Thread: Travel kit for honing

A very impressive display.

Well done!

Wow, that's an impressive cart there, John-Looks like something you might see rolled in to a hospital room in an emergency-"Doctor, the razor is dull and losing its edge fast-bring your stones stat!"

edit to add: "Start an IV solution of ZG slurry!" You can save the bevel, Doc.

I will stop now.

I'm wondering just how close you are to the weight limit of that Costco cart.

Sweet set-up, John nice collection.

Time for a bump on this thread !!

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Time for a bump on this thread !!

Alright, here's a post rather than my starting a new thread...

Thought I'd share a pic of my current travel honing set-up, along with remarks, for what it may be worth.



Included as shown are a 6" x 2" coarse DMT, a 40mm x 130mm Suehiro 1k/3k combo, a similarly-sized "nouvelle veine" no. 6 BBW/coticule natural combo bout, and a 35mm x 130mm purple Welsh slate, as well as a Solingen paddle strop. Not shown is a 6" x 2" fine DMT.

The coarse DMT is mostly used for lapping the Suehiro combo as needed. The fine DMT is used for blades found with visible chips in them, taping the spine. This is followed by the 1k/3k Suehiro to set and refine the bevel without tape. I really like this Suehiro combo. The feedback is excellent and the 3k dovetails oh so nicely with the 1k. Then it's off to the yellow coticule side. Sensation is like a scrub-board there, but this is deceptive as the bevel and edge it yields is quite good, followed by a few more passes on the purple slate to refine things. (The combo slurry stone is to remove swarf from the surface of the coticule, rather than generate a slurry for honing.)

In using small, narrow stones like these, I find a few circles leading to wide, laterally-biassed X-strokes does the trick, adding a few up-and-down strokes from time to time to address the heel.

The paddle strop has taken a little bit of getting used to. There again, it's a laterally-biassed pass along the length of the strop. The balsa side is scored vertically, presumably to counteract wood movement or twist, and lined with red paste, and may or may not be needed off the purple slate. In any case, I usually go for around 8 laps on the red paste, followed by around 15 laps on the oil-tanned, felt-lined leather side. Repeating on the leather or on both surfaces as needed.

Why so few passes on the strop? The oil-tanned, felt-lined leather side has a heavier draw than I am used to, and also, as it doesn't lie exactly flat, I have found that a stropping pass similar to a rolling X-stroke is necessary with it. This puts more pressure on the blade, meaning that it acts more quickly on the edge this way. This also causes me to slow down and really concentrate on felt sensation and the visual effect.

I've used this set-up on a few occasions over the past couple of months and it has yet to let me down. Smaller chipped knives can also be addressed, ending with the BBW side and then stropping on a pair of denim pants as worn.

Mine is a bit more minimized [emoji6]


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Originally Posted by Kristian

Mine is a bit more minimized [emoji6]


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Can you enlarge the picture? I can't make out the details.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

Can you enlarge the picture? I can't make out the details.

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Well you asked for an enlargement, that is somewhat larger.

I'm trying really hard and I just can't find anything not to like about that image. It looks like an idyllic scene.