Thread: newbie & honing

The learning curve for honing is just as steep as it is for shaving, albeit with less blood loss. Running through the pyramid is one thing. Running through it effectively is another. Make sure the edge is getting good contact with the hone. Watch how the edge pushes the water. If water isn't lapping up over any part of the edge, then it's not making good contact with the hone. You can also mark the edge with a sharpie and do a few laps to see if the edge is making good contact with the stone.

Go slow. You can do multiple pyramids if necessary. Don't worry about over honing. It's actually pretty hard to over hone using the pyramid technique. If the Boker is your only straight, you may want to send to a hone meister (so you have a shave ready straight to shave with and a benchmark you can compare your home honed straights to) and pick up a cheap e-bay special to practice on.

success! i put magic marker on the edge and discovered that something was out of kilter. so i had to reset the bevel on the 1k and go from there. actually i am now quite pleased. i'm getting there