Thread: Honing Mistakes?

The honing mistake I made the most, and still do, although only twice a year or so lately, is called "wishful thinking".
All pointers say that the edge is not ready for finishing, or stropping, or test shaving, or whatever, but I do so anyway. Expecting some miraculous way of everything falling into place. It never does. You could throw all parts required to build an engine from the top of a building, and never they would fall "accidentally" into place and deliver a working engine. But still, every now and then, I find myself doing the razor-sharpening version of that behavior.

PS. I'm probably going to stir the pot with this... but flipping over the spine is not slower. Not in terms of trajectory, and certainly not in terms of ergonomics. It's probably the best way for learning how to hone fast without being counterproductive. (honing fast is not required, but using methods that require many laps, I like it ) Trying to speed up, is very likely to invite you to start an occasional stroke before the razor is fully flipped. Flipping it over the spine, there's not harm in that. But turning otherwise, starting too early will throw in the proverbial monkey wrench.
However unnatural it may feel to muscle memory at first, it does become second nature after a while.

Best regards,
Bart.