Thread: Setting the #@!!$&#! Bevel

I have been thinking about your problem. From the way you describe it I can tell that you have done some studying in the Wiki and that is good. I was lucky enough to have a forum member who knows his way around a hone show me how he does it.

So I don't know if what I am telling you here is "right" but it is the way I do it. For one thing I use one layer of electrical tape. If you're doing circles and paddle strokes with pressure it is nice to protect the spine.

I was surprised at the pressure he applied in setting the bevel. It is hard to describe. It wasn't like he was rolling dough with a rolling pin but it was more then "the weight of the blade". One of the things he told me is that it is about removing metal and if you are going to remove it you may as well go ahead and do it expeditiously.

I learned to use circular strokes from him in setting a bevel and also paint brush or paddle strokes. Basically you're doing a regular honing stroke with a bit of pressure in a forward direction and then pulling it back in a back honing direction. I do 10 back and forth on one side and then 10 on the other.

Every so often check your edge with the eye loupe and the TNT. Shouldn't take many of these to get you to where you can do normal X strokes on your bevel setter. Once I get the TNT to where I want it I do 10 light strokes on the bevel setter and then move up to the 4k.

On the 4/8 or whatever I do as Glen once said and use enough pressure to keep the blade flat on the hone. If it is a full hollow that blade is thinner then a piece of paper so it doesn't take much but it does take some.

If you've got a smiling blade or a warped spine then the "rolling X" is one way or, as Lynn likes to do, an X stroke with the blade at a 45 degree angle to the stone. I have used both techniques with success. Which I use depends on the particular blade.

If it is a warped spine a narrow hone is a handy thing to have. If your hone is 1" thick you can turn it on edge. If all you have is a wide hone and it isn't thick enough to turn on edge you have to try and manipulate the blade to "get" that concave part along with the rest of it. As Randy says, it takes patience and persistence.