Thread: Buying a hone on the web?

In a logical thought process you are correct. What your missing is the pressure used at each stage of the stroke. Many of us have noted that the heel of the blade gets sharper faster despite its being on the hone the least!
But... I also do not like the 2" wide hones. I prefer either a 3" wide single grit hone that is 1" thick so I can use either a rolling X stroke on the 3" surface or use the 1" side of the hone.... or... a narrow hone, 1"-1.25 " inch. The narrow hone accomadates a wider range of edge shapes, especially those with a pronounced "smile" or a slight warp.

I spoke with Superfly ( Nenad) recently on Skype and he said that when he used the narrow Norton that he had cut it was much, much better for honing his razors. He had a 3" wide combo hone that he cut in half lengthwise.

BTW, some of the old barber manuals also suggest using compensating strokes for the heel and toe to even out the wear. They used 2" wide barber hones also, but not exclusively.



Just my two cents,