Thread: Honing a razor with a fileworked spine?

I don't currently own a razor with a worked spine, but I find them very attractive and would like to own one someday. I've always wondered how they could be honed or stropped with an X-stroke.

For really fine-grained fileworking, I suppose tape would work. But I've seen razors with two big "waves," kind of like crescents along the length of the spine. Would an X-stroke be out for those, and they could only be honed on a wide stone?

Some razors with worked spines have the hone contact point before the worked area so that you will have honed a long time before you jeopardize the worked area, others do not . I tape all my worked backed razors just to preserve them.

Originally Posted by syslight

Some razors with worked spines have the hone contact point before the worked area so that you will have honed a long time before you jeopardize the worked area, others do not . I tape all my worked backed razors just to preserve them.

Same here, especially if there is goldwash involved! Use tape and hone as usual, just make sure you keep the razor flat so that the points along the spine that are supposed to contact the hone will still do so.