Thread: "Shaving Made Easy" direction of travel honing

Which is right for honing? In the on-line book "Shaving Made Easy", the book instructs to hone going forward towards the edge whereas the accepted method here on the Forum is to hone backwards away from the edge. Which direction of travel is right? Either way, does allowing the back of the blade to rub on the stone scratch the blade? I'm a newbie and have no clue...

Originally Posted by jbtusa

the accepted method here on the Forum is to hone backwards away from the edge. .

from where did you get this one?
you have wrong idea. check videos on general tab and see what people do.gl

+1 to Sham

If you're talking about STROPPING, then yes, the direction is away from the cutting edge.

Not sure why you think the preferred method here is to HONE that way...I've never read anything to that effect here

What do you need books for? You're on SRP!

...Guess that I got it wrong. So I now understand that honing goes forward towards the edge. What about scratching the spine?

The thin strip along each side of the spine that makes contact with the hone will experience the same effect as the portion of the edge -- e.g. the bevel -- that makes contact. On lower grit hones - 1,000... 4,000... 8,000 - it will go from having a scratched look to a satin-like look just like the bevel. And as you move up in grit - e.g. 12,000... 16,000... etc. - it will begin to take on a more polished look, just like the bevel.

Unless you're honing a razor with a lot of hone wear already on it - from this very same contact occurring over YEARS worth of honing - it will be a very thin strip of contact and rather (if not completely) unnoticable once you get done on the finishing hones.

Of course, you can always hone with a piece of electrical tape over the spine too...