Thread: How to sharpen a curved edge?

Is it safe to resurrect this thread? I know some forums discourage it and would rather have a new thread started, but I came across this in my search for answers. If not I will start a new one.

I have an order in for the SRP LE straight razor and was pondering its geometry. Now I have zero experience honing razors at this time. I feel like I have a decent grasp on the principles of honing from reading and watching what is provided on this site. I know that grasp might come undone the first time my razor makes contact with a hone.

I saw that Kees mentions using a narrow hone for his smilies. This makes sense to me. It seems like it would afford the razor a better opportunity to maintain the proper spine to bevel angle on that portion of the blade. Of course, i would employee the technique gssixgun shows in his video above to access all portions of the blade. A wider hone seems like it would change that angle but I'm not sure it would be detrimental.

I am shopping for hones and strops now and would like to get the equipment that would allow me to get the best results from my work.

Am I over thinking this or would a narrow hone and strop be beneficial?

Thanks.

Spencer

A narrow hone is not beneficial. Honing with the rolling x stroke is, but it can be accomplished on any width of hone. The narrow hone simply forces the correct stroke in order to maintain contact between the edge and the hone.

You can create an imaginary narrow hone by using a pencil to draw a line one inch from the edge of your wide hone. Congrats, you now own a one inch wide hone for smiling blades. Only hone on that narrow surface and you will hone correctly.

Originally Posted by sst3wart

Is it safe to resurrect this thread?

I saw that Kees mentions using a narrow hone for his smilies. This makes sense to me. It seems like it would afford the razor a better opportunity to maintain the proper spine to bevel angle on that portion of the blade.


Am I over thinking this or would a narrow hone and strop be beneficial?

I think resurrecting old threads makes more sense than starting new ones as all of the past posts are relevant to the discussion.

When honing a smile, only a narrow area of both the edge and spine are in contact at any time. The rest of the blade is above the plane of the hone. At the Kansas City meet, Randydance was telling me that he did sometimes use the edge of the hone for smiling blades. He could tell from my body language, that I thought that that should not be necessary, and added that it was not necessary but it felt better to him. Fair enough.

Originally Posted by Utopian

A narrow hone is not beneficial. Honing with the rolling x stroke is, but it can be accomplished on any width of hone. The narrow hone simply forces the correct stroke in order to maintain contact between the edge and the hone.

You can create an imaginary narrow hone by using a pencil to draw a line one inch from the edge of your wide hone. Congrats, you now own a one inch wide hone for smiling blades. Only hone on that narrow surface and you will hone correctly.

Whilst I agree that a narrow hone is not entirely necessary I would say that it makes a rolling stroke easier - especially for an inexperienced honer.

Originally Posted by UKRob

Whilst I agree that a narrow hone is not entirely necessary I would say that it makes a rolling stroke easier - especially for an inexperienced honer.

In my opinion:

It is just as easy, as the stroke is identical, on the imaginary narrow hone I described above.

Originally Posted by Utopian

In my opinion:

It is just as easy, as the stroke is identical, on the imaginary narrow hone I described above.

I think we will have to agree to disagree on that - the narrow hone allows a more exaggerated stroke where both toe and heel can be overhanging the side of a narrow hone - that is not possible with your imaginary one.

I am right handed. I hone with the toe of the blade pointing to my left. The right side of the hone will be the actual edge and the imaginary edge drawn with a pencil will be one inch to the left. At the beginning of either a push or pull stroke the heel will align with the right side of the hone and the toe will overhang the imaginary left side without touching anything past that line. At the end of either stroke the heel will overhang the right side and the toe will be aligned with the imaginary left side's line. This is the same stroke as on an actual narrow hone.

It honestly is the exact same stroke irregardless of whether you are on a 1 inch wide hone or a 3 inch wide hone, the edge and the spine must remain in contact as you adjust the honing gymnastics to accomplish a nice even stroke..

It just doesn't matter, but the myth of a narrow hone continues, we have many of those in this hobby

Sitting across the table from beginners and watching them wibble wobbly every stroke they attempt on near every razor and hone I doubt narrow or wide is easier.. Honing a smiling blade like the SRP LE is a learning experience that must be tackled by each new honer and they need to learn to do it on whatever hone is in front of them...

Think about this for just half a minute, many people have Narrow finishers Eschers, CF, Cotis, J-nats, etc;: the majority of these are thinner then a 3 inch wide Synthetic, as you hone a razor through your ladder you don't all of a sudden change the stroke when you get to the top do you ???? You keep the razor in the exact same relation to the hone when you switch from the Norton 8k to the Escher, *** well you do if you want a nice even bevel***

Thanks for the input. I think the prudent course for me to take would be to get a normal sized hone and a budget smilie (if there is one to be found) and practice practice practice. I definitely don't want to learn to hone on the SRP LE. Also, as I'm sure to end up with more razors than I plan on, I would like to be able to maintain them all without having to have "special" sets of hones for this razor or that razor.


I wonder if whipped dog has any smilies in the sight unseen razors he sells.

Regarding thread resurrection, there were some members of a firearm forum I visit that get all up in arms (haha, get it) when someone posts in a thread that has been dead for a while. Thank you for being logical and supportive.

I am really looking forward to this. I tend to be a bit over analytical (just ask SWMBO) when undertaking or purchasing *anything. But it typically results in money well spent with no regrets... although sometimes the money is more than I planned on spending.

Spencer

Originally Posted by sst3wart

...

I wonder if whipped dog has any smilies in the sight unseen razors he sells.

...

Spencer

Maybe you can ask to take a look....

Sorry, that just tickled my fancy!

I agree that you don't need a narrow hone to make a rolling stroke easier. It's all about visualisation. On a narrow hone (eg escher/thuringians are often "narrow") you are forced to pay attention to that honing "window" because that one inch or whatever is all you have to play with. I think this is why people think they are easier for a new honer to learn a rolling stroke on.

But as Utopian says, if visualisation is difficult you can always draw a pencil line down a wider hone. The point of a rolling stroke is to move a small window of the edge (an inch or less) along the hone as you move down the hone which of course has nothing to do with the hone dimensions. It's about what you are doing with the razor in the vertical plane.

James.