Thread: Wondering about the Mastri Livi style of honing...

Ok, now... I know this video has been talked about many times with varying comments about "What's he doing to that razor!" to "Shut up... this man is a master." The second statement is the true one, btw. When I first saw it, obviously I realized that it's different than how I learned, but, being a philosophy student, I remembered two quotes. One quote from Socrates, "The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” And one quote from Mikhail Bakunin, "Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the boot-maker" So, I picked up an old Fritz Bracht that I had in a box which didn't even have a bevel and grabbed a dmt 325, king 1000, norton 4/8, and my L.I.... and in less than five minutes, that razor was done. Like... f'n done. Stropped up, HHT... done. Like I said, I'm a philosophy major, and I learned a long time ago that Socrates knows what he's talking about... Bakunin, too, for that matter.

I'm pretty sure that the reason it works so well, is that for all but the last few strokes on each stone, you're backhoning as well, so you're pretty much prematurely fighting off overhoning, while at the same time, using each successive stone to remove the scratch pattern of the previous one. Once that scratch pattern is removed and a few finishing strokes are added to solidify the pattern of the current stone in the progression, and remove all evidence of backhoning... you move to the next stone. It's simple and it works, case closed. That's my analysis anyway. Thoughts?