Originally Posted by
jmabuse
I think it's good that Dr. Matt explains what he's doing and why.
But.. the reason people take issue with him on honing is that the "It's not straight? I'll MAKE it straight" approach will just destroy some beautiful razors, especially old ones, and there's another way to get a nice sharp edge without destroying the razor.
For example, I have an early Henry Sears wedge with a nice big blade and completely crazy spine geometry. There is just no way to do what he says without destroying the blade. To bring the whole spine in to the narrowest width I would have to get remove so much metal that it'd be a regrind. Another example -- I have 6/8" hollow ground razor with a curved spine that will just never be straight. If I did what Dr. Matt says I'm not sure what would be left. Maybe the end of the blade would have to go to keep the profile. But it's very possible to hone it with the right kinds of strokes, keep the profile, and it shaves wonderfully.
Just by learning other ways of honing, and being patient, these pieces handed down to us from the past can be as beautiful as they ever were and be useful to us. We don't have to force everything into a preconceived form. Some things just aren't worth it, of course, and everybody has to make their own choices on this, but often by paying attention to the piece and thinking about how best to work with it and demanding a bit more from ourselves we can end up with something beautiful that works as intended.