honing on small stones

Greetings!

I just ordered a few of the Welsh stones to see how they finished. I bought a Yellow Lake and Dragon's Tongue from the 'bay. Question is that these stones are both very small. Are there any special tricks to use to get the most out of a small stone? X-strokes or hone in a different direction and use short strokes? Anyone here have any videos loaded that I haven't been able to find (my searching abilities aren't great). Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,
Jim

no pics yet as stones are on the way across the atlantic, but getting excited about trying them.

How small are they ? Maybe something along the lines of how to use a barbers hone. I have bean reading up on naturals and thought the dragon's tongue was more of a mid grit than a finisher. I could be very wrong of course but as I recall that is why I passed on it.

angle the razor at 45° to the stone AND do x strokes with small stones. I've found holding the stone in your open palm and the razor in the other it's a very comfortable way to use small hones (4"x1" size or similar)

Thanks guys, the stones are 125mm x 35mm (~5" x 1.3"). Not too concerned about the 125 direction but 35 is not going to leave much room. I've been holding my J-nat in a similar way to what TwistedOak described--though using my fingers rather than open palm. That said, it is a much larger stone so not too concerned about my fingers. These stones are 20mm tall so holding it in hand may be out of the question?

10Pups you are correct as far as the Dragon's tongue...I believe it is to be used before the Lynn Melynllyn though I believe it will wind up being skipped most of the time. Got it more for the sport rather than anything else--just experimenting to see how the different natural's finish. The two stones were very inexpensive including shipping so I couldn't resist. The same seller also has a higher 'grit' which is actually his finisher in the series, but since I'm not familiar with the stones I'd like to see how they feel before spending more cash...if they are really sweet then I will wind up going back for larger stones. The beauty of the smaller ones is they are so inexpensive that I can afford to experiment without eating into my razor money.

Cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 10Pups

I have bean reading up on naturals and thought the dragon's tongue was more of a mid grit than a finisher. I could be very wrong of course but as I recall that is why I passed on it.

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Pups,
I bought a Dragon's Tongue from Neil Miller and he estimated the grit at about 9k. After using it several times I can agree with that grit estimate. I can definitely shave coming off this stone.

From what I read, some DTs are 6k to 8k. Natural stones are hard to classify. YMMV.

On my small Jnats, circles make the job much easier. Xstrokes can be hard to do since the stone is so narrow and short.

And, of course the wonderful 'pigtail' stroke works well too

I have the small DT and LM hones and basically use the x stroke while holding the hones in my hand. I haven't tried it yet but can't see why the half stroke like they use with Coticule Bouts on Coticule.be with the Unicot and Dilucote method in the Sharpening Academy.

I have also considered trying the Ellipticot method as shown on the Coticule.be home page. I'm not sure if it would work better using this method with both hones or just for finishing with the LM, guess I need to experiment and report back.

I really rather enjoy using smaller stones. Sure I have larger stones, but there is something that's just so easy about pulling out a little 4" stone, throwing it on your palm, and sitting wherever and giving your blade a little honing lol.

I put some skateboard tape on the back of my small stones to hold em in the palm a little more securely. Might try some of that spray on rubber stuff one day...

Anyway, maybe one day I'll post a video, but I am sure that once you practice a little, it'll become second nature and a nice pass-time.

Plus one for 'narrow' stones. Personally, I've found that 4-5 cm is pretty ideal, although I can comfortably hone on a 2 cm or 6 cm wide stone as well.

My only problem with narrow hones is keeping the blade flat on the hone with little pressure. Make sure the edges are chamfered, in case you slip up like I do!

For grunt work I like bigger (8X3) hones, but for finishing I like shorter (6/5X3) hones. I feel I concentrate better with less real estate. Hone size preference is completely subjective, pick a size that works for you.

From personal experience, I find that using your index finger dead center of the spine works best. Using minimal pressure I can get a good feel for the hone and the blade. I usually do a few passes on each side and finish with a couple x strokes. Being a simple touch up from one of my small 5 or 6" x 1 1/8 hones. Try it, works for me. But again. All this is a learning process. Patience delivers. I'm sure you'll learn a lot from every hone. Part of the hobby right?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TwistedOak

angle the razor at 45° to the stone AND do x strokes with small stones. I've found holding the stone in your open palm and the razor in the other it's a very comfortable way to use small hones (4"x1" size or similar)

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I use this same method with my Crown barbers hone as a quick clean up unit I got my Naniwa 12k recently but still used when away on leave

I have the little 5x1 thuri and like the 45 deg x stroke or the 45 deg x swishing stroke as the let more of the blade contact the hone at once.