Thread: Jittery, uneven feel to honing stroke, advice needed

I had the same sort of issue. What seems to have worked for me is to use my other hand as a guide. This knocks out the jittery feeling. It also helps me to be more consistent across the entire cutting edge.

The second hand is only there for guidance. It does not apply any pressure (either down onto the hone or along the surface of the hone).

Since I've been doing this, my honing has been far more consistent.

I always feel that the most important thing is to develop a rhythm with your stroke that suits you and the amount of pressure you are using. Too slow and too fast can be problematic until you have the confidence built up and have in mind exactly what you are trying to accomplish. Another thing is that as your honing skills improve, you start to feel things that you didn't before like how hard the metal is or a stainless razor will drag a little more on the hone and so on. You also start to feel that uneven wear on a spine will cause little skips so to speak as will a large amount of flattening on the spine that is different on both sides. Some things never change and that is that a wedge with a ton of flattening and uneven wear will always skip until you work off enough metal.

What you are going through is not a bad thing and you are right in that if the bevel is not set correctly, the rest of the progression can be thrown off easily.

Patience is also key in honing. A lot of people get into a relaxation zone when honing. If you push yourself to get a razor done NOW, you will invariably have more problems which can be frustrating after a few hours. Don't be afraid to put a razor down and come back to it tomorrow.

Have fun,

Lynn

I wasn't going to bring this up but ..... IME working with dumbells (the iron kind, not your fellow employees) can improve your honing. Weightlifting improves my honing and my tattooing. Just thought I would mention it. You don't have to be trying to be Arnold. Just muscle toning/strengthening work.

Do you use so much pressure, Jimmy?

I would like to add something here to improve everyones success at achiving a goal. No matter what it is.
Only visualize doing things the right way once you know what the correct way is. Practice doing the task in your mind. See yourself being able to do the task with ease and being relaxed. Set small easy to reach goals and harder future goals. When you reach a goal write another goal down that way you always have direction.
Never focus on the wrong way to do anything or tell someone your are doing this wrong or that. Only tell yourself and others the right way to do things. Focusing on the right way will make it happen faster.


Silver2

Originally Posted by Kees

Do you use so much pressure, Jimmy?

Not at all. It is a matter of improved coordination. The muscles are as cables that control the bones that are levers. If the muscles are healthy and strong finer control is possible than if they are not. I have seen this more in operating a tattoo machine on someone's skin but I know it to be a fact. A lighter, rather than a heavier touch, is the result that can be obtained.

I've had this skipping happen to me as well when using high grit stones.
I always thought it was due to a bit of suction between the razor blade and the wet stone. Try using the stone without water.
If the blade skips still, it may be that the stone still has swarf on it.

One tip I can relay to you that helped me alot is to keep the elbow of the honing hand high and unsupported while honing.
If it becomes uncomfortable or tedious to keep the elbow up, take a break.
After trying this out, my skipping reduced alot.

I believe Lynn posted the elbow tip.

Good luck !

I have experienced an uneven feeling in drag when honing on a high grit stone, my nakayama, before. IIRC it was with a razor that had a fair amount of wear on it, as well as an uneven (but still evenly sharp) bevel/spine in terms of it's width.

I don't know if it was the correct assumption, but I assumed it was due to the higher amounts of suction the blade was exhibiting on the stone where the bevel/spine were wider. Since the bevel and spine had thicker and thinner areas (since it was uneven), this suction wasn't even either and created an uneven drag along the stone as I completed the X-stroke. I don't remember the feeling being quite as bad when I tried varrying the pressure and speed, but it was still there.

If this effect is due to the suction as I assumed, then it depends entirely on the stone used as well. What that means I have no idea...since I don't have a lot of knowledge on different stone types and their propensity to suck a blade to it.

i get the same thing on one of my coticles where the blade grabs the hone going in one direction and can skip a little not sure why somtimes it will smooth out as slurry dilute or get worse

I find it hard to believe that bevels or spines with honewear that usually does not exceed 2 millimeter will cause suction of any significance. Have you ever seen a 2 mm suctioncup?