Thread: I hadn't really considered this

Laugh if you will but I have toyed with it on a lark. Bricks often have too many pocket inclusions, plus they have little chunks of aggregate, at least the couple I've tried. The trick is finding a brick you can set a bevel on. After lapping enough to hone on they were a little fine and hard for bevel set.
I am still keeping my eyes open for one that has even enough continuity and absence of pockets to actually work. I got a little distracted from that experiment which may be a fools errand anyway.

I don’t remember the last time I actually lapped one of my hones. I do clean then often when honing, like between razors, but occasionally if my 1K is getting dirty while setting a really troublesome bevel.
Also if you are honing on cinderblocks, you really need to hone with milk.

Originally Posted by RezDog

I don’t remember the last time I actually lapped one of my hones. I do clean then often when honing, like between razors, but occasionally if my 1K is getting dirty while setting a really troublesome bevel.
Also if you are honing on cinderblocks, you really need to hone with milk.

Good tip...

So, if that guy only has a 1200 diamond plate, he may never have full flattened the stones originally and that hollow may have been there since new. How could he have ground away the belly of the stone, if the razor is not even touching the middle?

You probably could flatten a new stone with 1200 grit, but it would take a lot of laps. A much lower grit 3-400 or better yet a 140 plate would be more efficient.

I think many people just do one grid lapping and call it flat, when really the slurry washed off the marks and the stone was never flat. If a new pencil grid does not come completely off in 5-6 laps, the stone is not flat/smooth enough. You can still hone on it, but it could be more efficient. The swarf on his Super Stones is a typical to those stones.

But more importantly this problem is from other issues, technique as said a X stroke would hone the razor properly on that stone, and that heel needs correcting and keeping half the razor off the stone. You can easily see the pointy heel quickly becoming a hook and the massive wear on the toe where he is using more pressure trying to grind the spine.

If he corrected the heel and lapped the stone with 140 grit all these issues would go away.

Originally Posted by Bill31521

Cinder block are definitely not flat enough to hone on. A house brick? Maybe.

Ive used a clay tile, to sharpen knives on.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

Laugh if you will but I have toyed with it on a lark. Bricks often have too many pocket inclusions, plus they have little chunks of aggregate, at least the couple I've tried. The trick is finding a brick you can set a bevel on. After lapping enough to hone on they were a little fine and hard for bevel set.
I am still keeping my eyes open for one that has even enough continuity and absence of pockets to actually work. I got a little distracted from that experiment which may be a fools errand anyway.

I think many of the natural honing stones we use may have been quarried for use as roofing or floor tiles or even as pavers. I know Vermont Green, Vermio and others started their useful lives that way and became hones only because someone thought to try them out. We have a few rock hounds among us who are aways on the look out for a new potential hone when hiking in the wilderness.

Go for it Paul.

Originally Posted by DZEC

...We have a few rock hounds among us who are aways on the look out for a new potential hone when hiking in the wilderness.

I can relate to that. It's a side effect of HAD. Suddenly every rock you see is a potential hone.

Originally Posted by STF

I do tend to reset the bevels and do the complete progression whenever I need to or just fancy giving my razors some love.
Obviously they don't need all that work but because setting the bevel is the most important part of the honing process. I do it a lot to learn, improve and practice. If I just touched up my blades when they needed it I would be able to keep them good for a long time but I wouldn't be practiced at start to finish.

Ok, but why just grind away your razor, it’s meant for shaving not grinding, get a few cheap knives if you just want to grind. But hey it’s your steel, till it’s ground away

Originally Posted by tcrideshd

Ok, but why just grind away your razor, it’s meant for shaving not grinding, get a few cheap knives if you just want to grind. But hey it’s your steel, till it’s ground away

To learn to hone I just kept buying used razors that needed some to plenty of TLC. That way I did not keep grinding on the same razors wearing them away for nothing.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

To learn to hone I just kept buying used razors that needed some to plenty of TLC. That way I did not keep grinding on the same razors wearing them away for nothing.

Bob

Hmmm. I did something similar except I used NOS and razors in very good condition. I was trying to learn to hone, not repair or do restoration work. That came slightly later, I’ll let you know when I think I’m climbing out of that rabbit hole.