Thread: consistent blade...?!

Good morning!

If the spine and edge are straight and parallell and your hone is wide enough the you can use a straight across push stroke.
If not then an X stroke is necessary.
If the edge of the blade is curved, smile or frown, or the blade is tapered, then a narrow stone works better than a wide hone, or, a rolling X stroke is required if on a wide hone. The rolling X is not difficult. Simply lift the end of he scales with your pinky finger a very small distance.

Just imagine the stroke you would have to use to sharpen this edge
Large Single Edge Bent Knives - North Bay Forge Wood Carving Tools
This an exaggeration of course but it can help visualize the idea.


Regarding the uneven wear, the Barber manuals suggest that you make compensating strokes to even that out. It takes a long time to make a razor uneven if your using a fine hone but very little time if using a coarse hone, 1000-4000 grit.

I do suggest that we give up the idea of a honing stroke that gives a perfect wear pattern and start thinking of how to compensate for uneven wear.


Just my two cents,

l

That pinky tip is great. Everybody sooner or later has to learn the x stroke, so why postpone...