Thread: Rolling X - I think I figured something out

Does anyone else just spit on the hone so they don't have to use their hands?

I've used spit, more than once, while honing knives.!

My stones are way too thirsty.

Works best with naturals.

Still learning naturals, well a natural. But that'll send this thread in a whole new direction if I don't keep my mouth shut .

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Bench stone, hone in hand, whatever you like. But, watching the video of hone in hand sharpening I came up with a question for those that hone razors this way.

If the razor is in one hand and the stone is in the other...Do you set one down to add water to the hone?

I suppose you could hone at the sink with a drip running, but that puts it out of the realm of practical for me personally. A spray bottle that I grab with my free hand is just too easy and natural to me.

Pick up an junk razor in your hand and hold it as if honing. Now let the blade flop outside your hand, out of the way, edge pointing outward away from skin, scales still in hand. Keep the razor in your hand and grab your spray bottle. Get the idea? Sometimes that's how I do it. Other times I just dip a spare finger or two, or the nose of the razor, in a bowl of honing water. Sometimes I touch an upside down stone to the surface of the water in a stone soaking tub. Sometimes I am still at the sink, faucet dripping, having set the bevel on stones instead of film, which I usually do. I am sure there are other ways, I just haven't needed to think of them.

Or I can simply set the razor down. If I am taking my time because I only have one or two razors to hone, I will sometimes do that. Nothing is lost except time. And we never truly run out of that as long as we live, and even then, time stretches onward to an end that never comes. Sorry. I know that sounds excessively Tao-ist. Been serial-watching Kung Fu (tv show) clips on youtube. Chain-smoking oriental philosophy on a laptop.

It just occurred to me that when I hone with the stone in the bench I put the razor down and add water with my right hand. I bet it extends my honing sesson by about 15 seconds.