Honing With X-Pattern and Lapping Wiht a Naniwa Lapping Stone

[ChaddyOShaver]

Yesterday I received my Naniwa 12000 honing stone and a Naniwa Lapping Stone (not the gigantic one). My question is why is it recommended to use the x-pattern when honing? Why can't I just go straight up and down? And, the Naniwa lapping stone is way smaller than the honing stones so will this unevenly lap the honing stone?

[gssixgun]

Because going straight up and down the hone will eventually make your edge do this the blade should do this

Frown = Bad
Smile = Good

Just like in life...

What does the Small lapping stone look like can you link it ????

[gssixgun]

Should be fine, just use figure 8 patterns

I have a Vid online but I have to apologize in advance the camera angle is not as good as I had hoped for

just youtube search "gssixgun honing" and you will find about 30 vids on there

[Euclid440]

That lapping stone will work but is messy. A diamond plate 300-600 grit is easier but, once the 12K is flat, use the flat side of the flattening stone and be sure to round the edges of the 12K. Wash the 12K stone well in running water and a scrubbing sponge to ensure all the grit from the flattening stone is removed.

An inexpensive silicone carbide stone will also work in place of a diamond plate as a refreshing stone.
That 12K will refresh and finish your razors for many years.

The X pattern honing will hone the Heel and Toe as well as the middle, thus preventing a frown.

[ChaddyOShaver]

The X pattern honing will hone the Heel and Toe as well as the middle, thus preventing a frown.[/QUOTE]

See I don't understand what this means. Doesn't honing without the x pattern do the same? Doesn't honing up and down without the x pattern hone the heel, toe, and middle?

[gssixgun]

See I don't understand what this means. Doesn't honing without the x pattern do the same? Doesn't honing up and down without the x pattern hone the heel, toe, and middle?

If the everything was perfectly straight and even Yes you would be correct but they are not..

The edge is not always a straight line in fact, neither is your newly lapped stone and for sure your stoke is not .. The various patterns the X being the most used eliminate all that un-evenness.. Even more importantly the X stroke allows you to form the edge and bevel

This is something that you pretty much have to accept on faith or you have to test it yourself which will eventually result in a Mis-honed razor

Note I underlined Eventually,

[Mephisto]

Width and length of the hone is related to the amount of lateral and forward movement. A razor with an even spine will, or at least should have an even bevel, no smile. This is also reduces the amount of lateral motion in your stroke to cover the entire bevel.

[Wayne1963]

By using the x-pattern rather than just going back and forth, you will compensate for any inconsistencies in the grind, flatness of the stone and possibly your own stroke technique. At least that is the goal. Good luck.

[edhewitt]

For about $10 you can get a loupe from ebay, this is a small magnifier that jewellers etc use mine has 30 and 60x magnification and.built in led lights.

[AFDavis11]

Here's my take on the x pattern. Guys focus on the x pattern, when clearly we also discuss other patterns, like circles. "Going straight" down the stone is fine, to a point. Later, sharpness is really enhanced by using no pressure and the correct pressure influence on the blade. Again, just my opinion, but, allow my to elaborate.

It's not so much the pattern that is important, although that historically used to be the theory (search striations) for more on that.

For example, you could push the razor upward on the hone and still be following an x pattern. I don't know anyone that ever recommended that though.

You'll notice that guys that talk about going straight down the hone usually also use the word "push". "Why can't I JUST push it down the hone". The inferred reasoning given, by the way, is never about an increase in sharpness, it's always about the imagined difficulty of using an x pattern.

Honing is difficult.

So, back to how you hone without using ANY pressure. Let's imagine a car. If I ask you to push the car, you would often get behind it and push down on the trunk, or down from the bumper, and push. You'd be using a lot of downward force. You might not really accept that,with a razor, but it's more intuitive with this analogy. Now if I asked you to pull the car instead. For some odd reason you'd probably go to the front of the car and reach under the bumper, even though I didn't give any dirctions to do so, and you'd pull upward and toward you. There'd be less pressure on the tires nearest you. Razors don't have suspensions, so don't get too crazy with my analogy.

Let's go back to razors. The scales are being held in your hand. How do you pull the razor? Or, another question, how do you push it without applying ANY downforce?

The simple answer is you move the razor off the lower part of the stone, pulling it toward you, keeping your end lifted a bit to keep the blade flat. With this direction the spine prevents you from being able to apply pressure to the edge. The spine of the razor can't go INTO the hone.

The entire edge gets some honing action this way regardless of any hone issues created when you built the bevel.

You could lap after every so and so many strokes and go straight down the hone. The edge gets pretty sharp. But, where do you push from? If you push from the scales how do you control the pressure across the entire edge?

Now, if I pull the razor toward me, I'm controlling the pressure in a linear fashion.

Imagine if I asked you to hone a heavy rope, but, I insisted that the rope be honed evenly across its entire length, after every single stroke. If you fail, I kill you.

You think about it for a bit and realize that the top of the rope isn't going to move as smoothly as the part near your hand. And, clearly being brilliant, you slowly realize that the best way to hone the rope, with each stroke, and ensure equivilant pressure along the entire rope as you go is: to pull the rope toward you for pressure control, AND, across the stone for motion (motion = abrasion).

Now, watch any beginner hone and you'll see the razor tip flying all over the place. Forward and backward of the centerline, during each stroke. You might think, if you watched with fast- motion photography that they were meaning to hone with pressure and really swing the tip from side to side.

The problem with a lot of folks is that they think the objective is to remove metal. It's really not. If you just remove metal you'll remove metal from the spine, as much, if not more (it's the heavy end of the razor, after all), from the spine than the edge.

Grinding the razor down isn't the objective. It's leaving the edge as thin as possible, equally, all along the edge.

This, has to be accomplished. It's the critical final step. It's part of why expert honers often say "less is better", or, "less is more".

We don't really want the razor pushed down the hone. It can be done, it's how many factories do the "factory honing". But, they are careful about their strokes and they ensure the tip stays controlled. They are experts. However, they also aren't too concerned with sharpness, either.

The x pattern looks hard, and it sounds hard, but trying to hone a razor, to shave ready condition, without it -- is the really challenge. Stay open to the idea of using no pressure at the end of your honing process; the x pattern will eventually become the "go-to" stroke in your honing pattern arsenal.