Thread: The thumb has the power!

I have trouble with my return stroke. I always end up with a larger bevel on that side simply because the thumb is on top and it is the most powerful of all my digits. Does anyone else have this to happen to them?

Not today.

I don't get it. My thumb is always on top. I just flip the blade, my hand stays in almost the same position in both directions.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I don't get it. My thumb is always on top. I just flip the blade, my hand stays in almost the same position in both directions.

Me too, I don't know how it could be anywhere but on top??

Originally Posted by RezDog

I don't get it. My thumb is always on top. I just flip the blade, my hand stays in almost the same position in both directions.

Absolutely,.....X 2

I hone with my thumb and index finger on the actual top and bottom of the tang. Never on the brand [stamped] side of the tang. More descriptively, my thumb and index finger only touch the "jimped" top and bottom of the tang.

This allows me to hone easily with NO PRESSURE. My thumb is never exerting pressure on the stamped quadrant of the tang.
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The picture here of what I call a pinching type grip, is the absolute best in my opinion at helping to apply even pressure on both your pulling and pushing strokes up and down the stone. A lot of people exert more pressure on the pushing stroke for some reason when they are learning and this tends to cause larger bevels on on that side of the razor. I usually recommend that people try not to lean their shoulder in when honing and try to apply equal pressure, whether firm, light or weight of the blade controlled with that pinching grip shown. Hope this makes sense.

Have fun.

Originally Posted by mrsell63

I hone with my thumb and index finger on the actual top and bottom of the tang. Never on the brand [stamped] side of the tang. More descriptively, my thumb and index finger only touch the "jimped" top and bottom of the tang.

This allows me to hone easily with NO PRESSURE. My thumb is never exerting pressure on the stamped quadrant of the tang.
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In honing, just as in stropping, the blade should be turned by the fingers and not the wrist. Very few do it that way, especially in stropping, but it does eliminate pressure variables. The thumb should never be on top of the razor. Turning the razor while honing or stropping with the wrist is not as precise as turning with the fingers.

Here is an example of the wrong and right ways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mj5YliQQzg

The subject here is really the crux of honing and stropping as far as I'm concerned. I more or less follow Sham's recommended method of stropping as linked above, the difference being that I start out from the top of the strop, whereas he starts from the bottom. When honing, the razor's orientation is reversed, for the edge leading pass, but the thumb is still on the (stamped) side of the shank, with a diagonal bias towards the edge--as in stropping. I recognize that a light touch is more difficult this way, but I've found that it leads to more equal bevel bevel wear, and less spine wear to boot. To make up for the relative lack of a light touch, a less lengthy pass is done on the stone, with more of a sideways bias, as in a shortened rolling stroke. (Use of a hard natural stone is preferable here.) If I use the pinching type grip as mentioned on the stone, with the pencil roll flip, the wear is uneven, so I have to add stress from beneath the scales with my pinky to make up for it and nail the toe (hand-held honer here). On a strop, the pinching type grip with a pencil roll flip is sure to create inexplicable nicks along the edge of the strop from my experience. This has taught me that in general, it is not good to give the razor free rein to be subjected to the surface vagaries of the hone or strop, but rather to control things by placing the thumb on the side of the shank (if that's the "top" referred to in posts 3, 4, and 5) with a diagonal bias towards the edge. Exceptions to this off the top of my head are certain fast or delicate hones at the end, such as the Frictionite no. 00 and the Apache Strata, where a pinching type grip and pencil-roll flip seem necessary.