Thread: A wider hone

Originally Posted by jbcohen

At the moment I have a rather narrow paddle strop/hone from Dovo corp. It's rather narrow so my teacher has taught me to use an X pattern. I think I would like a hone that is wider than the straight blade so i would not have to use the X pattern. My questions are this:

1) If I bought a wider hone would I still need to use the X pattern?
2) Waht hone brand would you recommend? I have been hearing a lot about the Norton Waterstones.

I have a 3" strop and I just go back and forth the blade is always evenly sharp. I also have a 4 sided pasted strop and I use the X pattern on that one and I don't mind it since the passes are few in comparison to the ones done on the 3" leather strop. It was a good decision to go with a 3" strop and well worth the extra few dollars.

Any of the on-line dealers advertising here can hook you up.

Pabster

Ah, so the wider hones would not make much of a difference.

Whatever works but early on I went by what Lynn said,"I really tend to look for repeatable results and the X pattern has always produced that for me with any stone I have used. Nothing scientific, just a lot of razors."

The excellent honing and stropping excerpt in the 1961 barber's manual in the SRP Wiki help files here also recommends the x pattern with detailed instructions and why they recommend it.

I like narrow hones too but I've gotten to the point where whether it is a barber hone or an 8x3 I can get by with it. I prefer longer than shorter though with at least an inch and a half width.

3" strop - Yes, back and forth. Keep it taut. I have a handful of very nice and sharp straights that spend time on it and will continue to keep spending time on it.

Everytime I use it, I always think to myself, "I am really happy I decided to buy the 3 inch strop!"

Pabster

The nice thing about the 3 inch hones whether they be Norton, Naniwa Super, Shapton or whatever is that they actually help you keep a razor flat throughout the stroke as you hone. I still use the X stroke when I use them. With narrower hones I find that newer folks tend to put uneven pressure on the razor through out the stroke and lift up or press down at some point in the stroke as well. Once you have practiced and really have a nice, even and smooth stroke, I find it much easier to wander off into the realm of narrow hones and stones.

Have fun,

Lynn

Once when honing a blade that was a borderline frown on a narrow hone, I managed to turn it into a definite frown (not realizing until pretty late) and then had to hone that out. Lesson learned.

Py's honing rule #3 (learned from Py's stupid things to do with a hone #6):
Anything with even the suggestion of a frown doesn't see a hone under 3 inches wide.

Originally Posted by Pyment

Once when honing a blade that was a borderline frown on a narrow hone, I managed to turn it into a definite frown (not realizing until pretty late) and then had to hone that out. Lesson learned.

Py's honing rule #3 (learned from Py's stupid things to do with a hone #6):
Anything with even the suggestion of a frown doesn't see a hone under 3 inches wide.

Py, here in the help files is a method avoid frowns using the x pattern.

I suppose that means I don't need both narrow and wide hones.

How disappointing.

I really like the Naniwa hones Lynn sells. I switched from a set of Nortons to these and I'm glad I did. The Naniwa has a very nice feel or feedback. Don;t get me wrong Nortons are excellent hones but I just found something I like better.
Personal preference has a lot to do with it and that will come with time and personal experience.

You need both a wide and a narrow hone.

You probably need a progression of hones from medium to fine.

You also need both artificial and natural hones.

And some barber hones... (Stop it Py, that's the HAD talking. and you didn't even get to pastes and strops)