Thread: Need help - heel is not getting honed

So, a photo of the first side without tape, so we can see all the hone wear on that side, would help.

It looks like someone has been honing with the tang on the stone, that will keep the heel off the stone.

Also, when doing X strokes, most folks do not keep the heel on the stone long enough to hone the heel. If you do a straight X stroke, the heel comes off the stone within, the first inch of lateral travel. If it’s not on the stone, it can’t get honed…

Start your X stroke with a lateral stroke and the heel forward, about 45 degrees until half way down the stone, then swoop the tip to the bottom corner. This will hone the whole blade edge.

Make sure the tang is not riding on the stone, sharpie ink on the tang and the edge will tell you what is going on here. You can just do straight strokes with the heel forward and the tang up against the edge of the stone to hone the heel, then do x strokes to blend the edge.

Do not use excessive pressure, forcing the blade on to the stone, use a rolling X stroke instead. Charley Lewis has a good video demonstrating the technique, though your smile is not as exaggerated as his and will require less “English”.

This is a good razor for a mentor to help you with, as it is about technique, musseling it will just cause you more problems. If you want to do it on your own, 2 layers of tape, ink on the bevel and light pressure, with a rolling X, until you are removing all the ink off the whole bevel.

Watch your bevel and the tape, change the top layer at the slightest hint of burn through.

Thank you all for the advice. After doing the rolling x-strokes I managed to hone the heel!

I just wanted to clarify something. In Glen's videos he explains how a rolling x doesn't mean the spine lifts off the hone at all, but watching Charlie Lewis' video (correct me if I'm wrong), but it seems to me the spine comes off the hone just slightly. For me the end result in the shave test cut hair, just not as smooth as I would have likely it, so I'm probably going to go through the progression again to practice. I'm following Glen's videos more than Lyn's, just because.

I feel like rolling x-strokes are not that easy in the beginning. Being a beginner, I feel it's hard enough to hone a wedge, now I have to worry about rolling x-strokes...maybe it's the wrong razor for me to learn on? It was hard to concentrate on pressure because I was worrying about rolling the blade properly. I found myself using 2 hands all the time, even though my off hand was just go make sure the blade stayed flat.

Also about stropping on balsa and leather. For a blade like this where one has to use a rolling x, does regular stropping technique suffice?

stropping does not really change from blade to blade. Because it is a soft surface it will adjust to the blade, where as the hones are much much harder and will not give way, so you must adjust how the razor rides on the hone. Sooner or later we all hit a razor that is a serious challenge. How it shaves will tell you more about your honing and likely over time it will be no big deal, but it is all about practice and developing skills.
As for the rolling X I would express it as the point of contact changes as the razor rolls over the hone, but I would not express it as the razor is lifted off the hone. Tomato, tomoto I suppose. as Long as you get a shaving edge the how we express it doesn't;t really matter.