Brought out a nice eBay Puma I got a while back, and began honing it up for the first time. During the final passes on the 8K Norton, I got a bit too cavalier with the 'flip' end of the stroke, and the blade hit the stone lightly.

I decided to check it with the SRP 60-100X Scope, and sure enough, it had 'micro-nick' right on the edge that had fracture out! D'uh! FIRST time I have ever done that!

I went to 'backhone' the nick out, as usual, using the reverse "X" pattern on the 4K side, but tried using a circular stroke instead first. IT REALLY got the nick out fast! I then returned to the "X" pattern to establish the right scratch pattern, and went back to the 8K and the 13K to finish-up.

The circular stroke really, really did speed-up reestablishing the edge, while maintaining the spine-to-edge geometry. I will use this when needed from here on out.

Just a report from the honing trenches.

Best -