Thread: Why the difference....identical honing, different feel between razors

Originally Posted by woodscavenger

Great responses all! thanks.

I see I need to up my stone budget. I did pick up a King 1k/6K today. Add it to the growing list of tools.

Back to the beginning with resetting the bevels. The idea that I may never have uncovered clean steel at the edge makes sense. Would it be heretical to stand the blade perpendicular to a stone and run the edge along the stone to get down to clean, consistent metal?

I will work on the heel on the Wingen. It was amazing that it took me a while to find a diagram showing the “stabilizer”. Most diagrams leave that out.

maybe when the Plague ends we can have another skills Meet Up for the WA ID MT guys we used to do them every year in Spokane

It would take me 10 minutes to teach you how to correct stuff like that in person

Glen has a vid somewhere of high angle honing. This is what i use to correct an edge that needs a lot. I wouldn't just grind it flat as then you have more work fixing the flat. After that correct the heal. Then set bevel completely. Use tape to protect the spine durring the work. Bevel set on 1k and your on your way

“Would it be heretical to stand the blade perpendicular to a stone and run the edge along the stone to get down to clean, consistent metal?”

Not at all, it is called bread knifing as some use a sawing stroke similar to slicing bread.

It is a common practice when sharpening tool and knives to remove chips or to straighten an edge. If you do bread knifing use the edge/ corner or one inch near the end of the stone that you almost never use.

Notice that when you start a stroke, most folks are about 1 inch from the end of the stone, the only thing that touches near the end is the spine. Actually, if you look at honing videos, most guys only hone with 4 inches of a 8 inch stone.

High angle honing is using a edge trailing stroke with the blade close to 90 degrees to the stone face, dragging the razor across the length.

Another myth is honing will remove less material than bread knifing or high angle honing. In reality, all 3 methods remove exactly the same amount of material. If you are removing a chip, you must remove all the steel on the edge equal to the bottom of the chip, no matter which technique you use.

If you just want to straighten or remove a bur, you can Joint the edge. Simply drag the edge held at 90 degrees to the stone face, across the stone, using just the weight of the blade. It will remove a minimum amount of steel and leave the edge perfectly straight. Then bring the bevels to meet the already straight edge. The edge is very thin so you do not need pressure.

The 1-6 K combination is a good one. The King 1k is an aggressive 1K, as is the 6k, but with lite pressure the 6k leaves a uniform semi polished edge, not good enough to shave on, but great to jump to a finish stone.

Now, if you can find an old King 6k on a wooden stand, and with brown dot in the stone, those are great stones. I have 2 and they can leave a near mirror finish. I will make a post on that stone as it is very unique. I believe that these stones were make with a combination of synthetic and ground natural stones. If you find one, they are great stones. That stone you can shave off of.