Thread: Why should I bevel the edges of my hone?

Been looking around and I can't seem to find much info on this problem --

From the Wiki -
"The reason we bevel the corners of a hone is to avoid doing any damage to that razor sharp edge we are trying to develop. Those non bevelled edges have the potential to do some serious damage. If you are on an #8000 hone getting ready for the final polish but make one slip up on that non beveled corner, chances are quite high, that you are going to have to go all the way back to #1000 and reset that bevel. There is nothing worse than having to redo something because you were not careful."

What kind of slip up are we talking about here? Hitting the razor's edge on a sharp corner or accidentally losing control and running the blade along the edge?

Do you guys think it's good for a beginner to round the edges and corners of their hones?

If you guys know of previous threads containing this information, please send them my way.

Sorry if this belongs in the Honing forum -- I wasn't quite sure.

Thanks!

It's pretty easy to "seesaw" the blade on the hone. And if the heel goes lower than the plane of the honing surface while the toe lifts off the hone, then the edge touches that corner. If the edge of the hone is rounded then it reduces the potential for damage.

Michael

Also in case there are any chips, burrs or uneven places that could catch the edge, beveling takes care of that.

"Do you guys think it's good for a beginner to round the edges and corners of their hones?"

I think it's good for everybody, even expert honemeisters have slip ups.
Chamfer and make sure you got as smooth surface there as on the top of the hone.

Very helpful. Thanks a lot, guys!

Just for clarification..

This is a minor operation, you just need to knock down the very corner just a bit, I have seen way to many newbs cut these huge 45° bevels in there, IIRC Stubear has a Vid up showing how much to do, I honestly can't remember if I showed it in my Lapping Vid or not, probably did...

Myself, I don not "bevel" the edge so much as "round" or radious it. imo beveling it still leaves a sharp corner standing (albiet not as sharp as a 90 deg)

Great advice from everyone. Thanks! I'm gonna search for those videos!

On Naturals, I will bevel on side at a 45 and the other side round the edge, sometimes one sides is better then the other and that way is easy to differ witch side is the one you want to use.

Originally Posted by Martin103

On Naturals, I will bevel on side at a 45 and the other side round the edge, sometimes one sides is better then the other and that way is easy to differ witch side is the one you want to use.

Never tried that, got some with 90 degrees but they are for tools to get in to corners and such.
When would 45 be better than round?