Thread: Should Circles Be Used On Higher Grits?

I believe that we are seeing a Pattern here;

It would appear that the general conciseness from those with much more experience than I have is this;

Using circles on a finisher is fine, however finishing with X-strokes is not only Highly Recommended BUT Probably Preferred!

As I've said before, using circles on my finisher and followed by nice X-strokes works for me!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

I believe that we are seeing a Pattern here;

It would appear that the general conciseness from those with much more experience than I have is this;

Using circles on a finisher is fine, however finishing with X-strokes is not only Highly Recommended BUT Probably Preferred!

As I've said before, using circles on my finisher and followed by nice X-strokes works for me!

for me circles just speed up the process. X strokes are slow but precise strokes. Combo of both works great for me

I mix it up constantly and have developed some of my own (not that no one else does them, but that i didn't see anyone else do them before) strokes. I start with circles (on everything) until i feel the stone and blade "mesh" then X's and hodgepodge until i decide it's time to "fade" the pressure to nothing on final X's. The butterfly thing!

With complete bevels and a good sense of pressure and blade "balancing" (rocking for smiles) it's kinda difficult to go wrong.

Never tried circles on finishers but I can say that at bevel set or earlier, circles really speed up the cutting & I don't miss any bits, either microscopically or macroscopically. I says a youtube vid where a Japanese guy touched up a razor with what looked like 10 light circles. I can't find it now but obviously someone does it.

pinklather once told me about a guy who is over in 'perhaps' the middle east area but I can't remember exactly where but apparently this guy has ONLY used circles and NO X-strokes on razors for all of his life!

It goes to show: You never know until you try!

Originally Posted by cudarunner

pinklather once told me about a guy who is over in 'perhaps' the middle east area but I can't remember exactly where but apparently this guy has ONLY used circles and NO X-strokes on razors for all of his life!

It goes to show: You never know until you try!

its simple really......grab a pencil and hold it like you would when you hold your razor for sharpening. now try to draw 10 circles, then try drawing 10 straight lines. honing is removing metal to shape the edge, that happens at two contact points, the edge of the blade and a piece of grit on the stone.(similar to pencil and paper)that's why your final motions matter.

personally, i would never take advice from a guy who knows a guy who heard from a guy

I cannot say as I have done that on my finishers but it is SOP for me up to the 5k.
I see no reason why could not or would not give it a try.

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Never tried circles on finishers but I can say that at bevel set or earlier, circles really speed up the cutting & I don't miss any bits, either microscopically or macroscopically. I says a youtube vid where a Japanese guy touched up a razor with what looked like 10 light circles. I can't find it now but obviously someone does it.

Yeah I remember that one too Oz, did like 10 circles on the un-stamped side then 3 kinda light looping circles on the stamped side..

I agree with Jimbo and for sure, stop with the circles when you set blade to face.

I Posted this:

Originally Posted by cudarunner

pinklather once told me about a guy who is over in 'perhaps' the middle east area but I can't remember exactly where but apparently this guy has ONLY used circles and NO X-strokes on razors for all of his life!

It goes to show: You never know until you try!

Well I decided to give it a go! I’d gotten 4 razors in for honing and I had two of them finished, test shaved, oiled and ready to ship back.

One of the remaining razors was a nice looking Geneva 9/16 roundpoint. since I’ve honed quite a few of the Geneva’s and Genco’s and I knew what they are capable of so I was thinking this would be a good one to give honing with Circles Only on!

Ok! From Start To Finish, From Bevel Setting To Finishing I ONLY USED CIRCLES!

Instead of doing a test shave, I shaved 1/2 of my face.

I got a fairly nice shave! Not Great! Nothing to write home about but it was very face friendly as the blade didn’t tug pull etc. No redness or any irritation at all!

NOW!

I went back to the 4K and did what I normally would do (which includes circles and x-strokes) and progressed to the 8K and then the 12K doing what I normally would do and then shaved the other half of my face.

The Test Results Are In!

1. The Circles Can Be Used to entirely hone a razor from start to finish!

2. The X-strokes add a much nicer touch to the edge as I got a Great Shave after using them!

Well since my face looks like one of those hairless cats, the next test will have to be tomorrow! I’ll hone the last razor and finish on the 12K only with Circles and see how it goes!

As I said:

Originally Posted by cudarunner

It goes to show: You never know until you try!