Hi gs, i hope you understand my post was not against you or your recommendations. I merely wanted to encourage the op to find his own way of honing, ie what he is comfortable with. You made it clear that you have specific and as a compliment to your experience very good recommendations for beginners. But as a part of the learning experience that is honing and shaving it can be advantageous to see what others do, learn or make mistakes. But the most important thing is, I was pointing out that he did not damage his blade permanently just because of backhoning. It seemed he thought that way