Thread: Tip for Honing "Twisted" Blade

Just to clarify for those who may not know----the Sharpmaker "rods" are actually triangular in cross section and can be set in the "base" to use either a corner or a side of the hone. So the way I set it up, I use the flat sides, which are actually about 1/2" wide. I think this gives a little more of a refined edge and in the "Spyderco honing progression", this comes after using the corners of the stones (which actually are slightly rounded--not sharp). It is important to use VERY LITTLE pressure since the pressure is concentrated in such a small length of the blade rather than across the whole blade as with a 3" wide stone. That said, I cannnot say enough about how pleased I am to have finally arrived at a good way to hone "non-perfect" blades where the edge and spine are not "co-planar".

Hey, Chris---Just a thought, but I'd guess that you might have had trouble because you used paper abrasives backed with wood. I AM definitely familiar with this sharpening method, but when you enter the realm of straight razors, we're talking about edges that are so fine (or we HOPE) that the combination of abrasive paper and wood together still has too much "give" to it, even though you may not feel it, and this ends up blunting the edge just enough to ruin it. The paper with wood backing has enough "give" to "wrap around" the edge just enough to keep it from coming to a razor-sharp apex. Try it again VERY LIGHTLY with rods, not sandpaper/dowels, and I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised!

My troubleshooter is a Coticule strip, 1/2 inch wide and 8 inch long. It's lapped flat. It works like a charm.
I also experimented with an oval shaped diamond honing steel for kitchen knives, and had pretty much the same experience as ChrisL.
It also work to hone on the side of a Belgian Blue or any synthetic hone, as long as it's not a combination of two grits.

But is does seem necessary to have at least some flat surface to spread out the honing action to the bare minimum.

Bart.

Originally Posted by Bart

But is does seem necessary to have at least some flat surface to spread out the honing action to the bare minimum.

Bart.

Is that because if you don't keep the razor at the same angle (perpendicular to the rod) all the way through the pass that it creates different bevels/angles?