Thread: How do you stabilize your hone?

I've used all kinds of methods from rags and paper towels to holding the stone in my hand to some rubber on the table. I finally broke down and got the Shapton Stone Holder. It really is a neat holder. It's really perfect.

I just use the blue norton box that they came in.
With my (2) natural hones I just put them on the table with some tissue paper underneath.

Here's the rubber feet I use on my Shapton cause I'm too cheap to buy all the Shapton Gear...They work great, Raised it perfectly, and are very stable....

I used a towel to hone; then I started using this rubber mat to hold the hone and it worked better than the towel.

The Shapton ceramic pro stones come with a built in holder in the lid. The JNAT is a different story. It tilts a fair amount to one side so I'm going to make a wooded base with rubber feet and hold and support the JNAT with plasticine.

I can't sit anywhere in the house without a cat colonizing my lap, or a dog dropping toys at me, so I just stand at the bathroom sink and hold the hone in my left hand. Because my finishing stone is very thin I've gotten into the habit of just resting the stones on my flat palm, so there's no finger-whittling.

It's nice to be able to manuever the hone, I think, rather than have it at rest. Heretical maybe, but there it is.

I use a .5" cork base that I made from a round casserole pad, it came circular but I cut the sides off so it is a little larger than my widest hone. Stable, steady, cheap. Works for me.

The Spyderco ceramic hones I have came in boxes with silicone feet. The open box holds the hone.

But, it's easier for me to keep the razor flat on the hone if I am hand holding the hone. I get a better feel for pressure that way, too.

Hand for me too. When I've tried to hone at a bench or table I always seemed to end up in someone's way and never found a comfortable way to do it while seated. At some point I want to crack the nut though.

Hand held.