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Look at this guys method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ykVzL2VAM

Known as convex bevel sharpening. Good for Guitar bar ends although he obviously uses it for general furniture/woodworking.
Obviously works. I don't use that method (except for belly chisels) but I do use a primary/secondary bevel. I use very short strokes on the stone. Maybe 2 inches forward, 2 inches back. The greater the movement, the more chance you have of losing the required angle. That's why figure 8's and whole length strokes are much more difficult to learn, figure 8's especially - and they are certainly an unnecessary difficulty.

I have used the MKII but I think mine is defective. No matter how much I piddle with it, stare at it, ponder over it, it always sharpens at an unacceptable skewed angle. This may be acceptable for chisels but not plane blades. I always make sure I tighten both screws the same, and lined up just right, tested on many different planes and chisels and I get the same results. I don't think the roller and tool holder rest are coplanar. Ive been meaning to contact Veritas with my issue but keep forgetting.

If I missed this, I'm sorry, but I didn't see anyone referring to the secondary bevel that you can put on with this jig. Just rotate a knob 180 deg. and you can make it sharper with that second bevel.
I do agree it's finicky and thin blades can get off track. Next time I buy one, it'll be one that clamps at the sides as someone else noted.
Also, you need some real estate for this thing. I've got a couple of oil stones on a triangular base and they're pretty thin. I'd prefer 3"X10" or so to take better advantage of it. I also use it with sandpaper doing the "scary sharp" type honing.
I don't dislike mine, but would not buy another even with the double bevel thing.

The problem with using a secondary bevel is that it forces you to use the jig to get a good result when you resharpen.

Use the jig with a single bevel to get a good foundation, then do touch-up sharpening by hand. The touch-ups will eventually get you to a convex bevel and when that gets too severe to get a good edge quickly (or if you chip an edge), then you go back to the jig and reestablish the bevel.

Faster/easier sharpening means you spend more time with a good edge. Instead of using the jig for everything, use it once every 30-50 sharpenings to keep a good foundation -do everything else freehand, time with the jig will train you in the proper movement.

My Veritas Mk1 jig mostly just sits in the drawer -sometimes used for skews. An eclipse jig with a little filing to relieve the center and clean up the corners is the one that normally gets used when I resort to a jig.

-jd

so maybe that´s what i have, a defective unit - i get that skewed edge if i don´t fine tune it for a while, which i do with a light hammer. i too make sure the screws are equally tightened. i contacted lee valley about it (twice, IIRC) but their reply wasn´t too helpful.

Okaaaaayyyy ...
but ...if you want to sharpen a chisel or a plane iron perfectly square , then the only way to do it is with a jig .

I would venture to say that perhaps 1 in 10 hand tool woodworkers have any clue as to how to get an edge on steel.

... I am much more interested in a sharp, durable edge than how the craftsman gets there.

I think there is some variety in quench and annealing...I've worked with brine, oil, and air-quenched alloys, and I'm sure there are more, as well as industrial processes that are designed to optimize yield and minimize distortion. Given that commercial chisels and plane blades are finish-ground after initial shaping/forging/hardening/tempering, the geometry is locked in at the factory. The problems I see are craftsman-related for the most part; failure to grind the edge square, failure to correct that in honing, etc. Not at all unusual to see someone drop $300 on a few chisels or a single plane and totally bung up the tool trying to 'tune it up' - despite only needing a light honing to place it in service.

I spent a lot of time doing neander stuff way back when, and hung out in a lot of shops that were set up by woodworkers that should have been able to sharpen, given the thousands of dollars they spent on rare or expensive, handmade tools. In a nutshell, a sharp blade was and is a rare thing to find in most shops, and I would venture to say that perhaps 1 in 10 hand tool woodworkers have any clue as to how to get an edge on steel. Having seen this firsthand, I am much more interested in a sharp, durable edge than how the craftsman gets there.

Okaaaaayyyy ...

The fact of the matter is this ...if all you want to do is to simply achieve a sharp edge ...then fine ...freehand sharpening will do that ...

but ...if you want to sharpen a chisel or a plane iron perfectly square , then the only way to do it is with a jig .

There are technical reasons why this is so, which are probably not understood fully by anybody without a background in metallurgy, or engineering , (and more importantly in how things actually happen in modern production processes.

Fact is, when chisels and plane irons are quenched in the final "tempering" process, it is in a saline bath, and the chisels/irons are quenched by submerging them longitudinally rather than latitudinally, which inevitably leads to the inescapable fact that one side of the chisel /plane iron will be harder than the other ...so ..when you come to sharpen them, despite your best efforts ...you won't get a constant bevel sharpening freehand, because one side will always be harder than t'other.