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Right, I'd imagine that about 8" may be where you can keep a steady motion with your hand, if the hone is too long I suspect that the natural curving that your hand does may get too much to ensure...

Yes, thanks Ivo, the alternative would be to angle the blade at 45degree and then go as far as you get hone.
I'm not yet decided what I prefer - I remember a post of Alan saying that the diagonal...

I've thought about this from day 1 but until not I never got around to sketch it and make a post. It concerns the preference for particular hone dimensions.

The presumptions:
(1) Blade length is...