M.POWER Precision Sharpening System — and the Amazon Alternative
A guided sharpening jig with an angle setter. M.Power's distribution is patchy; the parts that matter are cheap and widely available.
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M.Power is a British maker whose products reach other markets unevenly. The sharpening system is a guide plus an angle-setting device, and both halves are available cheaply from elsewhere.
The two problems a system solves
Holding the angle. Freehand sharpening means keeping a bevel at a constant angle through a stroke, repeatedly. It is learnable and it takes practice. A guide does it mechanically from the first attempt.
Knowing the angle. A guide only helps if you can set it to the same angle next time. That is what the angle gauge or setting jig is for: it fixes the blade projection so that 30 degrees today is 30 degrees next month.
Without the second part, a guide just holds an angle, and every sharpening starts by regrinding whatever the last one left.
Build your own setting gauge
Genuinely worth knowing: a scrap of plywood with two lines marked on it — one for 25 degrees of projection, one for 30 — does the job of any commercial setting jig, for any eclipse-pattern guide. Push the blade against the line, tighten, sharpen.
Five minutes to make, and it is the single cheapest improvement to a sharpening setup.
The stone matters more
A guide on a dished stone produces a rounded bevel and a straight edge that is not straight. Flatness is the foundation.
A diamond plate solves this permanently because it does not wear hollow, and it is also the tool you flatten waterstones with. If the budget is limited, buy the plate before the jig.
The roller problem
Cheap guides use one narrow roller. Push harder on one side and the guide tips, which rounds the corner of the blade. Two-hands, centred pressure, and check the edge against a light occasionally.
The Veritas Mk II fixes this with a wide roller and interchangeable jaws, and that is most of what its price buys.
What works
- A guide plus an angle-setting gauge removes the two hardest parts of learning to sharpen: holding the angle and knowing what angle you set
- Repeatable angles mean each honing removes a few thousandths rather than re-grinding the whole bevel
- Cheap enough to buy alongside a stone rather than instead of one, which is the right order
What doesn't
- Budget guides have a narrow roller, so uneven pressure tips them and rounds the corners of the edge
- They will not hold very short blades, skewed irons or very wide ones — the Veritas Mk II exists for those
- A guide does nothing without a flat stone, and the stone is the more important purchase
Worth comparing against
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DMT
DMT W250FCNB DuoSharp Bench Stone, Fine/Coarse, 10 in
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Generic
Side-Clamping Honing Guide for Chisels and Plane Irons