Henry Eckert Sharpening Guide

[ranger29]

I was wondering if anyone has used this sharpening guide and what your experience has been.
     Regards, Mike

[Mike Brady]

No direct experience with this guide, but I have a couple of their LN block plane adjusters that are well executed and did outperform the originals on certain planes.  My comment about the guide is that it is clearly inspired by the one from Lie-Nielsen, but is limited by the fixed jaws configuration.  LN has the changeable ones.  It looks to me like the Eckert one also registers off of the bottom of the blade, so the lapping angles on thicker blades will be off.  By the time you pay the Australian postage you could have the Lie-Nielsen superior construction for even money.

He're two more considerations:  The LN is completely washable, a feature I employ after every use of waterstones.  You can still buy authentic Eclipse brand jigs on UK eBay for about $50.  I have a couple of them and and they are very robust for half of the high-priced spread.

[AHill]

I looks like it's well-built, but at only $12 more than the Henry Eckert guide, I think I'd go with a Lie-Nielsen honing guide.  A LN guide gives you the flexibility of adding different jaw sets for various sharpening tasks.  Both guides are made from materials that don't rust.  I think the materials in the LN guide are more durable (stainless steel vs. bronze).

[Derek Cohen]

I used the HE guide in demonstrations at woodshows for LN Australia when it was first made. At that time, Dave Eckert (who runs HE) ran LN Australia. The guide is essentially a high quality and precision version of the Eclipse, using rust-free materials (white bronze, stainless steel and brass). David has since sold LN Australia and set up on his own.

In Australia, the HE guide is not $12 less than the LN. It is about half the price of the LN, which sells for about $250 AUD. So the difference in cost is quite significant. (I am not including the "extras" the LN comes with, just looking at the basic version).

Keep in mind that the Eclipse and the LN guides superficially look similar (in that they are side clamping), however they register the blades differently. The LN is more sophisticated in this regard than the Eclipse.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Charlesworth]

I used the HE guide in demonstrations at woodshows for LN Australia when it was first made. At that time, Dave Eckert (who runs HE) ran LN Australia. The guide is essentially a high quality and precision version of the Eclipse, using rust-free materials (white bronze, stainless steel and brass). David has since sold LN Australia and set up on his own.

In Australia, the HE guide is not $12 less than the LN. It is about half the price of the LN, which sells for about $250 AUD. So the difference in cost is quite significant. (I am not including the "extras" the LN comes with, just looking at the basic version).

Keep in mind that the Eclipse and the LN guides superficially look similar (in that they are side clamping), however they register the blades differently. The LN is more sophisticated in this regard than the Eclipse.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I have the first Eckert honing guide and it is horrible.
Badly twisted, requiring a large wrench and engineer's vice to fix. 
It also had very sharp casting edges which all needed fettling.

I have not used the new version, but it seems that the jigging options have not been modified.
Projections for plane blades still vary with changing thickness, and several projections will have to be stored.. 

The huge advantage of the L-N design is that all blades whether chisel or plane, use the same projection for a particular angle.
An idea I discussed with Thomas a long time ago.

The HE is a copy whereas the L-N has many genuine improvements.

David Charlesworth

[Skip J.]

I have the first Eckert honing guide and it is horrible.
Badly twisted, requiring a large wrench and engineer's vice to fix. 
It also had very sharp casting edges which all needed fettling.

I have not used the new version, but it seems that the jigging options have not been modified.
Projections for plane blades still vary with changing thickness, and several projections will have to be stored.. 

The huge advantage of the L-N design is that all blades whether chisel or plane, use the same projection for a particular angle.
An idea I discussed with Thomas a long time ago.

The HE is a copy whereas the L-N has many genuine improvements.

David Charlesworth

Hello David;
It's been awhile, good to see you in here again!

[David Charlesworth]

Thanks Skip!

David

[Derek Cohen]

I have the first Eckert honing guide and it is horrible.
Badly twisted, requiring a large wrench and engineer's vice to fix. 
It also had very sharp casting edges which all needed fettling.

I have not used the new version, but it seems that the jigging options have not been modified.
Projections for plane blades still vary with changing thickness, and several projections will have to be stored.. 

The huge advantage of the L-N design is that all blades whether chisel or plane, use the same projection for a particular angle.
An idea I discussed with Thomas a long time ago.

The HE is a copy whereas the L-N has many genuine improvements.

David Charlesworth

Hi David

The first versions of the HE honing guide were indeed faulty. I pointed this out to David (Eckert). They had been assembled or machined slightly out of square. David made a point of coming back to me with a new version, and this was spot on. No complaints about it at all. 

Just for reference, I have no connection with either David (HE Tools) or LN Australia. I just know the guys involved and often get asked to demo tools and joinery when they come to the annual wood show in Perth.

As I pointed out earlier, the two guides are different. The HE is an Eclipse copy, and this registers the front of the blade. The LN is a clever design (in my opinion) since it registers the back of the blade. The importance of this is that it automatically takes into account blade thickness. That is not the case with the Eclipse/HE.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Charlesworth]

Hi David

The first versions of the HE honing guide were indeed faulty. I pointed this out to David (Eckert). They had been assembled or machined slightly out of square. David made a point of coming back to me with a new version, and this was spot on. No complaints about it at all. 

Just for reference, I have no connection with either David (HE Tools) or LN Australia. I just know the guys involved and often get asked to demo tools and joinery when they come to the annual wood show in Perth.

As I pointed out earlier, the two guides are different. The HE is an Eclipse copy, and this registers the front of the blade. The LN is a clever design (in my opinion) since it registers the back of the blade. The importance of this is that it automatically takes into account blade thickness. That is not the case with the Eclipse/HE.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek,

I think you may be aware of my love of honing guides.  One of the few things that I collect.

It seems odd to me to make a virtual copy of the Eclipse type guide, in more expensive materials (£84), without addressing the plane blade holding issue.

We already have a perfectly adequate far eastern copy which sells for about £10 here.

My Eclipse has been used constantly for 43 years and I have not yet had any problems with the far eastern copy.

Best wishes,
David

[Mike Brady]

Eckert's prices become very inflated for the US customer due to the exchange rate and expensive postage.  If they are to do significant business here they must fine a way to overcome that obstacle.  As a direct manufacturer/seller, they might have to sacrifice some of what I'm sure is a generous markup to gain a foothold.  By this I mean that they might have to be content with the profits that a wholesale distributor has to live with.