Hey everyone,

So I was thinking that since our razor blades are all about 3" long, and many of the stones we used to hone are are maybe 2" wide, that the X pattern is needed to hone the entire edge of the razor. But what about on Norton stones that are already 3" wide. Do you still need to do the X-pattern since the whole edge of the razor stays on the stone? If I do an X pattern, won't the heel of the razor see less stone time than the rest of the edge, and eventually the toe and middle will wear out thinner than the heel?

In other words - if I have a 3" wide stone, can I just do a regular back and forth motion when honing, or is the X-pattern ALWAYS the way to go. And if so, can someone explain WHY we to do it this way?