Thread: x stroke with a full hollow

honing question: when starting a honing stroke with a hollow ground razor, at the heal of the blade,,,,can the small flat unhoned area be on the hone as you start the x stroke? when i look at lynn's you tube video it appears he starts the stroke with that flat area off the hone. it would appear that doing an x stroke in that manner would have the center and toe of the blade get a lot more honing then the heal,

If you are talking about the shoulder just before the tang, its okay if its not so pronounced that it interferes with honing, but if its hitting the hone enough to raise the blade you need to do something different.

There is a good description with illustrations in the 1961 barber manual here in the SRP Wiki of the x stroke. It also tells you how to avoid putting more wear in the center than on the ends.

Originally Posted by gil3591

.... it would appear that doing an x stroke in that manner would have the center and toe of the blade get a lot more honing then the heal,

Exactly, right. That's the point of the x-stroke, from what I understand. In a barbering textbook I read a while ago (which may be the same one on this site), it reasoned that your grip on the razor exerts more force on the razor's heel than the toe; no matter what amount of pressure you are putting on the razor. Therefore, in order to hone the blade evenly, the toe needs to be on the hone longer than the heel.

I hope this helps and if anyone has a more thorough explanation please post it.

Cheers!

The one rule is to keep the spine flat on the hone at all times.
As long as that rule is followed then go ahead, otherwise keep that part off the hone.