A novel hone idea

Oh so I've been doing a lot of thinking. I've posted a few of my ideas in here in the basic honing forum trying to come up with some interesting ideas to create something like a barber hone.

Here is my newest idea, which I may be able to try sooner.

I know that balsa wood has been used as a pasted strop.

But would it be possible to use a piece of wood with a regular honing X pattern? If I were to find a wood hard enough and apply some kind of paste to it, lets say the hardest wood in the world...Lignum Vitae?

From what I understand the main problem would be that most hardwoods have much larger pores than soft woods. Still, does this sound interesting and/or crazy enough that it might actually work or has someone beaten me to the punch already?

Thank you for your time.

PS- the price for lignum vitae is not too bad. Here is the source I found. Barber hone sized pieces to :
http://www.exoticwoodgroup.com/order...gnum_vitae.htm

I would think that using a normal honing motion on pasted wood would cause the razor to pick up a fair amount of the paste (which would affect the distribution of the paste and probably round the edge a bit). Also, I would think the razor might bite into the wood a bit, but I'm not really sure since I don't know all that much about wood (that's really just my intuitive guess, not based on any knowledge or facts).

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Originally Posted by holli4pirating

I would think that using a normal honing motion on pasted wood would cause the razor to pick up a fair amount of the paste (which would affect the distribution of the paste and probably round the edge a bit). Also, I would think the razor might bite into the wood a bit, but I'm not really sure since I don't know all that much about wood (that's really just my intuitive guess, not based on any knowledge or facts).

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The idea came to me after reading a post about someone on SRP using paste on a Chinese 12K. So I figured I could do something similar. :hmmm:

I hope I get some hits here because my normal wood guy is a tad busy...then there is the obvious implied honing questions.

First of all, very interesting idea. No idea if it would work, but very interesting.


I think that to even test it, the hardest part would be finding the "right" wood.

On one hand, you've got woods like mahogany, which can be relatively soft and straight grained. They would hold the abrasives very well, but I can't imagine that you'd be able to hone on one with an x pattern and not end up wrecking your razor.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got something like ironwood. It's so dense, heavy and tight grained that you could probably run a razor over it all day long, but it wouldn't hold the abrasives well enough to be useful.

I think the biggest problem would be that to find a wood that could work, like maybe a nice burl of some kind, would be about the same cost as a new hone, or maybe more.

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Originally Posted by VeeDubb65

First of all, very interesting idea. No idea if it would work, but very interesting.


I think that to even test it, the hardest part would be finding the "right" wood.

On one hand, you've got woods like mahogany, which can be relatively soft and straight grained. They would hold the abrasives very well, but I can't imagine that you'd be able to hone on one with an x pattern and not end up wrecking your razor.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got something like ironwood. It's so dense, heavy and tight grained that you could probably run a razor over it all day long, but it wouldn't hold the abrasives well enough to be useful.

I think the biggest problem would be that to find a wood that could work, like maybe a nice burl of some kind, would be about the same cost as a new hone, or maybe more.

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Yeah, that's what I'm thinking to. I know the Lignum Vitae would be more than hard enough. If lapped flat and smooth I'm 99% sure a razor wouldn't bite. The remaining 1% is:

#1 if I'd be able to even lap a slab of this stuff without motorized equipment. This stuff is so hard it was used as shaft bearings on some World War II era submarines as well as the main shaft strut bearings on the USS Nautilus.:eek: Although Argentina Lignum Vitae is not the same species as Lignum Vitae Guaiacum, it's similar enough that I think it would be splitting hairs in this case.

#2 If the wood can hold paste at all. I'd imagine if it has pores it would hold enough of a coating of paste to work.

Interesting idea...:hmmm:

Why hard wood? I think the knife would scrape off the compound, and if you veered off the wood at an angle, you could scratch the blade on the corner of the wood.

What about using softer, larger pored wood, like pine? (If you can get a straight piece) If you could get a buildup of compound to stick to the wood, like a sharpening stone, the softer pores of the wood would give a little, allowing the blade to run across without scraping out the compound.

Now I'll be thinking about this all night! Thanks a lot!:rant:

:)

Why not go the old fashioned way and use a block from lead?

I have a piece of birch with chrome oxide (powder rubbed into the surface). I have gone edge leading on it before no problems.

This might belong in advanced honing.

Charlie

A thin enough coat rubbed into the wood and the edge is less likely to pick up the powder.
But instead of wood, I would use harder material.

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Originally Posted by spazola

I have a piece of birch with chrome oxide (powder rubbed into the surface). I have gone edge leading on it before no problems.

This might belong in advanced honing.

Charlie

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What effect did it have on the edge and the Chrome oxide?

