Saturday, July 26, 2008

Veritas vs trend

So, my roughing stone arrived for the Trend Fast Track and I gave it a go with a chisel I'd worked with on the grinder. It was fairly flat and had a reasonable edge to it, but it wasn't great.

The roughing stone made a good enough job of removing the high spots on the bevelled edge from my freehand grind. But, once again, it did make my wrist ache. Whether this is a technique issue or just a facet of working with old tools that have been sharpened and ground  not to the set angles of the Trend I don't really know. The final finish was very good and very sharp, just about sharp enough to shave a few hairs.

The Veritas guide is easy to set up and to adjust. The Trend has only the two angle available (25 and 30 degrees), whereas the Veritas has many more from which to choose. Given that most woodworking tools are sharpened to 25 or 30 degrees the Trend has what is needed, that's not an issue. Where the Veritas scores over the Trend system is that you can apply a micro-bevel which you cannot do on the Trend. I was always taught at school that you had your primary bevel and then your cutting bevel, but that's not a general rule these days, or so it seems. Another plus with this feature on the Veritas is that you don't have to reset the tool to grind the micro-bevel you just flip a turn lever on the back.

Overall I found the Veritas guide much easier and less tiring to use. Both cost around £50 to buy. With finer grits I'm sure the Veritas will give as good an edge as the Trend.

So, the big question, which one would I buy if I could only have the one? On balance, the Veritas because it's more versatile and less wearing on my hands and wrists.

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