Thread: Rounded stones...

COOL! when I saw this, I thought it would make honing a razor much easier, because you can hit the razor wherever you want no matter how curvy it is. I would think something like a king stone would be a lot easier to convex because its so soft unlike naturals. I've been thinking of trying it with my king 6k.

Some years back there were a few folks around the forums who tried it with slices of, or whole stones and it was the rage for a while. I do not see anyone promoting the idea anymore.
Of course, there is the advantage of localized attention and a higher contact pressure, but there are a lot of things that can quickly go wrong for the very same reasons.
~Richard

I wonder about that photo and what does appear to be, hone wear on the spine. Perhaps it was just a stock photo, posted to the website and not a photo of the production process.

I don’t recall any New Dovo’s with spine wear, but then it is not something I look for, specifically.

Of new one’s I have honed, they run the gamut on edge readiness and geometry. Some pretty close, some… Not so much.

it could be water on the razor, and an illusion. Or it could be a customer razor that was returned for honing in Germany. They do honing service as long as your in the Country I believe.

I think it was more common within straight manufacturers than end users and consumers because of the difficulty in use and maintaining the hones. Even old platens used to set the initial bevel were slightly convexed. A lot of history is gone and the modern practice of honing razors came into being 45 years + after their widespread manufacture died out. I think a lot of our honing today is based upon barber's manuals (end user), barber's hones( end user) and influenced by current knife and tool sharpening techniques. YMMV of course.

Originally Posted by CrownCork

Convex hones were common to hone razors back in the day. Both my Dad and grandfather used a convexed Thuri and Ark to hone their razors. Unbelievable edges and bevels. I used them all the time. Unfortunate for me the disappeared in transit on a move across country along with some of their other shaving paraphernalia I had saved. I have dabbled in making some myself. A lot harder then you think. My old man could do it by hand with no jigs.

You never find a convex hone on ebay. I wonder what happened to them.

Originally Posted by Kees

You never find a convex hone on ebay. I wonder what happened to them.

I don't think they were a high demand end user item. My grandfather had them because he and his brothers worked in the cutlery business at the turn of the century in Upper NY. My father learned from him and passed them down to me.

I have seen a video of a Japanese honing a razor on a hone shaped like the OP describes, can't find it now however.
To me it is not beneficial that the stone is shaped that way, but YMMV as always.

Well i'm glad people were open minded to the thought. I began doing this to my king 6k, then kinda snoozed on the idea as I am pretty busy as of late.
This seems like one of those things you have to try for your self to really know... ya know? I don't know! looks interesting tho.

Seems to me like if it wasn't manufactured that way, you'd be sending a lot of good hone down the drain trying to reshape it like that. But who knows, if it works out better for ya, or somehow ends up expediting things it may be worth the lost material and time it took to reshape your stone. Experimenting and finding out what works for you is half the fun right?