Thread: Narrow hone vs Wide hone

I personally like bench size stones such as the naniwa or the Norton lines but I know the thin 40mm or even 30mm wide coticules are big right now with their owners, I do think price is one of the factors. Also Coticule users tend to hand hone which is a big factor. I actually ordered a 3x8 Coticule combo last week so I could sell off my smaller ones as the size is more effective for me.

All I need to do when honing a smiling blade or a warped blade on a larger stone is adjust my stroke and it works out fine. I haven't had any problems with wider stones. I always hone on my Norton 4/8K following the Naniwa 1K and I don't see any problems with the blades before finishing on my narrow YG Escher.

Originally Posted by zib

Can you not do this with a wider hone too? Is cost a factor? If the 40mm hone is half the price, I fully understand. My contention is that, Anything done on a narrow hone, can be done on a wider hone. Given the choice, Money not being a factor, I'd take the wider hone everytime.

What do you think?

I agree. Coast is the factor that is all.

I greatly prefer a wider hone (2.5" +) as I find it is much easier to assure even pressure across the full length of the blade. I only hone my own blades, most of which are 7/8 and above and slightly heavy. I know that many skilled honers can accomplish this on a 1" wide hone but I find it is simply less effort on a wider hone. I personally feel that if narrow hones were more desirable to the masses, synthetics would be commonly available in 1-2" widths.

I generally like wide hones but for smiling blades I prefer narrow.

You learn to use the hone that is in front of you, Period end of story...

Doing this professionally for a few years now, trust me when I say this "If something is easier, more cost effective or more consistent I and every other Honemeister would be using it exclusively"

I even went so far as to cut down a set of Norton's because I believed some BS hype that it was easier to hone heavy smiling wedges on thinner hones, it isn't...

Really it doesn't matter the size of the stone, all that really matter is the evenness of the honing stroke...

Go ahead don't take my word for it spend your hard earned cash on all the different sizes and go find out

BTW go ahead and try the Magic Marker test on a wide hone compared to a thin hone on any razor you want, what you are going to find is what some of us keep saying over and over "The magic is in the hands not the stone"