Thread: Circles ?

Good Day Gents,

Now that I have your attention with the title I have a question, I have always honed useing circles as in I start off on each stone with two sets of circles and finish with X's and always end each session on that stone like it's the last one i will be using, another words I treat it like it's my final finisher.

My progression is 4K, 8K, 12K and JNAT and if the edge is good and has a good bevel I normally can get done in about 15 mins but today as I was reading thru some info I see where some do circles a certain way as in with the edge going away from you on the hone they go CW and edge coming towards you it's CCW and that got me thinking does it really matter as I have never really givin it much thought but today tried it and it seemed kinda different as I honestly had not paid much attention to circle direction so now the question is does it matter, after my session today I did my usual HHT and it seemed to be the same in the 3+/4 but we all know the shave is what matters.

I only do circles at the low end and only if I need to remove steel

I ALWAYS do the circles the same direction as a X stroke, Edge to Spine


I don't know if it matters never tried it the other way

Originally Posted by gssixgun

I only do circles at the low end and only if I need to remove steel

I ALWAYS do the circles the same direction as a X stroke, Edge to Spine


I don't know if it matters never tried it the other way

G,

So you always are rolling the cirlce towards the spine so that would be if you are pushing the blade away from you it would be going CW ? and going CCW coming towards you and whats the harm doing circles with each stone, the main reason I do it is it cuts my time on the stones down.

Circles at the lower stones helps set / establish a bevel.
If I’m in a rush to get through the stones, then I don’t bother picking them up to begin with.

Originally Posted by Hirlau

Circles at the lower stones helps set / establish a bevel.
If I’m in a rush to get through the stones, then I don’t bother picking them up to begin with.

I used to get caught up in the honeing hynotism if you want to call it that and would spend an hour or two caressing the hones then as I started doing it more and more I decided to streamline my process, I do still ocassionally have a long session but try to limit it to about 30 mins max and this is on a blade of good condition from bevel to finish, i do get a razor in from time to time that someone has tried to hone and it looks like it was done on a bench grinder and this of course requires alot more time if I can even save it as i don't have a way to do a regrind.

When I change a stone surface, I usually start with a few circles or half-laps at the start, to knock off any burr or deflection that might be there prior to this. As for the circles, it is done heel to toe, edge-leading, in a counter-clockwise fashion as the blade is brought towards me and in a clockwise fashion as the blade departs from me. Haven't really given it much thought otherwise, it's just what comes natural to me.

The way I see it, it's a circular motion. At one point the edge will be leading, then as it comes around the edge will trail for a bit before the direction changes and it becomes a pushing motion again. That said, as long as the pressure/torque are focused on the edge it really shouldn't matter whether they're CW or CCW going to or from you. In theory at least the result should be the same.

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

G,

So you always are rolling the cirlce towards the spine so that would be if you are pushing the blade away from you it would be going CW ? and going CCW coming towards you and whats the harm doing circles with each stone, the main reason I do it is it cuts my time on the stones down.

I will try and do a fast vid tomorrow

I had a customer ask me to vid their razor honing so I will try and do the two birds with one stone thing hehehe

It doesn't matter which direction you do circles in. A circular honing stroke in either direction will produce random, non-directional (circular, overlapping) scratches. The exception would be if you used more or less pressure on a certain part of the circular stroke.

I like to circles on 1k-5k stones and 8-12k I won't use circles. On Jnats though even if I am on my final tomo I will do some circles (I have been using jnats 3-6 months maybe not sure). My circles though on jnat are sort of like half strokes. I feel like circles is okay when close to finishing on jnat but I don't really like circles when I am about to finish on like a coticule.