Thread: X pattern honing on a 3 inch - inefficient?

My thoughts are that your findings will change as your honing improves

yes, straight up and down should achieve the desired result

I think I am going to have to agree with my buddy Gugi and say as you hone more and more razors you are going to find there is no such thing as a standard pattern...
The only thing that I have found to be true, is that every part of the edge has to eventually slide across the hone whatever kind it may be.... To create a sharp edge......

a little off topic, but maybe not really: does speed matter? I've always wondered. When I started I always went very slowly down the hone, but I've since become more comfortable with the hone and do it faster now, and it seems like sometimes I get better results, but sometimes it seems like the razor doesn't take to the hone as well.

Does it matter as long as it lays straight on the hone from toe to heel?

Personally I feel angle is important too. I get better shave results, I feel, if the striation pattern is not perpendicular to the edge. Of course, this can be achieved by straight up and down the hone strokes, with the heel leading. Or, by X-patterning. Or both. If you angle the blade far enough, you can go straight up and down on a narrowish hone. But in effect that is just an X-pattern anyway, for all intents and purposes.

James.

different strokes for different folks, I guess