Thread: Up and Down or Round and Round???

I've seen a few threads lately that describe the use of a circular motion in honing; Tony Miller removes nicks that way. Can you EVER use a circular motion for regular honing? I don't have a Norton or any other of the "Worship Rocks" just yet, being limited to a coarse/fine barber hone that's 2" by 5"

rsvp glenel@videotron.ca - Thanks

Glen Eldridge
Pierrefonds, Québec

Hi Glen,

From what I understand (and I could be wrong about this) the direction of the cuts the hone puts on your edge is important for a shaving edge. I do circles occasionally to get a bevel established on an old, dull razor, or to speed up the process of removing small nicks in the edge. But when establishing a shaving edge, it's up and down all the way for me with as consistent a stroke as I can manage.

But I've never tried shaving with a circularly honed blade. Hopefully a hone meister will pop along and give you the skinny.

James.

Do not use circular motion for your final finish. I don't use it even for removing nicks from the edge, instead I use the X pattern, on a 800-1500 grit sandpaper.

I think this keeps the angles consistent, and eases the finial honing of the razor...


Nenad

I use circles if the razor has nicks and it is NOT smiling.
If you use circles in a smiling razor, after honing the razor dont smile at all. LOL
I hone always diagonal (x pattern)

A lot of people (and for good reason) will advocate the x-pattern.

However, I have an old barber hone that is only 2" x 4" and it recommends using any method of strokes, including circles to polish the blade.

I've had some success with circular strokes, but I've had better success with the x-pattern. Of course having something like 6 or 7 inches long helps.

Looks like I'll have to get a Norton 4k/8k. Thanks, fellas...........

Never, never, never use circular honing for regular honing. Its used exclusively for taking nicks out of the edge and its usually used on the 4K or below though I have to admit there have been times where in trying circumstances I have experimented with it on the 8K and the coticule but thats about as common as the blue moon. Many don't even use it for taking nicks out relying on sandpaper and other media and methods.

I started a similar thread once and got some useful info, including from the big man Lynn.