Thread: Clean before honing?

Originally Posted by Vicious

I should be getting a set of Norton Water Stones in a week or so. I've already acquired a couple cheap razors from ebay on which to practice. These razors don't have any chips or nicks but do have a bit of rust.

So my question is: should I do some basic restoration to get rid of some/all of the rust before trying to hone? I don't plan to USE these razors in any way nor am I planning to restore/resell them. All I'm planning to do is to sacrifice them to the honing gods in an effort to gain knowledge of how to hone properly. That being said, I'm wondering if NOT getting the rust off will damage the stones; I certainly don't want to cause undue wear on my new stones.

If this question, or one similar, has already been discussed elsewhere in the forum I'd greatly appreciate a link. Otherwise, any and all insight is very welcome.

How are you planing on knowing if you are doing a good job of honing without a test shave? Sharp is relatively easy but smooth can be difficult when you start honing.

Assuming the scales are not an issue, I would scrape off the loose rust with a used DE blade. Set the bevel, if it takes an edge restore it as far as you care to. Continue your honing practice until you can get a good shave.

Edit: Red rust is softer than steel, so it won't be an issue on the hones. Also when you next lap the hone any appearance issue will be gone.

Good luck.

Jonathan