Thread: Honing with ceramic rod.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Hopefully Randydance will see this, IIRC it was him that did this experiment in the past....
I think he said he got some fairly good results but I'll let him explain it if he finds this..

I told him about it today, so he should check in sometime soon.

Chris L

Sufi,

Thank you for posting your observations. I've found that using a diamond sharpening rod works well, especially with warped blades. I'm actually more comfortable using rod-shaped sharpeners because I have much more experience using them. The thing to keep in mind with any shape of sharpening device is to use very, very light pressure as the blade gets sharper to avoid tearout of the fine edge. This is even more important with curved ones like slipstones and such because of the small point of contact. They sure can sharpen quickly though!

Jeff

Thank you for the replies.

I have always wondered what to bring on long trips. Your better razors hold the best edge but the worry is about damaging your good razors on the trip. You could bring your cheaper razors which you may have to hone more often, but the problem would be the weight of the hones.

If you can hone with ceramic rods, I guess you might need a fine and extra fine, and maybe an ultra fine (not advertising Spyderco by the way) rods to keep your razors happy. And since you can hone as often as you want, you could bring the less expensive razors on your trip and leave your best at home.

I'm still hunting on Ebay for a good priced Spyderco fine rods to experiment with.

I don't know if there would be long term damage to the razors if I hone with ceramic rods. But most of the razors I get are from Ebay and the cheaper ones arrive in bad shape anyway, so I don't think this would be a problem.

In future, if I can afford Fillies and Dovos, I don't think I'll be honing them with rods.

I would have thought that if there are any small chips or similar damage in the edge, that the rods would follow those and you would end up with a serrated razor