razors, burs and overhoning

[jaegerhund]

I've seen the term overhoning used to describe certain troubles with honing straight razors. Does this mean that you have created a burr or wire-edge on one side of the razor? Moreover, I can sharpen by hand a knife fairly well ---the technique used is a well known one where you hone one side of the knife until a burr is created on the opposite side and then hone that side until a burr is created on the opposite side, etc --you repeat this with fewer and fewer strokes and lighter pressure until no burr exists and you've got a sharp knife. Does this apply at all to straight razors and why can't the same method be used. Maybe the edge is too fine and fragile? Thanks.

[AFDavis11]

Overhoning is any kind of structural failure of the edge because of too much honing. Its my understanding that the whole burr thing is only for knives, but I don't know how to hone a knife so I can't say.

[mparker762]

The burr technique works well on knives and chisels because it's a pretty foolproof and easily taught method of getting the edge you need, but on straights it fails that second part - it doesn't get you a good shaving edge. Knives and chisels aren't used on your face, after all, which changes the requirements a tad.

[Wildtim]

The other difficulty with this method in relation to razors is that the burr is microscopic. I was originally taught a variation on the x-pattern for honing fillet knives, the first time I heard of the burr method was as a negative reference from an old woodworker who left the impression that it was for apprentices.

[jaegerhund]

That sounds about right wildtim ----the razor blade is so thin that this method would be impractical and detecting a burr that small difficult --anywho just trying to understand honing a straight razor by comparing it to something I have some understanding of.

[idaho mike]

The burr method works to minimize the burr after its been formed. With a razor, you don't want to develop one in the first place. Understanding this helps to explain why the pyramid method works to correct an overhoned blade. I did a quick search and got this advice on fixing an overhoned razor.

"I am not a fan of backhoning at all. If you over hone a razor, I recommend simply going back to a 3-3, 1-3, 1-3 routine on the Norton 4K/8K. That usually does the trick. Lynn"

I would expect the burr would be removed in the 3-3 phase.

[jaegerhund]

All very interesting and good to know. It's amazing how a straight razor can be such a simple creature in form yet esoteric and complex in usage. Thanks to you all.