Well I wasn't sure whether to put this in the hones or stropping forum so I'll not be offended should it get moved.

I have been using my lovely Essex No. 4 for a while now and its getting a little rough to shave with. I was going to send it to the hone (I was fortunate enough to be gifted an Escher ) but I decided to run it over some newspaper instead. I haven't used it since but wanted to create this post as an experiment y'all can follow along with and even add to should you feel that way inclined.

I gave it a couples of minutes on the print (not sure how many laps as I wasn't counting but to guess I'd say between 120-150, maybe more). It seemed to go fairly average on a HHT better than before anyway.

I was attempting to see if it is a worthwhile exercise in increasing time between hones and therefore more metal and more life, although sharpening on a finisher isn't going to take away very much metal!

I'll post my results tomorrow morning after my shave.