HG-4 Honing Guide

I just got the $179 HG-4. I'll update my review on its merits. BCTW packaging is so shocking, I am reviewing it; it's something you can't know until you buy. I am astonished by the absurdly wasteful, excessive, expensive packaging of this 3.25" x 3.25" x 3" device. They TRIPLE box this little device, four times if one counts the sleeve. The roughly 3.25" cube HG-4 comes in a 3.25" x 8.28" x 11" foam filled ultra premium cardboard box that is slid into a card stock quality cardboard sleeve; this is more extravagant packaging than even the high end mobile 'fruit' phone since the box is so oversized. That combination went into a brown 12" x 9" x 4" fine cardboard box with redundant product labels. That secondary product box was placed in a brown 16" x 10.25" x 6.5" shipping box stuffed with paper because of the mediocre fit. This larger box jacked up the Fedex shipping to $20 for a slow boat 7 days to NH. BCTW seems focused on their image not environmental impact or customer's wallet.

Excellent

This honing guide is very well made. The mindfulness in engineering and manufacturing is clear and easy to recognize. The brass wheel is nice and wide and the bearings are smooth. The square is a nice feature. I really like how the brass wheel pivots making the honing angle finely adjustable. This will last the rest of my life and will be of good service to whomever gets it after me.

Good service. Tool arrived well protected when promised. Not only looked like an excellent quality tool in the photo, but proved to be an excellent quality tool in the hand as well. Will be purchasing more from this company in the future.