Thanks for the advice but I'm mostly a collector. I have one for shaving. I bought this one to try honing the blade needed the work so I thought I'd give it a try. I prolly do need to slow my role a little bit but that's not me. I learn what I can while I can. I learn as I go so ya I do make mistakes but I learn from them. I don't know when my time is up so when it is I want to be able to say I learned all I could. I always look for advice and appriceate it "good or bad" I learn from it. I'm still young so there's still a lot I have to learn but there's also a lot that I already know. I really do thank you for the advice and I'm glad you wrote back to tell me what you were thinking. The reason I don't know about pitting is because I use a H. Boker "Pearl" that is in perfect condition just needs the strop now and again and my others are in good condition as well. I thought I needed how to learn honing and thought I'd try. Well I'm rambling so thank you again. And I hope you have a nice day!!!