Harrelson “Hap” Stanley of GetSharper has made some serious improvements to his Sharp Skate honing guide. The Sharp Skate makes side-sharpening plane irons and chisels a cinch. The cylindrical body houses a clamp that can accommodate blades up to 2-5/8″ wide. The clamp can pivot and lock for skew-edge angles to 30 25 and 20 degrees.
Along the bottom of the cylinder are nine skate wheels that allow the Sharp Skate to glide side-to-side along the abrasive surface. The distance from the wheels to the edge is very short to allow more effectively use of the whole stone surface, reducing the central wear so often caused by other honing guides thus minimizing the need to flatten your waterstones.
The wheels are hardened stainless steel “tires” that ride on hardened bushings packed with waterproof grease. This wheel-bushing configuration is one of the major improvements in this model, improving “rollability” for smooth, quiet action.
Detailed instructions are on the GetSharper website. As well as
The Sharp Skate 4 has an accompanying angle-setting guide called the angle-dock. With this accessory you can set the angle of any thickness of blade by registering the angle-dock reference grooves on the heel of the bevel. This takes a little practice but works quite well.
Mr. Stanley has outdone himself with the new and improved Sharp Skate 4. This is a well thought-out, precision engineered and beautifully executed side-sharpening honing guide. Nice work, Hap!
Here’s a video of Hap showing us how it’s done.
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