With the paste stuff I was thinking of rubbing it in to the wood like one would rub a spice rub into a chicken or like...a sports massage. I'd put some mustard into it and really rub it in there and then let it try. I'd expect some to scrap off when I got leading edge but have some retained in the wood.

I've seen some balsa wood strops that have a fairly thin coating here on the forums. It was pretty much just enough to tint the wood. I think I might try this once I get my carpet replaced with laminate in a couple weeks. Gotta take care of the house first. :(

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Originally Posted by 0livia

Why not go the old fashioned way and use a block from lead?

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???? lead ???? I'd be real interested to hear more about using lead....besides I might be able to come up with another metal to use instead of the lead if it is a good way to go....maybe magnesium or aluminum or something.

I have worked a bit with the real Lignum Vitae, and I do not think this will work very well....The wood has almost a waxy feel, but will bruise (compress and harden) relatively easy, although once bruised that area is harder and will wear nice and slow......The problem that this would cause is that the razor would most likely scrape away a bit of the wood with each pass, or dig in and chip the edge, unless you bruised the whole surface...but unless you have a good flat plate and hydraulic press to do this evenly, it will be too uneven to be useful.

Personally, since I do not have a really nice finishing hone yet...Once I have the bevel, I use a Tam O'Shanter to polish the edge as well as I can, and then I sprinkle Linde A compound onto the wet hone....I use the hone normally although with this artificial slurry and it gives me a nicely shavable edge that is much finer than the Tam O'Shanter but not as fine as the polish from my paddle with just Linde A compound.

It seems to work nicely for me at any rate... :)

edit - BTW, for those that do not know, Linde A compound is 0.3 micron Aluminum Oxide powder.

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Originally Posted by Smokintbird

???? lead ???? I'd be real interested to hear more about using lead....besides I might be able to come up with another metal to use instead of the lead if it is a good way to go....maybe magnesium or aluminum or something.

I have worked a bit with the real Lignum Vitae, and I do not think this will work very well....The wood has almost a waxy feel, but will bruise (compress and harden) relatively easy, although once bruised that area is harder and will wear nice and slow......The problem that this would cause is that the razor would most likely scrape away a bit of the wood with each pass, or dig in and chip the edge, unless you bruised the whole surface...but unless you have a good flat plate and hydraulic press to do this evenly, it will be too uneven to be useful.

Personally, since I do not have a really nice finishing hone yet...Once I have the bevel, I use a Tam O'Shanter to polish the edge as well as I can, and then I sprinkle Linde A compound onto the wet hone....I use the hone normally although with this artificial slurry and it gives me a nicely shavable edge that is much finer than the Tam O'Shanter but not as fine as the polish from my paddle with just Linde A compound.

It seems to work nicely for me at any rate... :)

edit - BTW, for those that do not know, Linde A compound is 0.3 micron Aluminum Oxide powder.

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Ah...welp that lays that idea to rest.:shrug:

I don't have a hydraulic press . *runs back to vekta's asinine drawing board*:D

he he he... I'm sure it would work just fine with a stropping motion!

Smokintbird I've found the idea to use lead in a german encyclopedia, when I was looking for rubber strops.
Streichriemen - Zeno.org

Well, after reading the translated version of the page provided by Olivia...and some subsequent research I did after that, even with the lead block, they are talking about using it loaded with the powder or slurry but with a stropping motion and not a cutting motion...

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Originally Posted by Vekta

What effect did it have on the edge and the Chrome oxide?
:(

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I could not feel a difference when shaving if I went edge trailing or edge leading on the chrome oxide. I do not think it is that big of a deal to try edge leading on a wooden hone. Since I can go edge leading on something as mushy as my fat cheek and not have the edge catch I do not worry about the edge catching on something as hard and stiff as wood. I go edge leading when I set a bevel on sandpaper, I have also gone edge leading when trying out abrasive powders on copy paper.

I am more worried about the edge of the blade shearing abrasive from the surface and having small particles rolling over the edge as the razor travels down the paddle strop.


I would not try on one of my valued paddle strops, but do not have any problem trying it out on scraps

Experiment, have fun, find out what works

Charlie

I too have used a pasted wooden block as an edge leading hone. I used a block of 3" wide hard maple which I progressively lapped on my granite surface plate. I pasted the block with .5 mic diamond IIRC. Initially, the edge did scrape up excess paste but that stopped pretty quickly. Honing on the wood block did have an interesting sensation since there was no scraping sound as you'd find on a stone hone. Passes on the wood were almost silent. I didn't find any improvement or benefit to go edge leading at that grit level on the wood block rather than spine leading. It was fun to experiment with.

Chris L