The Pull Stroke Explained

[Bowmaker]

Getting rid of the bur after edge trailing strokes, at about 9:30 in a variation on the pull stroke....

 

[David]

I always finish with light short strokes but never like slash is talking about when it’s a direct left to right, east to west movement, just a short X stroke. I tried the Iwasksi stroke years ago but didn’t find that it did anything for me.

 

[stone and strop]

Can't imagine why it would be necessary unless you are doing edge trailing strokes as part of your honing sequence - which I don't.
Even short strokes. If I'm using very little pressure and I am going to strop prior to shaving - I don't see a need for it.
I have shaved several times with no stropping and my regular honing and have seen no change in the edge produced. If there is a micro burr there it has not shown itself.
I find with knife sharpening it can be an issue where the knife will shave hair in one direction better than the other suggesting a micro burr.
Hand stropping will fix it but with razor honing it is not detectable.

 

[buca3152]

Short strokes as well at the end for me. I have seen in the knife community some very high resolution images of the difference between doing edge leading to trailing in the finishing. And it appears that edge trailing delivers a better formed edge. How much better? Hard to say as the images were magnified a gazillion times. Vigorous clean linen after a honing is a give in if you ask me. That takes care of any remnants if they remain. Obviously a pasted strop does the same thing.

 

[cugel]

I do this generally all the time when I finish on a JNAT. Just plain water on a clean blade; no slurry. I aim for as small as possible very very very gentle back and forth like 0.5 cm. As small a movement as possible; takes about 30 seconds. It's not required by any means, but I have had good luck doing it.

 

[kelbro]

Really need to see Slash make a video because what some of you are describing does not sound like what I think he's describing as a pull stroke.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Okay I got 20 more Gold Dollars in yesterday. I will make a vid next week and maybe a Method honing, start to finish, too. The old ones on my YT are a little outdated.

 

[eKretz]

Really need to see Slash make a video because what some of you are describing does not sound like what I think he's describing as a pull stroke.

That's because we're not. What I was saying at least is that as long as it's a short stroke on alternating sides, it doesn't much matter the direction. The pull stroke (parallel with the spine of the razor) might make it a little easier to be sure you hit along the whole edge.

 

[GDJ]

To be honest, I do this on every stone. I never knew it was a pullstroke, I was just trying to rid the edge of any unwanted burrs . I simply was trying to make the edge even finer. I thought I made this stroke up!*LOL
It makes perfect sense to me to do this.

 

[stringer bean]

Alternating short perpendicular or lateral strokes is also a very common strategy to deburr knives.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Alternating short perpendicular or lateral strokes is also a very common strategy to deburr knives.

Logical

 

[Steve56]

Alternating short perpendicular or lateral strokes is also a very common strategy to deburr knives.

Do a few circles or ellipses. Both have ‘backwards’ strokes.

 

[stone and strop]

Alternating short perpendicular or lateral strokes is also a very common strategy to deburr knives.

It is more prevalent in knife honing because we are not refining to the same extent as razor honing or even close.
I can't imagine anyone would feel a difference between a razor honed with a lateral stroke at the end or normal honing.
Seems kind of ridiculous to me.
To each his own

 

[Slash McCoy]

So for the last several weeks now, I have finished each stage with very short x stroke laps. Distance, about 3" with sideways travel about half the edge length. Just imagine your hone is only 4" long and you dont want to run off the ends. When great care is used to not slap the edge down, this really does help to ensure a great edge. I'm still doing pull strokes, but fewer, about 3 or 4 on each side, just before the short x strokes. If you have ever created an edge that should have been perfect but just wasn't, then you should try the pull strokes AND the short x strokes, at the end.

 

[bluesman 7]

I use a rolling x thru out since I'm normally honing smilers, but I do finish my 12k work with a half dozen strokes of what you describe off of the end of the hone, actually using the 2- 3/4" dimension to limit my edge leading motion.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Depending on how refined your edge, be aware that abrasion parallel to the run of the edge has the potential to create a wear pattern behind the edge that could become a false edge after use. (In simple terms, you don't want any part of the razor that is still very (within a few dozen microns from the edge) to be thinner than the area in front of it.) While not likely, with motion in this direction, a small piece of oversized grit has the potential to do this. In contrast with traditional strokes, that same piece of oversized grit just makes a microchip.

See my artists rendition below.

Black is your honing surface, red is the piece of oversized grit (blown up for visibility), Blue is the profile of the razor.

Bottom is the potential grit placement. Top left is what that does with standard honing. Top right is what it would do with honing parallel to the run of the edge

 

[bluesman 7]

That makes sense Slice, but I've never seen evidence of it happening to me. Maybe because I restrict its use to a have dozen laps and only on the 12k

 

[rbscebu]

Very interesting Slice. There is room for one thought on this matter. Remember that steel grain sizes in straight razors are generally in the order of 4um to 6um. Some of the more modern blade alloys with the correct tempering and annealing can get down to a grain size of about 3um.

When finishing a straight razor edge, we are generally dealing molecularly, not granularly. We are rearranging the molecules in the grains to change the shape of the grain to achieve a finer edge.

 

[Xopenex]

Huh! I use a felt block in between progressions. I guess not the same outcome or....?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[Zen435]

I am a serious proponent of adding "Pull Strokes" to a honing progression and especially to the finish stage. I am often asked what that means, and sometimes it is obvious that someone doesn't catch the meaning at all. So let me explain here.

