Originally Posted by
DaveW
Reminds me of woodworking forums. At some point, we're just looking to shave and do it comfortably, and hopefully we get far enough along that we're not looking to hone all the time (because it wastes the razor and doesn't make a shave any better, or even as good, as a razor well kept on linen and leather).
I've used stones that I've lapped flat (not arks, I guess), and arks that I have deadened by sharpening tools on them for a little bit - but they are not perfectly flat, just very flat. Once the linen hits the razor's edge a couple of times, I can't tell the difference between any of them - the linen improves the edge and then it's the linen's edge and not the stone.
The one thing that I think is lost on this forum is the art of maintaining an edge with linen and leather and never actually removing it with a stone, but instead only using the stone to keep the bevel geometry above the edge from getting too fat.