Bevel Corners of Hone (any reason not to?)

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The reason we bevel the corners of a hone is to avoid doing any damage to that razor sharp edge we are trying to develop. Those non bevelled edges have the potential to do some serious damage.

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Is there any reason not to bevel the corners of hones? The straights I own thus far all have a bit of a smile, and I know many suggest using a technique that relies more on the edge of the hone to keep the smile smiling :)


Should I bevel the edges of my hones considering I have smiling razors? (If so, how much do you guys suggest?)

Yes, you need to bevel the edges so as to not have the sharp edge of the hone catch the edge of the razor and ruin it. Just put on a small radius along all edges...round like a pencil.

Mark

Yup, what he said. It doesn't matter if you are honing flat or using a rolling X, you want to get rid of those corners. It doesn't have to be extreme rounding. I figure if I can see it's rounded with the naked eye, then that's good enough to eliminate the sharp corner. I have seen hones with extreme beveling, even on Eschers, and I consider that to be a waste of stone.
I have seen a lot of others do it, but I don't bother beveling the ends of my hones as I don't see the point when I'm never honing all the way to the end. However, it does look better aesthetically if you uniformly bevel all of the edges.

i have beveled some edges on a couple of hones, and left a few with the factory edge. i have never had an issue either way. however i have not honed thousands of razors either, so maybe i have just been lucky. experiment and enjoy.

good luck.

vgod

The universal reason for easing over the edges is they are very sharp on a flat topped, flat sided hone. they can cut you, and are prone to chipping.


the rolling x is a separate issue. I think if you are rolling so much that a minimal chamfer does not solve any issue, then maybe you roll too much.- just a thought