thought I'd slow down my coticule strokes

Hi there :) I havent posted in a while but i thought I should share this;

I had a day off today so thought I'd try honing away on some of my razors.
I honed two razors relatively quickly, to see how quick I could hone... a number of 30 halfstroke sets later both came off not up to snuff :(

Next honing session, same razors and I thought I would slow it down... ALOT.
it took 2 secs each stroke on a 150mm long coticule just to give you an idea of the speed of stroke
I did 10 halfstroke sets and could feel it grip after dulling on glass and doing 1 set.
I honed like this on both razors and the edges were beautiful :)
near mirror edge from my dressante and mirrored (as close as you can get with a coticule) from my la verte

I was used to speeding through honings but, after this, efficiency of stroke seems to be paying off... has anyone found this?


regards Alex

I go really slow and light on the finishing strokes...

The lower end strokes, I do as fast as I can do exact :) I honestly don't hone very fast, I hone very exact..

But yes on the last 10 or so strokes I slow way down, and really try my bestest to get as perfect as possible.

Gssixgun knows about honing, his videos taught me a lot. Since watching his videos I have been getting much better and most important smoother edges. He has also honed a few for me, very nice smooth shaving edges.

I do slow strokes at the bevel setting stage as well, as you said gssixgun I'm just trying to be exact and it seems to work alot better

There is a saying in the shooting sports Alex that I think might apply here too :)

"Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast"

I've always gone a little slower than the fast flips I've seen, including stropping a razor. If I can't ensure the razor has had contact with the hone along its whole bevel, then I don't know for sure what's going on. The amount of wear from the strop (if you don't use loaded strops) is very small, a few strokes on a finisher usually remove it. If you're using a pasted strop and only honing to clean up the entire edge, it's not quite that simple, but if you do your own honing, very little is required to keep a dialed in razor going strong.

Nothing looks dumber on a razor than a shiny bevel and a craggy edge.

I have had the same results. I backed off both speed and pressure, and my edges have never been better. A stroke is useless if you are not making good contact with the hone. Slow is better IMHO.

Jon

I remember asking Sham for some advice on an old coticule. (It once belonged to him.) He said to give very slow strokes at the finish. The stone was 6x2" and the final strokes would take around five seconds per half-stroke. I got the most amazing edges off that stone! Honestly, I forget to do that on my other stones sometimes, but when I remember, the extra slow strokes pay off.

Me

Hey CJBianco-I'm another Sparkle City resident. I wonder if there are any other upstate SC folks on here. SHD/Aaron