Thread: In hand or bench

Me? In hand, nearly 100% of the time. Two reasons. First, you can regulate and adjust pressure in very fine increments. Second, with a razor having a bit of a smile, the stone or plate rolls naturally in conformation to the curve, and never accentuates the smile. It either preserves or very very slowly straightens it, depending on how firmly you hold the stone in that axis. I think after the first razor or two, it is very natural, and you will become good at honing much more quickly than with bench honing.

That dosn't mean bench honing doesn't work. Obviously an experienced bench honer can create a very good edge, and certainly all a new honer needs to become experienced, is experience.

If you come to me as a protoge and ask me to be your mentor, then I will absolutely require you to do it my way or the highway. I do not waste my time trying to teach someone by someone else's methods or tools. I will let that other someone be the mentor, because he is expert in his style of honing and I am only expert in my own tightly defined process.

Your quickest and most certain road to success in honing is to exactly emulate one person and not mix and match techniques. Doesn't have to be mine. But pick someone and copy him exactly in both method and equipment, and if you copy well enough, you ought to have a usable edge on your first time at bat, and very good ones after only a few more razors. If you freestyle it, you MIGHT get a usable edge pretty quick but it might also take you weeks, months, or even years. Some guys like to learn that way and it's not wrong. You aren't hurting anybody.

Bottom line: I hone in hand. I recommend honing in hand. Your razor. You do it like you feel it.

If I am honing, I use both hands so it’s on the bench, a quite touch up on a barbers hone is typically done in hand.