Thread: Narrow Belgian hones

Between you and Lynn I'm more convinced than ever that there's something wrong with the 4k side of my Norton. 40-50 strokes on the 4k won't make much of a dent in the scratches from the 1k sandpaper, it sometimes takes me 30 minutes to an hour to get to a smooth bevel. Heck it takes ~10 laps just to take the magic marker off the bevel!

I might do 50 to over 100 on the Blue - or even just plain zero and move from 8K to, say, Coticule. Depends on the razor and what I 'feel' it needs.

I am not a honemeister, but have honed more than a few razors by now and I honestly don't remember getting a wire edge more than 1 time. Maybe I just err on the side of under-honing in order to avoid a wire edge (and it was when I was removing a HUGE chip, iirc)

Sometimes I'd spend loads of time on 4K to fix chipping. Especially when I want to stay off 1K.

I guess a true honemeister might do only a few on the 4K, few on 8K and 20 to polish. I have done it on some NOS - but then others have required multiple sessions...

Cheers
Ivo

Josh,

No matter how ya cuts it, dats a ton a strokes, but........please continue to take on all those ebay dogs.........

Thanks,

Lynn

Originally Posted by mparker762

Heck it takes ~10 laps just to take the magic marker off the bevel!

Whoa! Now that's a slow cutter, indeed. Even my Lithide takes care of the magic marker with 3-4 laps (when I was using it, which was a while ago)

Cheers
Ivo

Yeah, there's a reason I don't use it anymore, and the reason I don't mess with ebay dogs anymore. Those Shapton 2k and 5k hones are callin' my name, though...

That does sound like a slow stone. I think it only takes me three or four strokes on the 4K to take the marker off, unless there's a problem with the bevel. A coarse barber hone can clean the marker off in 10 strokes. Are you using really light pressure?

Josh

Lynn,

I've been wondering about this since I watched your DVD. It seems like you can get a lot more mileage out of your strokes than I do. I'd love to cut down the number of strokes I have to do. Here's what I typically do--can you give me some suggestions?

--Start with a dull eBay razor, slides easily over thumbnail without gripping or digging in
--Tape spine, do 40 or 50 strokes on the 1K Norton, or until it grips the thumbnail evenly along the whole edge; all strokes with light, even pressure
--Move to 4K, do 40 to 50 strokes on 4K until the bevel looks polished and the edge passes the HHT all along the blade
--Move to 8K, finish edge with 25 strokes, with the last five being ultra light.

Am I overworking the blade on the 4K? By my count, one aggressive pyramid would include 30 strokes on the 4K. If I did another standard pyramid, that would be about 40 to 50 strokes on the 4K... ?

If the razor doesn't pass the HHT after this, I'll usually go into standard pyramids. Like you've said elsewhere, the alternating between grits really knocks off any wire edge that might have developed.

Maybe I'm not using much pressure early on. I don't use much pressure at all unless I'm working out a chip or something.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Thanks,
Josh

Originally Posted by JoshEarl

A coarse barber hone can clean the marker off in 10 strokes. Are you using really light pressure?

Not that I know of. My coarse barber hones can take it off about the same speed, but of course they're smaller and more cumbersome.

Josh,
You follow in the footsteps of the Rabbis who use coticules to sharpen their 18" knives for kosher slaughtering of cows and other large animals. They use narrow stones as well because they hold the knife steady and run the coticule down the edge of the knife to hone it. This is the general method for honing long blades and it transfers to your particular practice of honing only a small section of the straight razor at a time as the blade is warped or curved and won't sit flat. I applaud your problem solving ability!

Howard,

While this is a simple and logical solution, I can't take any credit whatsoever for it. Randy Tuttle's the one who is always talking about the benefits of a narrow hone. As with so many things, I just found out that he's right.

Josh