Thread: The little things... "Trick Tip"

Originally Posted by Blix

I don't hone on the tang of course, but to keep the razor steady while holding my camera with my other hand, I had to to that for the sake of the photos

You had us worried for a minute

Originally Posted by gssixgun

Great thread actually, you got everyone thinking of the little tiny adjustments to an equal and even stroke

Thank you, and yeah, with you and B's help I could look into this even closer and steer me to an even better stroke!


Final picture (I hope haha)


By blix72 at 2012-03-05

Doing this all "shakiness" disappeared in an instant, feels great!

Originally Posted by Birnando

Great stuff Amund.
Thanks for posting

Funny thing, I do the exact opposite
What I mean is, I never rest any finger at the "top" of the tang when the razor is flat on the hone.
I have my thumb and index finger on each side(what is normally top and bottom) of the spine.
Any adjustments to pressure or balance I tend to do with my pinky and ringfinger via the scales/tail of the blade.
The main thing though is to make the strokes as equal as possible, and to that there seems to be many ways that works

Originally Posted by gssixgun

+ 1 Birnando,

I always torque the razor toward the edge when honing, and away from the spine, so my finger or thumb is always resting on the edge side corner of the tang so I can control that torque... I also use the pinky under the scales but mostly for balance and steadiness...

Originally Posted by Blix

Oh my , update 2

Trying Birnandos and Glens way with index and thumb on each side of the tang was even better!!!!



Oh well, the intention of this thread still stands, I hope it can help some.

Now you all made me pull out a stone and a razor to try this out as I have been using a similar grip to what Amund shows it the OP.

Holding the spine on top and bottom was a lot better, but what I feel really made the difference was the "pinky trick" it added a lot more balance to the blade, very helpfull, specially on a narrow stone.

It also automaticly gave me a softer grip to the razor, which increased the feedback from the stone.

Thanks!

So working nights lately, I shave at the end of the day, and for tonights shave, learning this new and awesome honing stroke, I added a few finishing strokes to the razor I did this morning.

For the last 7-8 shaves I have been going between pretty much all my finishers, having fun comparing the edges, doing C12K, C12K+CrOx, J-Nat, J-Nat+CroX, Coticule , hybrid coticule and Shapton 30k.

The edge from the new stroke just off the J-Nat was at least as good as the J-Nat+CrOx edge, so now I can revisit all my hones and hopefully kick them all up a notch...

Great post Blix! I've had to meditate a lot on this myself the last few months. Always had a much harder time on the away stroke. Recently things have been going better along the same lines as you.

Michael

I found the best advice for keeping the blade level forward and back strokes was from a couple of entries from Lynn A. that basically said keep your elbow up and as level as you can and that will translate to a level blade on the stone.
And conversly[IMHO] when I ignore that advice my honing suffers.

FWIW, have a great shave, tinkersd