie richardkell.co.uk is also going to take a few days till we can get my webman to get the mods posted, luckily my workshop blog is instant access for me. 

Also I think I'll make another youtube for it, a sort of 'condensed' two minute 'flash' of information, stressing one setting for both bevels and being able to align exactly to the previous honing when needing to restore sharpness. I am fascinated by how people learn and think this idea of 'flash' information is a good one.

thankyou for your patience !

postscript ... I faxed Hartville Tools earlier today and they indeed do have my no.2 LGE on their website .... in the 'whats new' section, ie first entry ..... 

http://www.hartvilletool.com/category/new-tools-from-hartville-tool


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