Originally Posted by
jnats
I've honed a couple of Iwasaki Tamahagane Western Straights and they are not a fast and easy hone from glassed edge. So I will say it's all bout the hone feel because they are horrible shavers! :rofl2:
Honestly, for me it's the feel of the blade in my hand before it even touches stone that tells most. I then make it happen when steel meets stone. If it feels rubbish, I don't go through the trouble. On the hone, it's blade geometry. Spine to edge and how it meets the stone. That being said- eg. I've held some Sheffield steel that had geometry problems, and I tuned them back in sync with one another for fantastic shaves. When it first went on the stone, the edge meeting the stone might say it was garbage, but I could tell it was only improperly honed in the past. ...now ask me what test I use to see if my chisels are sharp :D