Thread: What's a stroke?

Is a stroke one swipe in one direction, or two swipes, one in each direction? The reason I ask is due to the charts in the pyramid. Some steps have 1 stroke (or an odd number), which seems imbalanced, if it is treating only one side of the blade.

A stroke is one swipe in each direction. Welcome to the nuthouse! Have fun!

And a 'Pace'? Is that one step with one foot or one step with each foot? I have never found the gold on any of my old pirate buried treasure maps

A pace is two steps, just like a lap. Be careful with the honing stroke, as in just one pass. The other side of the bevel usually gets jealous.

Did you just edit your question? Pyramids are always laps.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Did you just edit your question? Pyramids are always laps.

According to this, they are strokes:

Pyramid honing guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Several steps have an odd number, which means that both sides of the bevel wouldn't get equal treatment; unless a stroke is not a single pass.

The pyramid should use laps, which are sometimes referred to as strokes. It is very rare that an expert honing will require "a stroke" applied to only one side of the bevel. Typically, unless you've screwed up an edge with incorrect pressure (very common for beginners actually) you should always assume that honing advice is for both bevels. As you surmise, unless its not a traditional straight razor, it's both bevels.

Correcting beginners mistakes with uneven bevel sharpening is one of the biggest challenges in honing. It is only diagnosed and corrected by the very experienced, IMHO.

So, to clarify, it's 5 strokes, up and back on the hone. This is often referred to as a "lap". A stroke on the other hand, is either just one pass on both sides, one pass on only one side, or what my heads wants to do when I think about honing too much. You should require clarification if anyone wants you to hone just half the razor.

You are correct in that you do not want to create an imbalance.

Pyramid stroke....

What the slaves under Pharaoh suffered when they learned what they were there for!

So if i swipe my credit card once, that's a swipe. If I do it again, that's a stroke? Or is it a lap?