Woodpecker's Honing Guide

[Bill_Houghton]

Wait until WP releases a red handplane (for power tool users)!

Heck, that's not hard - from what I understand, all you have to do is hand the plane to Roy Underhill, and he'll bleed all over it for free.

[Woodenfish]

I own a Veritas honing guide that I bought many, many years ago that just did not perform as I had expected. I purchased the Lie-Nielsen guide and am more than happy. I recently saw the Woodpeckers and was again concerned about their over-engineering and related high price tag. The Lie-Nielsen product is exemplary in build quality and the price is justified in my opinion.

[Handplanesandmore]

Heck, that's not hard - from what I understand, all you have to do is hand the plane to Roy Underhill, and he'll bleed all over it for free.

 

Yes, he is pretty good at showing beginners how to stain their projects for free.......

Simon

[EricU]

I watched one of their videos promoting this thing.  They had one of the <$20 Eclipse honing guides on there.  No mention of LV or Lie Nielson.  Basically the pitch was 2 wheels vs 1 and no mention it was 20 times as much money. Pretty good ad for the cheap ones, I thought.  I see that Chinese sellers are all over Amazon with some pretty nice looking guides.  Maybe one of them will put two wheels on one.  I think it might be nice for chisels if it's less than $20.  I'm really happy with my LV MkII though. That's what I consider good engineering.  Affordable and shows a deep understanding of the requirements.  Woodpeckers could learn something.

[AHill]

Heck, that's not hard - from what I understand, all you have to do is hand the plane to Roy Underhill, and he'll bleed all over it for free.

Roy Underhill without a band aid is like an ice cream sundae without a cherry on top.  Somewhere in his shop there's probably a chisel with notches on it for every time it made Roy draw blood.

[Tony Z]

Now, before all things red are condemned, WP does make some excellent tools. For example, their edge rule, wth a stop is very handy.

[bandit571]

Hmmm...getting along just fine with a "blue" honing guide..
...the single wheel one sold by Irwin-Marples.....works for me...

[EricU]

Now, before all things red are condemned, WP does make some excellent tools.  For example, their edge rule, wth a stop is very handy.

I always look at their one time tools.  I think they might be introducing them a little too often to really spend the development time on them that makes sense.  They aren't hurting anyone.  I have thought about getting some of their long time offerings that look pretty handy but never pulled the trigger. OTOH, making everything out of aluminum that they can seems lazy.  I'm not going to buy a "precision" square made of aluminum, for example. Especially since I can probably find a serviceable Starrett for less

[Mike Brady]

Eric makes some good points about the WP product.  They are very much the Bridge City of this era in that they seem to be aiming at the collector moreso than the user.  I used to go to estate sales that frequently had the owner's Bridge City stuff sitting still unused in their original boxes.  Great tools, no doubt, but as I commented before, more for the shelf (remember, these are "limited edition")than the shop.  That said, it's not my money; and if seller and buyer are happy, good on them.

[EricU]

when Bridge City first started, they made some really nice user tools.  At one time you could afford to buy everything they made, and that was one of their products. It was $500 or $1000 or something like that. I really wanted to buy that set, but at the time I could afford it I lived in an apartment and when I moved into a house I had taken up building guitars and didn't want it any more. I think the collectors and their need for new product might have ruined the company.