Honing Help!!

Hi Guys,

Lately I have been seeing a ton of new or newer razors come in for honing that really have excessive wear on the spines and very widened areas along the bevels. In addition, the wear areas on the bevels are not matching the wear areas along the spines. These types of wear patterns are definite indicators of not only uneven pressure on the honing stroke, but too much pressure being applied. It is also an indicator that some folks are using way too many strokes or spending way to much time on the hone than needed for a new razor.

Remember that when you are honing non eBay specials, you are really looking for a nice even fluid stroke with minimal pressure and to keep the blade flat on the stone through out the stroke. I know this will require some practice, but it is practice that will eventually pay off for you. Even with eBay specials where you may use some pressure, you still want that nice even fluid stroke with the razor flat on the stone.

So, if you are like me and hone sitting at a table, I would recommend that you maintain really good posture and keep your arms out in front of you all the time. When you are doing your honing stroke, try to keep your elbow up from the table as this will help to keep the razor flat on the stone. If you feel your shoulder getting into the action at all, STOP..... and go back to the good posture with the arms out front. What happens is that when you lean forward and use the shoulder, you are putting more pressure on the razor and if your stroke is not good, the results will be poor. It is easy to get carried away and forget this, but if you remember to watch out for the feeling of leaning in with the shoulder on top of the arm, it will really help you to use less pressure and even out your stroke. Even if you are setting the bevel on a new razor by doing circles or X pattern on a 4K stone, there should be virtually no pressure as the stone will do the cutting. You should not be doing hundreds of strokes here.

On a new or newer razor, a pyramid starting at 5 strokes usually works for me, although sometimes it may take a couple trips to the hone. If just doing the X pattern I would not recommend more than 5-10 strokes starting on a 4K and working your way to whatever you use to polish.

You can always use a little more pressure down the road as you become proficient and want to take on ebay specials. The key is to establish good basics to help you get used to the razor staying flat on the stone throughout your stroke. Once you have this down, it will not matter if you are using a 1 inch wide stone or a 4 inch wide stone.

Hope this helps.

Lynn

Thanks Lynn,

My first hone went great got the HTT eventualy and gives a great shave, I have a stainless 6/8 dovo.
Took a little experimentation from the DVD recomendations, I seem to have the tactile nack from the get go. I guess being an engineer helps.

Joey

This post really should be in blinking Neon not just stickied to the top of the ppage.

Thanks Lynn, great tips! I do have a follow-up question though. I've recently attempted my first hone on a blade that had dulled on me and wasn't giving me the best shaves. Unfortunately, I didn't read through the threads thoroughly enough to realize I probably didn't need to do a full set of the pyramid to bring it back to it's proper sharpness and so I actually dulled it out even worse with my inexperience on the hone.

Anyway, since I've dulled it I took a step back and read through the threads as much as I could. I then took the stance as if the blade was in good shape, but not quite shave ready, so I've been using the conservative pyramid (1,1,3,5,3,3,1,1,1 on a 4K side, 5's on the 5K side... alternating of course). I shave my head so I have no hair to test the blade on aside from test shaving my arm hair. I've gotten it to cut the hair, but never very well, even though when I try the thumb pad test and it feels fairly sharp. However, when I test shave with it, it shaves, but it pulls pretty fierce... not a comfortable shave at all.

My question is, what do I do next? Do I continue to move through the conservative pyramid from start to finish until it's sharp? Or at this phase is there another technique I should be using? I don't want to over hone like you warn against here.

I know my honing technique isn't all there, but I do my best to be light and smooth as all the posts suggest. My push stroke isn't that great though, it's less smooth then I'd like.

Alright, thanks for your time and your consideration.

Greetings Everyone, I'm getting my first straight tomorrow, I think the UPS guy will be mad after I tackle him to get my package. I'm excited about SR shaving, and I can't wait to get started. Ok, on with my noo-b questions: 1.) I use a Spyderco Sharpmaker for kitchen knives. The demo DVD says that this can be used (with the fine stone of course) to hone a straight razor. Has anyone tried this? If so, what were the results? My prediction is that the results were probably mediocre... but any input would be great. 2.) I have sharpened many knives over the years (kitchen and camping/hunting). One of the most important things I find is the consistency of the angle. That being said, I have a question about Lynn's honing technique, for clarification. Throughout the entire stroke, the metal on the blade is touching at the cutting edge as well as the spine correct? So in essence, the grind of the knife is determining the sharpening angle, and there is no 'freehand-ing' of the angle in any way. Would this be a correct statement? I suspect that with proper stropping and shaving every 2 days, I won't need to hone for a little while yet. However any input which could be provided would be great. Thanks to all!

I'm glad this thread was bumped. These are great tips