Thread: Advanced honing

I noticed in the barbers manual in the archive that a "smile" should be put on the blade, ideally.

I have finally managed to perfect my honing to get a good edge on my new bengal, however I initially practiced my honing on an ebay cheapo that actually has a "frown". Meaning that the width in the middle of the blade is less than at the toe and heel. As this razor has a frown it is very diffilut to hone it evenly.

When doing the x pattern type of honing, the heel and the toe spend less time on the hone than the middle and thus a frown may be developed as it will wear more in the middle. I do not want this to happen to my bengal. How do you prevent or correct this?

If you're using a 3" norton, just go across the hone with the heel leading at a 30 degree angle and pressing on the heel and toe. If you're doing X, turn your hone no the side, do 3-4 passes just moving the toe and then 3-4 just moving the heel straight along the side of the hone and then do 1-2 normal x-pattern passes and repeat the process until you get a straight edge or a smile depending on your preference. I presonally like straight edges.

I have never had a frown develop on a razor from using the X pattern of honing on the Norton or any other stone for that matter. With over 7,000 razors honed, I am still learning though.

Have fun.

Lynn

Lynn, it looks like the blade came in with a frown that Bob didn't correct when he started working on the 4k. The original user must have honed straight across with an inordinate amount of pressure on the center section.

I've also seen that happen from overgrinding in the center......

Lynn

Yep firestart, you are correct. The blade already had a frown on it which made it difficult to hone as the heel and toe would get sharpe before the middle. By the time the middle was sharp the heel and toe were over honed. I have since moved on to honing the new bengal (after watching Lynns excellent DVD) and got a superb edge. Thanks Lynn!

I may hve to ditch the ebay cheapo then or hone the toe and heel seperately as you suggest, before going for a final finish.

Having a 3" Norton would make your life easier.. Just go straight across on the 4k side, while pressing the heel and the toe with your fingers. Another way to go about it is circular honing with weight on the heel and then the toe... The way I'd go about it is:
1) 5 circular toe strokes on the face side
2) 5 circular toe strokes on the back side
3) 1 pass straight across on each side
4) 5 circular heel strokes on the face side
5) 5 circular heel strokes on the back side
6) 1 pass straight across on each side
Repeat the process until you get a smile or a straight edge. Don't press too much though. It will save you some fine honing after you're done.

i bought 3" norton and 3" 12k grit finish stone when i first bought my hones. for that reason i started out straight honing becuase my razors could fit onto my hones. yes i do it heel leading by about 30degrees.

however, im now 4-5months into my honing career and i have personally found that i get much better results with the X pattern. so i use the X even though my blades could fit on the hones. doing straight i kept ending up with some part of the blade (toe,middle,heel) wouldn't be sharp while the rest of the blade was keen. i would have to go back and do some more passes at which point i was worried i would over hone the already keen parts. so, the X pattern allowed me more control over pressure evenly along the blade. this resulted in uniform bevels and keeness over the entire length.

i know i just adverted from the smile,frown part of your question. but perhaps the need to hone only 1 part of the blade due to uneven pressure to start would progress to cause a smile/frown.

in the end you use what works best for you, whatever method produces the best/ most consistant results. peoples experiences often help one realize alternatives to their current process. i hope mine could help.

~J

Thanks guys,

my $3 ebay cheapo may not be worth the bother as there is a lot of hone wear on the spine and the razor is pretty horrible. I got a few shaves out of it and I only bought it to practice on so I don't ruin my bengal (which I probably would have done in hindsight so it was worth it). I may go ahead and put a smile on it anyway just for a learning exercise, but my main concern was putting a frown on the bengal. It seems I have nothing to worry about from your comments.

I actually suspect the frown was due to someone trying to sharpen the razor with a steel knife sharpener

Actually, learning to hone on such a poor razor was probably a hard way to learn, but at least my Bengal has been spared.

Tape up the spine with electrical tape and go for it. It's good practice.