Thread: Up-Down or around?

My answer - it depends. I no longer use circular strokes while honing, here's why:



Basically if the grit isn't uniform or the stone is contaminated, and your X strokes don't get all of the deep scratches out, you could end up with some shallow stria that run parallel to the edge and chew it up making it rather uncomfortable.

If I'm using a slow natural I'll use back and forth strokes to speed the process up, with the final 10-20 strokes being regular edge leading X strokes.

If I'm using a synthetic just using a variation of X strokes is usually enough. Heel forward, rolling, etc.

You don't want (too many) edge trailing strokes, that may cause a burr or wire edge. You do want it polished, but we're polishing for effect and not for looks. Our eyes may no longer pick it up, but circles at 12K+ are the same as circles at lower grit with stria going any which way and an edge that will be sub optimal if not downright uncomfortable. By the time you're done with your final polishing phase, all stria should be as close to perpendicular as you can get.

I don't have any sort of set way to hone, but I am with the group in saying that I don't circle on my finishing stones. I might do circles on certain blades even up to 8k but then I will finish with x strokes.

Circles are a good way to remove a lot of material in a short amount of time. What Matt is referring to is a specific issue with some aggressive Coticules, this does not happen with quality synthetics.

Circles work well, when bevel setting, if you have to remove a lot of material because of repair work, and can cause edge chipping, but that’s ok. Edge chipping is easily fixed, once the bevels are flat and in the proper plane.

Remember the goal of setting a bevel is three fold, 1. Get the bevels flat in one plane, from heel to toe and from edge, to back of the bevel. 2. Set the proper bevel angle. And 3. Get the bevels to meet fully, at the edge.

Once the bevels are flat, and they meet at the edge, if the edge is chippy on the 1k, just joint the edge, and reset the bevels, it should only take 5-10 laps, to get them to meet with lite pressure, because you do not have to remove much material, the bevels are already flat.

So, when setting the bevel, don’t be afraid to use pressure. Pressure may make your edge chippy but, you first, need to get the bevels flat, or you will never have an edge.

I have recently seen a number of new honers, where they are just not using enough pressure and cannot set a bevel. The worst that can happened from too much pressure is, the edge chips, and that is easily fixed by jointing.

The same thing goes for making the Transition, on the 2, 3 or 4k and polishing out the deep 1k stria. Use pressure and Circles to remove the deep stria, once the deep stria is removed, then do straight or X strokes to remove the cross grain, horizontal stria.

If the edge is chippy, joint and get the edge as straight as possible. Sometime it does not hurt to joint the edge, a couple times, to get the edge straight.

The time you put in at the transition stone will pay you huge dividends, at the finish stones, in time and hair saved.

We see post, where guys complain, that their 8 and 12k are leaving deep scratches in the bevels. They are not.

Those scratches are deep 1k stria, that was never removed, and you could not see it, because of all the other stria on the bevel. So, just stay on the transition stone, until you get an even stria pattern across the whole bevel, especially at the toe and heel.

The edge will not get super straight until the 8k, but it should not be chippy at 1 and 4k.

As you gain more experience honing you will find the right amount of pressure for you, and your stones, so you can hone without causing chipping at the edge, until then just joint the edge.

Also as you progress up the grit, the easier it becomes to polish the bevels and remove the previous grits stria, because the stria is shallow.

As funny as it sounds, the two most important stone are the bevel setter and the transition stone, (not the high dollar finisher) because if you don’t get those stones down and set a good foundation, for your bevels and edge, the edge will fight you all the way, and even if you do get an edge, it will be weak, uncomfortable and probably fail after a shave or two.

For my PHIG which is really slow I use all of those strokes. It comes down to how aggressive the hone is and the razor. On a fast hone I would probably just use x-strokes