Thread: Can you wet hone your blade whilst still in it's wooden box?

In other words, is it ok to hone your stone in it's wooden case, and get it wet. I really don't want a plastic case, or one of them fancy metal clamps, but I do want to use a waterstone. Can I leave the stone in the box when I hone?
Presumably the box has to be some sort of hardwood?

What did people do 100 years ago to stop the stone sliding around when wet honing? I presume they did exactly that, left it in a wooden box, and poured water over it?

Question for you old skoolers out there.

Originally Posted by AG69

We can only make educated guesses, but nowadays one could use a wet-stone holder. You can find it on the straightrazordesigns website for a very reasonable price. As long as you can (and willing) to remove your hone from the box, the stone holders would provide you with the necessary stability.

Hope it helps,
AG

As I said, do you need to remove the stone from the wooden box when you wet hone? I am not interested in a modern wet stone holder. Thanks

I don't see why you couldn't hone with a stone in a wooden box as long as you don't hit the wood with the razor and the stone sits flat and doesn't wobble. Just try to keep the wood dry. If it is finished or wood that is fairly rot resistant shouldn't be a problem for quite awhile.

I tried avoiding the $17 stone holder too (I now own two and love them).

I used an old baking sheet and a piece of rubber for a year. It worked well but was far more of a hassle than the new fangled stone holders.

I would take it out of the box. I suspect people did not in days of old and the boxes they once were in are now trash.

Have had several thuris adhiesed in wood boxes,but most were used with oil.
Put a hone wet in a wood box you will get mold.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Have had several thuris adhiesed in wood boxes,but most were used with oil.
Put a hone wet in a wood box you will get mold.

+1

Wood + water+ oxygen = not a question of IF but WHEN JMO

It's easy to put the hone on a folded towel or rubber mat.
My Shapton Pro's are in perforated plastic boxes & get put away damp with no mould problems. I think wood is a bad idea as a storage medium for potentially wet stones. Oilstones are a different matter.

100 years ago isn't that long ago for honing. maybe 250 years ago they used odd shaped stones and mostly used knives and swords and just held the knife in their hands with the stones. For razors many things can be jury rigged for holding a stone. If you watch the show "Black Sails" there are many scenes of them honing knives of all types and that's the early- mid 1700s as I recall.

I think wood is a bad choice. Some of these stones can absorb an amazing amount of water which they then give up for days.

heres what you do buddy, you go to the cubbard that you keep the plates in, you take the plates out you remove that fancy non slip ruber like material that your wife puts in there that you never even noticed until you read this...... now heres where it gets trickey....... remember what side is facing up and forward..... because if you put it back wrong, she WILL know...... and you cut you a piece off of the center of the back of the matt, and remember , never take the last plate after you do this and you will never get caught, however you might have to wash a plate or two once in a while to ensure they dont get too low. once she decides its time to change the rubber lining your off the hook.....

Originally Posted by admvalentine

heres what you do buddy, you go to the cubbard that you keep the plates in, you take the plates out you remove that fancy non slip ruber like material that your wife puts in there that you never even noticed until you read this...... now heres where it gets trickey....... remember what side is facing up and forward..... because if you put it back wrong, she WILL know...... and you cut you a piece off of the center of the back of the matt, and remember , never take the last plate after you do this and you will never get caught, however you might have to wash a plate or two once in a while to ensure they dont get too low. once she decides its time to change the rubber lining your off the hook.....

Haha. Great suggestion.

This is great info guys. I know I could always just sit there for half an hour and figure out the best way to do this, but I don't like to reinvent the wheel.

This is all part of a self sufficient element of my life, and I tend to look at the old ways of doing things. I try to minimise new gadgets etc. Apart from that I don't want unecessary items in my life if I can help it. The reason this question has arisen is because I'm often trying to sharpen in different locations, and the stone when taken out of it's box tends to slip around.

So in terms of what they used to do, it seems most likely to me that what thebigspendur said is true. More like 250 years ago, the blade was held still, and the mishapen stone drawn across it. Alternatively placing it on a towel would work well.