Angle of striations..

Heel forward strokes seem to be the universally accepted, and yield scratch marks that are on a consistent angle to the edge. Is there a significant benefit to the scratches being at an angle?

By the time I get to a finisher, there aren't [m]any scratch marks to really talk about so I am wondering what/how/if heel-leading strokes actually help the process. As an alternative, wouldn't alternating the angle of the blade make it easier to see if you've removed the scratch pattern from the lower grit?

I use a combination of circles and X-strokes and on all hones even when finishing. I do finish with X-strokes on all hones.

I feel this makes sure that I've completely removed any and all previous scratches. I'm quite Anal when I hone and I don't just dunk a hone in water once I'm done with slurry or go to a higher grit (Yes I use Slurry on Every Hone even a Finisher) . I remove the hone from the stone holder and wash both under running water and use a brush on the stone holder to make sure that there isn't any cross contamination left.

I hope this has been of some help.

Dare I say, I consider EVERY persons thoughts to be help one way or another.

I have been stopping circles at 8k.. most of the time.

My thoughts that led to this post were an old technique I used when I had an auto detailing business.. Easiest way to be sure glass was streak free was to clean the inside using horizontal strokes and outside using vertical strokes. This allows you identify which side of the glass was the culprit if there were streaks. So I thought.. If one did 90 degree strokes on a 4k, for instance and then angled on the 8k (or whatever your next grit is) and then back to 90 degree on the next, you can easily see whether you've left striations from the previous grit..

Just a thought.

Yes, alternating the pattern does make it easier to see if you are removing the last stria pattern. You should be removing the previous grit stria with each stone, especially 1k and sub 1k stria.

You do not have to hone the complete cycle in one direction, just alternate the final laps, 10 or so, to lay down a different pattern. If you see deep stria still, do some more laps.

Heel forward stroke gets the whole blade on the stone and can get a heel honed without interference of the stabilizer, usually with an X stroke the heel come off the stone in the first ½ inch of lateral travel, the toe stays on the stone the whole stroke.

A heel forward X stroke keeps the heel on the stone at least half way through the stroke.