Sharpening Veritas 38 degree Blades

These are the tools you would use to set up a blade for the correct angle for sharpening. 

Here at left is the Veritas Registration jig; the blade, the Veritas Mk-II Honing Guide, and a ruler.


But before we do anything to the blades, since they are new, we'll check to see how the angles were made. 

1. we set the Honing Guide to the Red dot position to correspond with the red angles marked on the Registration jig.

 

2. attach the Registration jig to the Honing Guide in the correct way as shown:

Here is what it looks like where the blade contacts the Registration jig.

3. instal the blade as shown:

4. (ensure the the wheel movement knob is in the "UP" position before you begin (Lowest to the blade) 

Place the ruler to ballance between the roller and the blade's major angle (called the first bevel), and while doing so, gently move the blade in the Registration jig to the point that there is a straight line accross the surface of the first bevel. At this point, tighten the blade the the Honing guide and move the  measurement slider to just touch the blade. In this way, when we flip the jig over, we'll see what angle the registration jig gives.

5. Here is what the jig measured when we turned it arround:

It measured not quite 35 degrees. That was a big surprise for me, because I assumed that the big angle one sees on a 38 degree blade was indeed 38 degrees, but the 38 degrees is a measurement of the Second bevel, that you don't see. 

Aditionally, the Veritas Registration Jig does not have a pin hole to mark the correct sharpening position of  38 degree blades. I contacted Veritas about this, and they told me that the sharpener was developped before the 38 degree bevel-up planes.

As a result, I modified my Registration Jig.

Here are High resolution pictures of the initial invesigation discussed above.