Thread: narrow hone to circumvent the rolling stroke?

I'm glad clarification was added and it was stressed that it depends on the amount of curvature. I've found that for a slightly curved blade that simply will not be honed effectively using a wide hone, a narrow hone and no "rolling hone" stroke absolutely works well. Given the fact that the degree of curvature determines whether a rolling stroke is essential, I do not agree that ALL non-flat blades require a rolling hone stroke even if honed on a 1" stone.

Use the market test. If your 1" stone is taking off the marker evenly on both bevels without using any rolling hone stroke, you're golden.

Chris L

Like Chris says, the marker test is essential. What I do now is check the edge under magnification, 30X in my case, and see if there are any micro chips that can't be seen with the naked eye. Then I put the marker on the edge and do a few strokes to see if I need the rolling stroke or some variation of my normal flat stroke.

Once I know what stroke I need to use I take a tissue and lighter fluid and wipe the marker off of the edge before I go further. It is IMO better to do it before the razor is sharp then after. Once the edge is clean I go back to the hones.

I would add here that AFTER learning the rolling x, I think it is more "pleasant" to do, maybe even easier, on a narrower hone. I also prefer a narrower hone for all honing.