In normal honing or stropping, the razor is stroked along the hone or strop from one end to the other, flipped onto the other side, and stroked back, then flipped again. That is one lap. The stroke can be edge leading, as in standard honing, or it can be spine leading, as in stropping. The razor is more or less perpendicular to the path of travel. The razor's posture might be modified a bit, with the heel leading or the toe leading a bit, but basically the razor goes from end to end.

When doing a pull stroke, the razor does not travel in the end to end direction. Instead, it travels crossways to that. The motion is parallel to the axis of the blade, and the motion isI only carried for a distance of about 3/4". Then the razor is flipped onto its other side, and repositioned on hone or strop, and pull-stroked on that side.

Take a razor and lay it on a hone as if you were going to hone it. Let's say you are right handed. You are holding the hone in your left hand, and the razor in your right. Let the razor point naturally across the hone. Now pull it to the right. You only want a movement of 3/4". If you continued, the razor would slide endwise off the right hand side of the hone.

It is tempting to use excessive pressure to make up for the short stroke distance, but don't. Just don't. The pull strokes are not meant to hone. They are meant to strip the edge clean of little bits of fin edge hanging on to the apex. Due to irregularities in the sorface of the balsa this might also add a bit of convexity to the apex. So, to peak the apex back up, a dozen or so regular laps are applied. Enough to recover full sharpness, but not enough to form a fin edge again. I usually apply a half dozen pull strokes per side at the finish, followed by a dozen regular laps. Sometimes I add a couple of pull strokes after every 10 regular laps.

The pull stroke will help you to up your game on stones, on film, or on balsa. Don't use it on a leather strop. It is also good for right after setting a bevel with the burr method. Bits of burr often remain fixed on the edge, and they must be removed.

If your eyes just glazed over while reading that description, then just remember this. A pull stroke is NOT a spine leading (edge trailing) stroke of the razor along the hone. It is a pull of the razor SIDEWAYS across the hone, and it is only about 3/4" of travel. I will add pics in a future post.

If you seem to be troubled by fin edge, if the razor will treetop but not shave your face after the first few strokes, then revisit the finisher, and add some pull strokes. If you find that the edge feels harsh when you shave, add some pull strokes. If you are trying to hone on some hyper-fine media and the bevel seems to stick to your skin when you shave, maybe cut your skin a bit too eagerly, add some pull strokes and skip the followup regular laps. It only adds about 20 seconds to your hone time per razor, and it will help kick up your edges a notch.

I am a serious proponent of adding "Pull Strokes" to a honing progression and especially to the finish stage. I am often asked what that means, and sometimes it is obvious that someone doesn't catch the meaning at all. So let me explain here.

In normal honing or stropping, the razor is stroked along the hone or strop from one end to the other, flipped onto the other side, and stroked back, then flipped again. That is one lap. The stroke can be edge leading, as in standard honing, or it can be spine leading, as in stropping. The razor is more or less perpendicular to the path of travel. The razor's posture might be modified a bit, with the heel leading or the toe leading a bit, but basically the razor goes from end to end.

When doing a pull stroke, the razor does not travel in the end to end direction. Instead, it travels crossways to that. The motion is parallel to the axis of the blade, and the motion isI only carried for a distance of about 3/4". Then the razor is flipped onto its other side, and repositioned on hone or strop, and pull-stroked on that side.

Take a razor and lay it on a hone as if you were going to hone it. Let's say you are right handed. You are holding the hone in your left hand, and the razor in your right. Let the razor point naturally across the hone. Now pull it to the right. You only want a movement of 3/4". If you continued, the razor would slide endwise off the right hand side of the hone.

It is tempting to use excessive pressure to make up for the short stroke distance, but don't. Just don't. The pull strokes are not meant to hone. They are meant to strip the edge clean of little bits of fin edge hanging on to the apex. Due to irregularities in the sorface of the balsa this might also add a bit of convexity to the apex. So, to peak the apex back up, a dozen or so regular laps are applied. Enough to recover full sharpness, but not enough to form a fin edge again. I usually apply a half dozen pull strokes per side at the finish, followed by a dozen regular laps. Sometimes I add a couple of pull strokes after every 10 regular laps.

The pull stroke will help you to up your game on stones, on film, or on balsa. Don't use it on a leather strop. It is also good for right after setting a bevel with the burr method. Bits of burr often remain fixed on the edge, and they must be removed.

If your eyes just glazed over while reading that description, then just remember this. A pull stroke is NOT a spine leading (edge trailing) stroke of the razor along the hone. It is a pull of the razor SIDEWAYS across the hone, and it is only about 3/4" of travel. I will add pics in a future post.

If you seem to be troubled by fin edge, if the razor will treetop but not shave your face after the first few strokes, then revisit the finisher, and add some pull strokes. If you find that the edge feels harsh when you shave, add some pull strokes. If you are trying to hone on some hyper-fine media and the bevel seems to stick to your skin when you shave, maybe cut your skin a bit too eagerly, add some pull strokes and skip the followup regular laps. It only adds about 20 seconds to your hone time per razor, and it will help kick up your edges a notch.

Pull stroke is not made to correct overhoning but to remove burrs and refine blade! It's not easy to do and understand! Can be done in different ways!