Thread: Honing

Why do some videos show honing in a straight pattern and others at a diagonal? Isn't it more risky to hone at a diagonal because you increase your chances of catching the blade on the edge of the stone? If so, what are the advantages?

Personal preferences.

Originally Posted by ml6967

Why do some videos show honing in a straight pattern and others at a diagonal? Isn't it more risky to hone at a diagonal because you increase your chances of catching the blade on the edge of the stone? If so, what are the advantages?

There's a bit of a discussion on this one.. Some believe it's better for the microscopic "teeth" to hone diagonally... Personally, I haven't seen much a difference... There are a LOT of different honing methods...

Have a look at this article from the Wiki:

Strokes for honing a razor - Straight Razor Place Wiki

In there you'll see there are different approaches for razors with different edges. Its very interesting I found, and its really helped me with some of my razors that had slight smiles to them.

Good luck!

The x pattern insures that all of the edge will come in contact with the stone even if the stone is not perfectly flat. When flattening the stone it is standard procedure to round the edges slightly to insure that the edge of the razor won't be damaged when honing.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

The x pattern insures that all of the edge will come in contact with the stone even if the stone is not perfectly flat. When flattening the stone it is standard procedure to round the edges slightly to insure that the edge of the razor won't be damaged when honing.

It is also possible that the razor itself is warped and not flat. In that case, you have to do a "rolling" X-stroke to hone it or, much easier, do an X-stroke on a narrow hone, which automatically compensates for the warp.

How does a rolling x stroke differ from a regular x stroke?

My take on this is that the X pattern is actually the most natural, and for me this means the correct way to do it. Trying to move the blade over the stone in a perfectly straight line feels ackward and unnatural. In my experience, trying to force an unnatural action on any activity is likely to cause problems, either injury, damage or poor performance. Use the honing stroke that feels right to you.

Originally Posted by ml6967

How does a rolling x stroke differ from a regular x stroke?

Here is an archived thread describing the rolling x. You can find more on the topic in the honing section of the SRP Wiki here. Basically it is a method used to hone a blade that doesn't lay flat on the hone. This may be because of a 'smiling' blade profile or a warp in the spine. When you do the stroke you manipulate the blade so that the cutting edge and the spine directly across from it are always in contact with the hone. This will necessitate lifting parts of the blade slightly during the stroke. Not difficult once you get the hang of it.

We've had a lot of threads and discussions on this subject haven't we? There are several perspectives that beginning honers simply do not understand that causes them to need to do some paradigm shifting when it comes to honing a straight razor.

Using a natural stroke is an important one, as mentioned by one of our resident experts above.

Also, and here is the one I am adding, honing a straight razor is not always about efficiently removing metal expeditiously. Sometimes the entire point of a stroke is actually to remove as little metal as possible. It is a matter of finding the most inefficient method.

This is because we are trying to hone the razor to its sharpest level and removing the least amount allows us to hit the mark most effectively. Taking too much steel away per stroke is counterproductive and counterintuitive.