Because of the difficulty holding short blades such as those found in most spokeshaves, instrument makers' planes, etc., sharpening them has been difficult. The Veritas small-blade holder solves this effectively and safely by securing the blade using two powerful rare-earth magnets embedded into anodised aluminium and an adjustable stop block. In effect, it transforms your short blade into something larger (38mm wide x 100mm long) that can be effectively held for sharpening, either by hand or by mounting in a honing guide.