Thread: 1st hone

last nite I honed one of my razors for the first time...it was kind of sucessfull ...I am sure practice makes better...I has several questions though...Is it wrong to hold the stone at an angle in the air as you hone the razor? Do you get a sharper edge if you raise the back of the razor slightly thus creating more of an angle blade against stone? Do you put down pressure on blade sgainst stone while honing? thx charlie

No, no, and rarely.

Although holding the stone in the air at an angle isn't wrong be sure to keep the blade flat on the hone while honing. You can do whatever feels comfortable. No, never raise the spine (Ok, very, very few exceptions) but in your case no. Generally you don't use downward pressure to put a shaving edge on the blade. Most agree on here you very, very rarely use pressure. I myself use a little pressure when I"m honing out nicks or setting a bevel. But I'm inpatient. To inpart a shaving edge I use as little pressure as possible. Others may disagree and demand never using any pressure. On the other hand a new honer such as yourself may need to impart slight pressure to keep the blade flat on the hone, but this is more because of a lack of practice then really needing to use pressure. This all depends on the type of razor your honing, a more ductile blade such as a singing blade or a 6/8 really demand no pressure.

Now that you've raised the spine you have a lot of work to do to repair the edge. In this case I would recommend slight pressure until the bevel is repaired and then as soon as practical go back to little or no pressure. Finally, a shaving edge is only applied using as little pressure as possible.

One important issue though is the grit of your hone...what are you using?

Thx for info Im confused though in looking thru help files somewhere it mentions puting blade at slight angles rolling blade to create \ against stone...also I bought a 4000/8000 stone

BTW...welcome to the site. Not sure what your confused about. Rolling the blade on the spine is key to not messing up the edge. Placing the blade at an angle is to set the striations into the edge which cut the whisker and to create a straight line bevel edge.

The blade ALWAYS stays flat on the hone. At what angle it moves down the hone is another subject. Perpendicular is my favorite but I also do it with the heal leading too. I usually use an x pattern to put on a shaving edge, rolling the blade at the end.

You'll need to do some more research if your still confused. Check out the files for X pattern and do some more searching. Also look in the Files/Barber Manuals/1961 Barbers Manual...good pictures and description in there.

A little pressure is ok when you start your honing, but should be pulled right off toward the end. I find that on the last few strokes, a very slight presure is beneficial on the 4k side to get the fins created, while using any pressure at all on the last few runs on the 8k side will smooth the edge too much. So ease off on the pressure from some to practically none, and always use slightly less pressure on the 8k sode than the 4k.

X

I think your confused because I'm telling you to keep the blade flat and then discussing angles. Keep the blade flat and the orientation of the blade as it moves down the hone the same, flipping it over on its back prior to the return trip. Does that help some?

Angle the heel ahead of the tip while keeping the entire blade flat on the stone.

X

look at the video's on honing and also in the help files

Originally Posted by randydance062449

look at the video's on honing and also in the help files

Where can i see the video's on honing please? Is the video of Briandonofrio the correct manner? This is not an X-pattern....

Go to help files>honing> page 4> honing animation