Thread: Good idea/bad idea?

So as I was honing the other day, I was not able to rinse my swarf off- well... was too lazy to walk to the bathroom and didn't want to dump it on the floor so...- anyways... I let my stones swarf. And obviously water evaporated, but the steel stayed there so it got thicker and thicker. And I honestly feel it made each stone "higher" in grit. Does this sound right? Almost as if when I started a 1k was a 1k, but as it started swarfing up the steel filled in gaps and made it more like a 1.5k. Does this sound accurate? Or did I magically just improve my honing technique a lot in one session? I dunno. It happened across the 1k 3k and 5k nani I use. Obviously I can't tell on my naturals because they also develop slurry.

Sounds to me like you were sort of creating slurry. I do mine at the kitchen sink with a spray bottle to refresh the stone and a faucet to rinse it. IMO it is not good for the stone or for the razor to do the honing with less water but I must admit I haven't tried it so mine is only an impression.

I keep adding water as it evaporates- but since I can't rinse it the iron stays, so the concentration increases is what I'm saying.

At the current rate of finesse, how long do you think it will take until your stone gets to about half a mu? I never realized that one could grow a barber's hone. I think you're on to something, hopefully the patent is applied for.

It feels like it is higher in grit because the steel swarf is blocking the stone... so the razor is sliding and not cutting...

If you actually got an improvement from this the only thing I can think of is that you are using to much pressure when honing... So cutting back on the actual cutting ability of the hone helped ... this of course is just a WAG

But normally this is viewed as being bad for honing to have swarf build up on the stones...

Glen I think you are onto something- I think its not that I was using too much pressure (though I could have) but I think it might be helping to get the very light strokes actually very light. Make any sense? I know its not a good practice, just my current housing situation is not ideal for honing... I know it is bad in that it reduces cutting speed but is it BAD or is it bad? Like will it cause harm in some way, or is it just incorrect? Because if its BAD I will suck it up and stop, if its just bad, then I'll do it when I have to.

Originally Posted by khaos

Glen I think you are onto something- I think its not that I was using too much pressure (though I could have) but I think it might be helping to get the very light strokes actually very light. Make any sense? I know its not a good practice, just my current housing situation is not ideal for honing... I know it is bad in that it reduces cutting speed but is it BAD or is it bad? Like will it cause harm in some way, or is it just incorrect? Because if its BAD I will suck it up and stop, if its just bad, then I'll do it when I have to.

Yes it is bad . You need to clean up your stones and use it.
if you want more explanation let me know.

Keep a bucket/container of water near you and a toothbrush.

Submerge the stone, scrub with brush, and keep honing...that's what I do.

Thats why i prefer my belgium coticule i found the naniwas swarf up pritty quik and there for loose the cutting pwer especialy on the 1k