Thread: Dry honing

When I began honing pocket knives in my early teens the rational behind oil on arks, and water on waterstones, was that it acted as a lubricant, and most of all, as a vehicle to carry the particles of metal away. So that they would be suspended in the liquid rather than become embedded in the hone. Oilstones, it was said, would become glazed eventually if used dry. The particles (swarf) are there and they have to go somewhere. I have occasionally hit a few licks dry on a barber hone but other than that I'm a water, lather, or oil honer. My two bits.

You should feel free to experiment and report back -- I often use my commie hone and my Ark black dry before a good stropping, I'm usually pleased with the results. It sorta depends on the razor. Have some fun with it, you're not going to hurt the razor or the hone.

Agree with Jimmy on the need to keep swarf from being ground into any stone dry.
Sharpen a knife on a white ark and it soon becomes dark and will lose its cutting abilitys over time.
You need a vehical to carry swarf and with razors unwanted slurry away (unless at a point where slurry is usefull.
On my maintainance honing I use running water,is a 40 micron filter on the water return line which becomes black over about 10 blades,swarf? slurry?,maybe both.

Nice setup, Pixel!

Thank you,just dinking around as usual

I've tried dry Honing with my PHIG and found that the edges were more harsh than when using water. Of course not all Naturals are the same, especially PHIG's, so what works fir me might not work for you. In other words, try if out, yours may work well with dry Honing.

As long as your not doing anything major, it should be fine. Like Oz, I occasionally use my Swaty dry. 3-5 lapps as a touch up. I've also done minimal lapps on my Nakayama Maruichi Asaig dry.

I kept a set of 7 razors shave ready for at least a year, doing only 3 lapps occasionally on my Swaty, Dry...

That's a serious setup! Did you come up with this? very cool either way!

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Agree with Jimmy on the need to keep swarf from being ground into any stone dry.
Sharpen a knife on a white ark and it soon becomes dark and will lose its cutting abilitys over time.
You need a vehical to carry swarf and with razors unwanted slurry away (unless at a point where slurry is usefull.
On my maintainance honing I use running water,is a 40 micron filter on the water return line which becomes black over about 10 blades,swarf? slurry?,maybe both.

Originally Posted by Trimmy72

That's a serious setup! Did you come up with this? very cool either way!

I made it for about 12 bux,works for me.Thx

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Agree with Jimmy on the need to keep swarf from being ground into any stone dry.
Sharpen a knife on a white ark and it soon becomes dark and will lose its cutting abilitys over time.
You need a vehical to carry swarf and with razors unwanted slurry away (unless at a point where slurry is usefull.
On my maintainance honing I use running water,is a 40 micron filter on the water return line which becomes black over about 10 blades,swarf? slurry?,maybe both.

I thought my setup was pretty nice and I was proud of it, but after seeing this photo, I suddenly feel like a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.