Thread: razors, burs and overhoning

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.