Accessories

Worthless Junk
I read the previous reviews, and thought I could overcome the problems that were listed by them. I was painfully wrong. The picture makes it look like it was designed for precision alignment, but the reality is that it's made from cheap plastic, and the clamp will not hold your chisel square, or keep it from moving when you start sharpening. Don't waste your money like I did.

Better than nothing if your not too fussy.
I picked this unit up locally yesterday because the options were next to nothing. My immediate need was based on the fact that I had 2 locksets waiting to be installed an my old chisels were in bad shape. I compared this purchase to the cost of some new chisels and that selection was also nothing to speak of so I decided to try to rehab my current tools. Now, mind you, I can be quite fussy when need be. But, I had previously sharpened these chisels with my belt sander. Real precicion there. Let me say that within 30 min. I had the 2 worst chisels back straight, square and sharp to the point I didn't think they would get to ever again.I was very pleased. Easy to set up and very easy to use. But, here's the down side. It's not a precision tool. I will get you a very sharp straight edge with somewhere near a required 30* bevel but not necessarily 100% so tool to tool. Also, you'll be hard pressed to create that extra 1* micro-bevel I've read about elsewhere due to the macro-graduated guidelines. Also, my older chisels are a bit thicker through their shanks and the holder barely accomodated them. Another 1/16" thicker and I would not have been able to use it. Newer chisels are more consistent throughout their length so I would guess that would not be a real issue.It seems sturdy enough but I would not think it's great for heavy duty/very regular use. I guess that would sum it up. It's the perfect occasional jig for the not-so-fussy carpenter. It works, quite well, just with not so much precicion. I may very well return it and spend the $35.00 for the Veritas. That piece is probably the best value for it's excellent overall quality. You get what you pay for with this one.

Cheap and inaccurate
Bought this to help with sharpening and honing of chisels and plane irons. Big disappointment. Lack of a positive indexing system makes the duplication of angles very difficult. Each sharpening job includes lots of back and forth adjusting of angle, getting the light right, looking for light under bevel, etc until you think you have it right. Much to your dismay, when you begin sharpening in earnest, this eyeball method usually leaves you off enough to necessitate much more sharpening than you should have to do. This device has not saved me any time. I must admit, however, that any fixed angle results in a better cutting edge than what I can achieve by hand. I am not a gifted sharpener, so I have trouble with some 'rounding' or skewing when sharpening by hand. This jig has at least given me some very sharp tools, but 3 chisels and one plane iron took this perfectionist about 4 hrs to get sharp.