Thread: Swaty hone

Stove yes. Unfortunatley mine are not flat and can't be used. I have a couple other questions before I get my sandpaper. What kind of strokes should I use while lapping. Also, I have a 3 line hone which seems smooth as silk. I am not sure what lapping will do to it. And, what kind of methods should I use with the 3 line hone? Is it a decent hone to get an edge or refresh one?

Originally Posted by matt

Stove yes. Unfortunatley mine are not flat and can't be used. I have a couple other questions before I get my sandpaper. What kind of strokes should I use while lapping. Also, I have a 3 line hone which seems smooth as silk. I am not sure what lapping will do to it. And, what kind of methods should I use with the 3 line hone? Is it a decent hone to get an edge or refresh one?

Use a figure 8 movement to lap, if possible

It may be smooth as silk but uneven - do a grid w/ pencil, it should disappear with 1 or 2 figure 8s. Otherwise you're going nowhere

The 3 line can both refresh and get an edge, depending on starting condition, patience, etc. X to freshen, circle to sharpen in my experience work best.

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by izlat

Use a figure 8 movement to lap, if possible

It may be smooth as silk but uneven - do a grid w/ pencil, it should disappear with 1 or 2 figure 8s. Otherwise you're going nowhere

The 3 line can both refresh and get an edge, depending on starting condition, patience, etc. X to freshen, circle to sharpen in my experience work best.

Cheers
Ivo

I thought circles were used more to remove chips not to actually sharpen an edge. That is interesting

I do not use a circular motion anymore. It seems to introduce to much stress on the steel and result in microchipping at higher grits.



Just my two cents,

Randy,

I think you misunderstood - this is using a circular motion to hone a razor on a Swaty (it doesn't get much higher grit than it, afaik). This works much faster on duller razors (e.g. ones who don't pass the HHT) to get them where I need than just X-ing. And I have seen no microchipping assicoated with it whatsoever (but it may be just because of the fact that I don't use the Swaty too much)

Cheers
Ivo

Originally Posted by izlat

Randy,

I think you misunderstood - this is using a circular motion to hone a razor on a Swaty (it doesn't get much higher grit than it, afaik). This works much faster on duller razors (e.g. ones who don't pass the HHT) to get them where I need than just X-ing. And I have seen no microchipping assicoated with it whatsoever (but it may be just because of the fact that I don't use the Swaty too much)

Cheers
Ivo

No, I did not misunderstand you. I noticed that when I used a circular honing motion on a 4K then I would occasionally have microchipping when I went to the 8K or higher. From that I surmised that some metal fatigue was being created. Much like bending a paper clip back and forth it will eventually break. Therefore I have stopped all circular honing motions and just use and X pattern. it does take longer but my results have improved. YMMV.

Oh, then we better tell this to the TI guys who hone at the factory with a circular motion all new razors!

I have done this on no more than 5 (I think) razors but have not seen any microchipping from the Swaty - yet. Will keep an eye on this for the future

Cheers
Ivo

I gave it a go tonight with the 120 grit sandpaper and 220 grit. I worked on it for a solid hour or so. I held the stone flat like I would hold it to hone on and moved it in figure 8's. Still needs quite alot of work as it has dried and looks quite grey in spots. I managed to smooth out some of the edge chips though. I kept the stone in the same position through most of the honing. Trying to turn it in different directions to make a figure 8 is a lot of work. I guess it is back to the 120 tomorrow night, or the 220 as I have already used alot of 120.

Instead of figure 8's just make an X pattern, one leg of the X at a time for about 10 laps then perform the other leg.
Try to find sandpaper that is used for metal, it does the job faster. Or...find someone with a belt sander and sand using the platen for the majority of the work.

You can find emery paper at the hardware store, it's used for sanding metal and holds up really well. It's also great for lapping arkansas stones, which are even more of a b*tch of lap than barber hones.