Thread: Eurasian combo honing for bevel

Well sort of.. was wondering how many of you use the Japanese tech of honing when setting bevels? What I have noticed with my hand and tendencies is that when setting a new bevel a combo technique of push/pull strokes helps with uniformity of the bevel. Usually I will start with a stabilizing hold of the blade heel and toe
push stroking forward with slight angle on a 3" wide stone. I then pull the stroke (no weight) also at slight angle. To make sure that the bevel is getting even abrasion sometimes if the stroke is too straight forward, I repeat the stroke on the same side but start at the middle point to toe. (heel to middle, middle to toe).
Checking on the uniformity of the bevel (width even), I then do a couple of light X strokes to even out the edge length wise. If the bevel seems thinner in one spot, I place two fingers over the light spot when I stroke the blade. As always I finish up with light X strokes. I have also noticed in my experience that pulling strokes (spine leading) gets the bevel sharp faster on some blades. These types push strokes I reserve for the end (near perfect bevel) but will always finish with light push strokes (edge forward). For me I suppose the X pattern is more of a finishing stroke or touch up than a bevel setting technique...

Just a thought; IMO pull stroke spine forward puts less grinding pressure on spine and concentrates the grind to the edge.. any thoughts?

Yes Japanese style honing and Circular honing are part of my repertoire of techniques to pull an uneven bevel into line...

I am going to move this to the advanced section of the forum though as it fits there better...

I absolutely do japanese style honing on razors. It's quick and very effective at providing uniformity. I try to keep very even pressure from one stroke to the next, and ensure that I do the same number of strokes per side, usually five or ten on one side, then the same on the other.

I cringe when I read posts about guys taking five or so hours setting a bevel. Even with smiling blades, I just drop down to lower grit diamond hones to get the job done quickly.

I do it too. I also put a fair amount of pressure when rehabilitating an ebay junker, at least when establishing the bevel and doing push-pulls.

When getting close, I drop back to conventional honing, and keep alternating heavy and light pressure.

5 hard strokes, 10 light at first, and then eventually progress to 1 hard, 10-15 light until I pop hairs at 1200 grit. It makes the process a LOT faster.

I like to eat Chinese food after I'm done honing but that is as crazy as I'll let myself get . . .

Originally Posted by Ben325e

I absolutely do japanese style honing on razors. It's quick and very effective at providing uniformity. I try to keep very even pressure from one stroke to the next, and ensure that I do the same number of strokes per side, usually five or ten on one side, then the same on the other.

I cringe when I read posts about guys taking five or so hours setting a bevel. Even with smiling blades, I just drop down to lower grit diamond hones to get the job done quickly.

+1

Circles and Japanese style. I'm not afraid of dropping down as low as the DMT325. I rather do 20 strokes there than 80 on the DMT600 or 400 on the DMT1200.
I go easy on the pressure though, as I have noticed how easy it is to flex a hollow ground blade and end up with a bevel that's wider with the low grit scratches. Adding two layers of tape to the spine while still in the more pressure driven honing stages, helps to avoid this broadening of the bevel. As soon as I remove the tape, I avoid all significant pressure.
These techniques all apply to bevel setting stages of sharpening.

Bart.

whew..releived.. when I used the diamond ultra fine last time I had visions of being crucified by SRP for using such a barbaric method. But I have found that a clean dia hone works way faster and will polish up good using all the regular stones afterwards. In my case I use ceramics which IMO take longer to get a really keen polished edge, and then AOx on strop is definitely needed before final strop. I also found water on dia, and also on ceramics work really well.