Originally Posted by
Euclid440
Because you have an uneven spine with a lot of wear and matching bevel, a heel forward rolling X stroke will hone both heel and spine. With the TNT you are looking for rough spots on the edge.
It looks like you are not reaching all the way to the edge on both. The 1st photo shows an uneven stria pattern on the toe, heel photos do as well, but not as much.
A sharpie will do much the same thing as the TNT, with the added benefit of inking the edge and a couple thousands of each side of the bevel. Take the sharpie and lightly drag the sharpie from heel to toe with just the weight of the pen on the edge. You will feel any unevenness on the edge, these are the spots you want to concentrate on.
Now do one lap and look at the edge. Do not wipe the bevel. Any area that ink is not removed at the edge, are where you want to focus on.
Yes, we all have our preferences and “test” that work for us, you have to find what works for you. The bottom line is the more time you spend ensuring the bevel is completely set, the easier the polishing will be. So don’t move up in grit, until you are absolutely sure the bevels are meeting completely, whatever test you use.
Jointing the edge and resetting the edge to gets you to good steel with a straight edge, (the ultimate goal), but you can do the same thing by just honing. For me that is hit and miss, and I would rather have a straight edge first with good steel, then hone to that edge.
On edges that are already flat, it is easier to set the edge on a 4k and avoid deep stria of the 1k, you can always drop down to a more aggressive stone if needed. Once the bevels are flat and reasonably in line at the proper angle, getting them to meet does not take too many laps.
You are very close. Because of the spine wear, I would use 2 layers of tape to increase the angle and hone to the edge and easily have set the bevel on the 4k.