I was thinking about this one and am sure we may have discussed it in the past but here goes again.

Wide hones and straight passes won't have this issue as it relates to using an X pattern and the full length of the blade never leaves the stone in this case. But, using an X, even on a wide stone, part of the blade extends off of the hone during each pass. On a 2" stone for example the tip is off at the start of a stroke, the heel is off at the end. Same on the return pass. With a 3" long blade which is typical, and a 2" hone. the middle of the blade never leaves the hone. This may account for the frown seen on so many vintage razors as the center is getting twice the hone time as each end.

But what about all those narrow Belgians and Eschers on eBay, most are only 1 1/2" in width, just about half of the length of the blade. In theory, doing an X on one of these the very middle of the blade will just leave the surface of the stone on each pass giving every part of the blade equal time. I wonder if the 1 1/2" or 1 1/4" of vintage stones as well as pasted paddles or loom strops was intentional.
There are plenty of 1 3/4" and 2" strops, mostly from Europe, out there too. The wide 2 1/2" strops seem to be more of an American thing.

I was hoping for a discussion here more as to why things were designed the way they were as opposed to the intracacies of honing.

Any thoughts from the honemeisters and stropmeisters. I'm sure AF Davis and Puffah could come up with some good ideas as well as EL, Lynn, Joe and Randy.

Tony