Gentlemen,

I've been meaning to post on this topic because Iwasaki of course mentions a honyama burr and removing it, but also because of comments from others, most recently srdjan in post #13 on the 'towel' thread, and using shorter strokes, especially to finish seems to be an interesting topic.

A while back on another forum, Eric Kretz mentioned that long strokes on a jnat could cause a burr to develop that he could see or begin to see with a microscope, and that shorter strokes reduced or eliminated it. Eric, please correct me if I am wrong or mis-speaking, it's been some time ago. A different individual posted on that forum indicating that he thought better control was maintained with shorter strokes possibly leading to better results.

I like using the 'leather' size jnats, nominally 136x80mm but wanted to ask if people here feel the same way about shorter hones/strokes, what they feel makes shorter strokes better (or not), and how they implement those strokes while honing. Typically if I'm using a full-size or size 60 stone, I'll reduce the stroke length and pressure for the last half of the final finishing.

Any input would be appreciated!

Cheers, Steve