Thread: My first time honing... one good, one not so good

Hi where on Long Island are you? I am in Islip and would be more than happy to help you out. I have a spare King 1000 to set that bevel on. Could be fun.

Well, first you want to lap your stones flat, to ensure there are no rough spots.

Get a couple sheets of 220 and 320 Wet & Dry, and a steel cookie sheet from the dollar store or thrift stone.

Mark a grid with a pencil on the stone, wet the sheet and sand paper and lap it till the pencil grid comes off. Keep rinsing all the grit off the paper.

Remark the grid and it should come off completely in 2-3 laps, if not keep lapping until it will come off in 2-3 laps. Mark a new grid as often as needed. Then finish on the 320 grit. Make sure to bevel or round the corners of the stone.

A diamond plate will make lapping and resurfacing your stones much easier, you should resurface the stones each time you use them and occasionally if they load up. You can buy a 400/1000 grit plate for $35 from Chef Knives to Go.

You are riding on the heel stabilizer on the Green Lizard and that is keeping the heel half of the edge off the stone.

There are several threads, one recently on correcting heels. Re-shaping the heel will move the heel corner of the edge forward of the stabilizer and allow the edge to sit flat on the stone for you to hone an edge on it.

Once you lap the stones and correct the heel, it should hone easily with the 4k.

Sounds like Hacker can help you out.

@Euclid440 -- The stone was already lapped flat and corners beveled from previous uses before I sold it to DD (basically, each and every honing with a DMT325 as Glen does). That Norton 4/8 was the stone that I used up at Glen's north woods retreat when he first taught me how to hone. Of course, he subjected to me to his YouTube limelight torture and filmed the session. Nothing in life is free, eh?

@DupreesDiamond -- Definitely take up Hacker7's offer to help you one on one with some honing guidance You will no doubt risk getting the urge to buy a 1k hone and a diamond plate for yourself. Welcome to the rabbit hole!

Originally Posted by Utopian

Having a 50% success rate from the beginning is pretty good!

Did you change the tape regularly while you did the honing?

I did change it when I saw where.

Originally Posted by Hacker7

Hi where on Long Island are you? I am in Islip and would be more than happy to help you out. I have a spare King 1000 to set that bevel on. Could be fun.

Thank You Hacker I sent you a PM

The Wade Butcher also, could use some heel re shaping as it looks like the edge ends, right at the stabilizer and that you are honing on the stabilizer, the heel may not be fully honed.

A few strokes on a diamond plate will fix both of them and allow the edge to sit flat on the hone.