Thread: Noob question

THe time has come for me to finally get into honing and after reading through many threads I am pretty much set on the norton 4000/8000 combo stone. I dont think i'll be needing the 220/1000 combo anytime soon as I just want to keep my razors sharp. I've been using a swaty barbers hone and some .5 diamond spray but I find the edge to need a bit more. My question is about the pyramid method and I cant seem to find the answer. Why does oen go from the coars stone to the finer stone and back and forth until the pyramid is complete? Why not finish your strokes on the coarser 4000 side completely then go to the 8000 to finishs the honing session?

It can be done both ways, pyramid or progressive. Using the pyramid offers someone new to honing a system to use instead of having to judge when to move from stone to stone. Either method works, but the pyramid is easier to start with and requires less judgment.

As another relative honing noob with that exact same setup (except with CrOx), my understanding of the pyramid is that it allows us learning honers to sneak up on a shave-ready edge, alternating between cutting and polishing sets in a more use-friendly, standardized, repeatable way. I've done both; the straight progression just requires you to know when to move up. If you're just getting the 4/8k, Lynn's "40 Circles to Sharp" video shows an easy way to a quick bevel; I used it on several blades today. Jump right in! Aaron

Thanks for the replies, that makes more sense now. Called Howard at theperfectedge and set up a honing session for tuesday morning. Hopefully going to get some instruction and and start honing my razors!

This question always drives me nuts! Think of it this way first, go ahead a hone with the 4k first. Do the exact number of strokes required on the 4 k without doing one too many or one too little . . . Go ahead, I dare ya.

Sorry just playing with ya.

Do you even have a ballpark idea of how you would pull it off?

When you go from stone to stone it helps to get rid of any wire edges that might be starting to show up. Plus you usually get consistent results when using the pyramid. At least that is what I find.