Thread: different honing method, your thoughts?

There's more than one way to skin a cat, but what are your thoughts on this gentleman's honing technique?


My immediate reaction was, there is no way that razor will be shave ready to my standards. His way of checking the edge is quite unusual, and the spine of the blade seems to have little contact on the stone. Looks like some kind of variation of a rolling x stroke. Alas, the proof is in the pudding, and without actually trying the blade, I will keep an open mind.

He apparently goes by the sound the razor emits to determine when to move on the next stone. I really cannot understand this.

In my personal experience, without getting the razor to shave arm hair off the 1k, the edge will not be shave ready to my standards. Yes, it may eventually cut hair as you progress in grits, but to show that the razor is shaving at the end of his progression does not necessarily demonstrate a successful honing job.

In any event, I am curious to know what others think.

It looks like he has three hands. I do all my honing with just two.

It looks to me like he is grinding more at the toe of the razor than the heel, eventually that would cause the the razor to become more narrow toward the toe.

Why waste time using 1/4 of the hone when you can use the whole thing. Videos like this are what make people buy 1/4 norton hones. Theres a reason hones are the length they are. And the toe will definitely end up short after a while.

I think JeffR summed up in one sentence what the issue is with many of these "Methods",,, people love to argue that if it works then it works...

I would argue that there are many ways to get a piece of metal shaving sharp, but having restored just a couple of razors over the years some of those ways lead to issues in the future...


Also it looks and sounds like the spine is coming out of contact with the hone but that is not an issue with the method..

Man I cringed when he ran his fingers over the edge to check it.

I'll give him one of my blades and let him run his fingers over the edge to check the sharpness and see what happens...lol

Monsieur has a terminal case of arm mange. That's something.

Originally Posted by Badgister

There's more than one way to skin a cat, but what are your thoughts on this gentleman's honing technique?

Dunno, seems the basics are there - I watched only about half of it, but as far as I can tell the spine on the razor is on the stone. Then he just rubs the razor along the stone surface generally edge leading and it gets sharp.
Yes, his technique looks rathe haphazard, but if he can keep consistent strokes he will get the razor sharp.
Of course it's far easier to achieve consistency if you are more methodical and do things the usual way.
I agree that it looks he is putting extra pressure on the heel so in the long run that would result in heavy hone wear there.

However, notice the razor he is using - it's heljestrand mk31 or mk32 in excellent condition. That razor just wants to be sharp. I could hone it without even looking or testing the edge, just by spending few minutes on each hone - they are that good.

Keep in mind, as a general principle some folks seem to do everything wrong yet the end result is perfection. They have just learned to turn lemons into lemonade and it works for them somehow but if most of us tried it disaster would result.