Lie Nielsen honing guide opinions?

[jussi]

Has anyone bought one and care to share a review. Is it worth the high price tag? On the surface it looks like a regular eclipse guide that uses better materials and has better machining. Am I wrong? I'm currently wanting to upgrade my guide and this is on my list.

[Steve Friedman]

It is excellent and is not just an Eclipse with better materials. Whether it's worth the money is subjective. In my opinion, my Eclipse guide gets most of my chisels and plane blades just as sharp as the L-N guide for a lot less money. For those, I think the L-N is a waste of money.

I think they value of the L-M guide is its ability to do the things that the Eclipse won't do - spokeshave blades, small plane blades, narrow chisels, and anything with a skew. There the L-N is in a class of its own. Yes, there are other jigs that will sharpen those other blades, but there is not one single guide that will do them all. I suppose the LV guide with attachments might, but not as well. The L-N's ability to hold narrow and short blades securely is unmatched by any other guide I have tried - and I've tried a lot of them. Yes, the L-N jaws need to be swapped out for the different blades, but it's very quick. The LV guide with attachments will do most blades, but it's much bulkier, more difficult to swap attachments, and doesn't hold the blades as securely.

It's not cheap, but, with all due respect to the freehanders, I don't regret it.

I have held off selling my other honing guides, waiting to be certain, and I think it's time.

Steve

[DaveParkis]

I was at a seminar where Thomas Lie-Nielsen demo'd the jig. It is nice. He said that the jaws for skew blades will work on one of the skewed irons they sell and that is the only angle it will work on. Personally, I would wait a bit longer and see if/when Jim Ritter's jig will be available. That looked very promising.

[Martin S.]

Where would one find out more information about Jim Ritter's jig?

[Steve Friedman]

DaveParkis said:

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I was at a seminar where Thomas Lie-Nielsen demo'd the jig. It is nice. He said that the jaws for skew blades will work on one of the skewed irons they sell and that is the only angle it will work on. Personally, I would wait a bit longer and see if/when Jim Ritter's jig will be available. That looked very promising.

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That's a very good point Dave. The L-N skew guides are set at 18 and 30 degrees to match their skewed blades. The LV skew attachment may be more cumbersome to use, but is definitely much more versatile. Richard Kell makes a guide for skew blades that can be adapted for any angle, but I've never used it. The Gerd Fritsche guide will do skewed blades at infinite angles, but has its own idiosyncrasies. I tried Jim Ritter's first prototype and am certain whatever he produces will be first rate. But I was up in Maine last summer playing at Lie-Nielsen and just couldn't resist.

Steve

[Tony (Charleston WV)]

Martin S. said:

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Where would one find out more information about Jim Ritter's jig?

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From his youtube video : (Published on Apr 19, 2015)
"If you have an interest in purchasing either one of these [Universal(?) Sharpening Platform and Chisel sharpening jig], send me an email to ancorayachtservice@gmail.com and if there is enough interest, I'll go into production, and make more than just 6 at a time."

[Boatman53]

Actually Tony I've changed it quite a bit since that video. In a conversation with Derek he put it very suscinctly.... That nice but let's call that version one. And it is version one. It's been a long road working out the design, but I should be able to release details soon. Just waiting on patent paperwork.
Jim

[DaveParkis]

Martin S. said:

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Where would one find out more information about Jim Ritter's jig?

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Hi Martin, I was hoping Jim would see this thread and jump in.

[Patsfan]

Boatman53 does a good job channeling Jim Ritter.