Thread: I Drew an Inch and gained more than a mile

I was talking to Glen on the phone today about this and that and I mentioned that a 6/8 Joseph Elliot near full wedge was driving me nuts! It has a Wonky Blade and I'd been working on it off and on for a couple of days.

When I'd get frustrated I'd just clean it up, dry it off and set it aside and go on to other things.

I told him that a friend had given me a very narrow (9/16" wide) Coti and I was going to give that a go to see if it would help.

Glen said;
"No need to do that, just draw a 1" line down your hones and concentrate on only using that area of the hone".
Glen said that it could be down one side, both sides or down the middle.

Seems that about 8 years ago a friend of Glen's came upon a couple of new Norton Hones N/C and there was much 'talk' that for wonky blades you needed a narrow hone. Well since Glen likes to experiment the hones were sent to him and he cut them in half lengthwise, polished up the cut sides and lapped them.

Then he gave the New Narrowed Hones a go. That was the only time he's ever used them. He quickly discovered that he could do the same thing on Any Hone by just concentrating on a narrow area of that hone.

Well Glen has Never steered me wrong but I was still unsure if I could work the area as he could but I said I'd give it a go.

Those that know me and know me well know that I like to use slurry on all my hones so I made slurry on my King 1200 placed a 1" wide SS ruler on it, aligned it with the edge and used a #2 pencil to draw the line. Even wet and with the slurry I had a nice clear line as a guide.

Well with the line in place down one side and the slurry ready I gave it a go.

Long story made shorter. In 5 minutes I made more progress than I had in the last couple of very frustrating days!

As I progressed after Finally Setting A Bevel I made slurry and drew lines on Every Hone Used.

I did make an attempt at Freehanding on the Norton 8K but I'll be using the lines as guides until I feel that I'm getting proficient enough to do without them.

From top to bottom and Left to Right:

King 1200
Norton 8K (yes the 4K also had the line drawn on it) Naniwa 12K and my Zulu Grey



Since I'd already shaved the Ultimate Test will have to wait until tomorrow but from what I've seen it's going to be a Winner!

As my Dad used to say; Don't Ask Just Anybody, Ask Someone Who Knows Something!

Glen, Thank you for the Tip!:

The Verdict's IN! It's a nice shaver

Really interesting tip - idea! I have quite a lot of success using what most people would consider finger stones (in other words very little hone real estate). I learned from the people behind The Superior Shave where I buy a lot of my coticules. Also have a jnat I work with that fits in the palm of my hand purchased off of Etsy - killer edge with a tiny workspace.

I sat down and watched Randy turn a hone on its side to work on a specific area of the blade, only using the 3/4--1" side of the hone and targeted what was needed, not my idea , but it made sense to me and I don't know anything about honing. Tc

I learned that from Randy as well, it works well with a warped blade or something a bit wonky. Drawing the line also is a very good learning tool

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

I sat down and watched Randy turn a hone on its side to work on a specific area of the blade, only using the 3/4--1" side of the hone and targeted what was needed, not my idea , but it made sense to me and I don't know anything about honing. Tc

I've 'KINDA' done this before when working on trying to get the toe of a razor set. But then I'd make a couple of across the entire hone passes to Even up the blade.

This works so much better!

Told ya so Roy, on both counts


#1 That it is the actual movement of the hands that makes it work, ie; using the same gymnastics that you are required to use on a thin hone, but doing it on a wider hone by design does the exact same thing without having to buy/switch hones...

#2 That no matter how many times you say it, explain it, demonstrate it, the myth of needing a thin hone to do warped edges continues to persist...


Good job brother

So you are tilting the razor? Because if you hold it straight I would think some part of the razor would touch outside the line. Maybe I'm just dumb bit having a hard time visualizing this.

Originally Posted by Maxx

So you are tilting the razor? Because if you hold it straight I would think some part of the razor would touch outside the line. Maybe I'm just dumb bit having a hard time visualizing this.

Don't think about it, just try it on our next Warped or Smiling razor, anything that you would consider using a Thin hone on, use the exact same movement that you have to use on a thin hone but do it on only a potion of the wide hone...

If you already own a thin hone then there is no need,,, but there is also no need to buy more hones to hone wonky razors..


ps: This exact discussion goes back to 2008 when AaronX and I got together to make the Thin set of Nortons, we both learned very quickly that they are simply not needed

My brain knows it works, the hands are hard to convince!! lol

Originally Posted by gssixgun

#2 That no matter how many times you say it, explain it, demonstrate it, the myth of needing a thin hone to do warped edges continues to persist...


Good job brother

I can relate to that my left hand does ZERO shaving