Thread: Back honing

Hi Steel,

In yet another area, I seem odd - in that I get some good results from the backstroke. I know of at least one honemeister who learned to hone using them and another very experienced member that does - including on the 1k stone.

Now that said, if you're in learning mode - I would strongly recommend going w/ the honorable Sixgunner's counsel - especially until you can get a reliably comfortable shave from an 8k. Almost every time I didn't follow their good counsel - I was wrong. I stumbled into the backstroke while playing around w/ an edge. When I posted about the result, another very experienced member (afdavis) suggested that if this could provide such noticeable improvement, it might be due to some flaw or fouleduptitude w/ my normal forward stroke. I suspect Al's on to something there, and I've not forgotten it. I have gone back to doing the last strokes with the normal, edge-leading stroke, as lightly as I possibly can.

For the sake of context - I don't do only backstroke until the end, but pretty much follow the counsel of Lynn, Glenn & others and start w/ the circles (large elipses) and then a few forward strokes, some backstrokes and finish w/ 1-3 light forward strokes.

'Hope to hear of some sweet shaves coming from your efforts.

Thanks. That pretty much clears things up for me on this. I will try a3-2-2 or 3-2-1 next time and see how it goes