Hey Yall,

Just want to run this by you. I am not unique in this, but I learn things by reading/watching a lot of stuff, digesting it, and then figuring out what it all means myself. I think I had an "aha" moment and just wanted to run this by you. I generally use no additional pressure when honing anything. Just enough torque to keep the blade sliding smoothly and evenly along the edge.

I have been having a lot of trouble figuring out the rolling pressure along the edge. Too often I was lifting the spine off the stone. But, I recently had the chance to work on a blade that had the bevel set and just needed a polish. So, I am going to try to describe what I felt in two different ways.

1. When honing a knife I lay the blade on the stone and rotate it until you can feel the bevel is flat on the stone. And, I use that sensation to maintain the proper bevel angle. When I was working on this blade, I was able to change the torque in order to feel the bevel sitting flat from heel to toe.

2. Another way to feel it is the amount of friction you feel along the edge. I was changing the amount of torque to maintain an even feeling of friction from heel to toe.

Does this sound about right?

By the way, yes, these "aha" moments are usually also "duh" moments.