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- #21
Perfect! If either works then I will do both just to get good at the different ways of honing. Sometimes I feel like hand holding the stone but other times I want to sit down and use two hands on the bench stone. Glad to listen to your experience, thank you!Either way can work, and either way can have pitfalls but also benefits. On the bench I usually revert to using two hands, my left index finger just lightly resting on the toe of the razor to steer. I can feel the feedback towards the toe better sometimes that way. Also sometimes if a razor is a little floppy that can help (I have a couple in ivory that I haven't been able to get as tight as I want). Most of my honing lately has been in hand though and as I've gotten comfortable with it I think I prefer it, even with larger stones (none of mine are huge).
Starting out I honed in hand because somebody told me I should. I had problems controlling the pressure at the toe and usually underhoned out there. When I started honing on an ark I switched to bench honing and I used two hands because I needed more control. And I realized I was solving my toe pressure problem too. So I started doing my early work that way too. Eventually I came back to honing in hand even on arks and I had more experience and could feel what I was doing better.
Sometimes the size and shape of the razor makes it hard to control too. I have a skinny tang, 4/8 frameback that’s easy to flip into the stone if you're not careful. Two hands helps there.