Thread: Circular Honing

Greetings all, first time poster, newbie straight shaver.

The information I have picked-up just from lurking has been very helpful. But I did have a question that I have yet to see addressed.

Once a long time ago, I saw a barber honing his razor using a circular/oval pattern. Rather than make an X using a swipe, flip, swipe again pattern, this guy made an oval pattern, keeping the razor perpendicular to the hone. He did this a few times on one side and then flipped the blade to work the other side. I assume he moved the blade in such a way as to get the entire lenght of the blade.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has used this technique? Is it a safe alternative to the X pattern or is it not good for your razor?

Thanks for your comments,
~Robert

That pattern is usually used to remove chips and/or damage to the edge, not as a way to sharpen up the edge. The reason for this is typically that more pressure is used and more metal is removed.

I've seen Lynn and gssixgun both use the circular pattern - but only on the lowest grit stone and only when needing to set the bevel quickly or remove some edge damage or bevel unevenness.

I had shaved with a straight, using a barber hone, for many years. But I left the razor behind when I moved to Italy. Last April, my daughter cleaned out the house and sent me my razor, but without the barber hone or strop. I didn't know where to get another barber hone (didn't think of eBay) and ended up buying the Norton 4K/8K. When I didn't get good results from it, I took it to my barber here in Modena. He sharpened it for me on the 8K side (without water) using a very, very delicate circular motion such as you described and got the razor very sharp. He also stropped it for me, very delicately. It was certainly a beautiful thing to see and absolutely a lost art.

Another fine example of the many ways to hone a razor.
Thanks for sharing.
I'm using the circles whenever I need speed. Never considered using it for finishing.
I'm gonna try this at least once.

Best regards,
Bart.

Actually, I've occasionally used circular strokes on my Nakayama Kiita stone because it's extremely hard and extreeeemely fine and this builds up a tiny bit of slurry that can then be used to polish the bevel in the usual x pattern honing style. But a few passes over the surface with a diamond hone gets the same results.

It's just another technique that may work when everything else seems to be going nowhere. As long as you finish the honing progression with edge leading strokes, there's no difference in how the blade got the edge it has.

Lighter pressure is best for any method.

Circles on barber hones works great. Just be light of touch as with all honing.

PuFF

I've used circles for setting the bevel on a low grit hone but have not used it on a high grit hone.

Yeah, I've seen Howard use circles when honing. He goes more by feel and sound than number of strokes. I now do the same to a degree! I only use circles for speedy nick removal though. But as has been said- there are plenty of different ways to get a razor sharp!

There's a video on U tube I think of a guy who uses an X pattern but puts a little circular movement in at the end of each stroke. Clearly he will never get a rolled edge. Again though he has a very light touch.

You mean this video?

YouTube - Razor Sharpening