Thread: Pocket Stones

Originally Posted by Suile

what size count as pocket hones cause i consider my Belgian blue that's 1 inch wide by 3 inchs long by 1/4 inch to be a nice pocket stone.
Though it be hard to hone a razor on a machinist clear Arkansas 4 by 1/4 inch wide. Those put really nice sharp edges on big tools like a 8 inch draw knife.

A good buddy of mine, Ed Lombi, made the prototype, and the early Tom Brown Tracker knives. He still has a couple and they are big knives. He was a machinist in his younger days and I've picked his brain about sharpening and metallurgy. Anyway, he can and does sharpen large knives with one of the those 4x4x3/8 or so square synthetic stones. Doing circles. First time he showed me I was incredulous. I figured that cannot be right. Wasn't long after that Lynn posted the first video of honing razors with circles.

Honing on small hones is not a problem but it is different. At some (lack of) length, normal strokes must give way to circles/ellipses.

The attached image shows the smallest hone I've used, a fast cutting Narutaki JNat with a piece of King 1K glued to the back, the Swiss Army Knife is for scale. The combo stone was made by Alex Gilmore at thejapanstone. If you're patient, you can set a bevel on the king, then use the small naguras to progress to finish. I tried it but not while traveling, and it does work. Refreshing an edge is easy pie using the finisher only.

Cheers, Steve