Originally Posted by
thp001
A large part of the discussion around the convex hone has been quite unfortunate imo.
First you have the historicity of the idea itself, which I never really doubted, but I can see how some would as when asked for direct evidence Jarrod (let us address the man directly) would for the most part just allude to old grinding manuals, old books and pretty much just tell the skeptics to go do their own research. This is an inappropriate attitude to have when advocating for a position. I actually got into a discussion about this on YouTube with him, he would again just allude to the idea then when I pushed him hard enough to back up his claim he would then come back at me with some names of writers, or the name of a book, and when I checked them out they were legitimate.
Jarrod would have been much better served by, when learning about the convex hone, coming to the forum and writing a thorough, informative post, translating out the German like I am attempting to do, and being more lighthearted about the matter. Imagine if this whole thing had started out with a thread something like:
'Hey guys, Dovo told me about this convex stone they use, they said it goes way back. I looked up a whole bunch of old technical manuals and grinding documents and translated them out of German, take a look yourselves at these links, might improve our edges".
Maybe I am wrong but it doesn't seem he did that, but I think the idea would be more amenable to some had he.
Something else that didn't help him was this kind of insistence that the only real way to 'skin the cat' was the convex stone, that it is the only true way lest you pretty much ruin your razor. Now maybe the grinders in Germany would prefer users to maintain the factory geometry but they've never provided any tools to do such. We also have the fact that most people have used a flat or relatively flat hone to keep their razors in shape with no ill effects to the razor, or to the comfort of the shave. Now maybe, in theory, the convex would be preferable, it's just a pointless thing to be so assertive over. Insinuating that a substantial portion of razor honers are pretty much cognitive peasants for not immediately recognizing the 'superiority' of the convex hone isn't going to make people amenable to hearing you out, rightly or wrongly.
I think it's fair to give Jarrod his due for bringing to our attention a historic method of honing that could infer some advantage to the end user in the modern day. Some people have insinuated he pretty much made the whole thing up, or Dovo made it up to cover for recent production woes in regards to grinds/honing. This is obviously untrue and for such an accusation to stand would not be just.
The man is obviously passionate about the industry and the history of razors and their manufacture.
I'll try have another post up later today with a translation I found in a German Microscopy journal.
Keep it light everyone.