Quote Originally Posted by jnats View Post
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!

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
You're kidding right? About the terrible shavers bit?