Thread: Honing dry or honing to dry???

I'm hoping that you guys could answer a curiosity that I have after watching a few videos and reading a few threads. I have noticed on some of the threads that some hones are to be used dry and on a few videos I have noticed some starting honing on water but then finish honing after the stone is dry. I have never seen this done before and am wondering what it does for the edge. I have always thought that using a lubrication helps to keep the stone particles from digging into the steel, But am I wrong in this since I have been seeing some people finish dry?can anyone give me an answer on what is going on?

I am no honing expert, but in my minds eye, I imagine the water or other water solution is both suspending metal from the stone and adding a downward force at the edge of the blade. But that could be just my imagination. Sometimes going till no water remains or dryness occors does seem to be a positive thing on some blades. And normally were not doing very many dry strokes to clog up stone. Have fun.

Honing to "Damp"

Or honing so that there is no standing water on the hone

I used it for years on the Norton 8k before I owned a finisher to get the absolute most out of that stone, I still use it when honing on my Nakayama..
I learned it someplace along the line from watching a Japanese knife honing vid and simply tried it to see if it worked on SR's...
When using it on damp slurry one must get very light and very exact to get it to work well..

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Honing to "Damp"

Or honing so that there is no standing water on the hone

"Honing to damp". Yes that is a much more accurate description of my question.

After watching one of gssixgun's naniwa honing vids I tried the honing to damp method on my naniwa 12k and achieved my best honing results to date and on 3 different razors. All three resulted in slightly keener edges that are also more smooth.

not sure of the mechanics of it but It works at least on the naniwas. I say worth experimenting with some different techniques. My king 1k cuts considerably faster when you use a slurry, though I have seen no positive effects with my other hones (all synthetic).