Honing? Stone in hand or on a bench?

[Dave Sl8r]

I see this comes up every now and then. Which do you prefer? Stone in hand or on a bench?
I can go both way, in my youth, and out camping. I always honed in hand, but 40+ years later I prefer my shop, and working off a bench.

 

[buca3152]

I hone razors on the bench. And knives stone in my hand. There's no rhyme or reason imo.

 

[SliceOfLife]

Bench almost 100% of the time. I can hone in hand and if I'm too lazy to clear a spot or stabilize a small stone such as a barber's hone, I'll do it from time to time, but I much prefer to work on a bench.

 

[alex1921]

Mostly in hand unless I am using a big rock or the razor needs some gymnastics.

 

[bluesman 7]

I can do either, but normally hone with the stone on a bench.

I hadn't thought about it much before, but honing in hand requires one to set something down to add a spritz of water. On the bench I can add water with the hand that's not doing anything. Not a big deal, but...

 

[scag315]

I like both depending on the size of the stone and shape of the razor. I personally find it easier to hone big smiles using thin hand stones rather than using rolling x strokes on a bench stone because I can target specific points along the length of the edge easier. Again just my personal preference. I can easily use rolling x strokes as well. A heavy sheffield can be temperamental no matter what stone you use in my experience.

Hollow grounds always prefer bench stones.

 

[Aldwyn]

Bench for me! I feel like I have more control over what I am doing, and allows two hands if I need to work on a blade with troublesome geometry.

 

[Gamma]

Either way, depends on the stone and my mood and what I'm trying to achieve. No rules here, anyone insinuating otherwise has a Pied Piper complex.... whatever's clever, YMMV, horses for courses, and so on and so forth.

 

[duke762]

Depends on what hurts today. Back and knee pain, then I hone in hand. Feeling no pain, hone at the bench.

 

[Christian1212]

I get the best results hand honing for my coticule and bench honing on my jnats

 

[Alum of Potash]

I hone razors on the bench. And knives stone in my hand. There's no rhyme or reason imo.

I run in the opposite direction. I hone razors in the hand and kitchen knives on the bench. The reason for this, as far as I can tell, is that with straight razors there is a static spine-edge relationship, or built-in honing guide, whereas in honing freehand with kitchen knives there is not. So the razors can benefit from a little variance as introduced from underneath, via the outstretched palm, whereas the knives can benefit from a static honing surface, to which variance can be introduced from above, via the angle as introduced.

 

[Legion]

Setting the bevel, and when I need to apply a bit more pressure, bench. Finishing, when I want as light as possible, hone in hand.

 

[coda66]

+1
I start with bench, finish in hand(on palm).

 

[Jim99]

I hone my razors start to finish on the bench.

 

[1Speedster]

D. Bench and in-hand. I started off exclusively with bench honing, but now I’m able to hone in-hand with koppa. Since I learned on the bench, that’s the way in which I’m most comfortable honing.

 

[stone and strop]

It matters not which way you want to hone.
Relation of elbow to stone is more important IMO. Too high, more toe pressure inadvertently/too low, more heel pressure.

 

[ajduplessis]

bench

 

[lloydw]

I use both depending on teh stone and stage of the progression. Typically, the synthetics in th elower grits are on the bench, coticules on the bench and by hand, jant progression starts on the bench but jnat polishing in the hand. Especially with the current situation, I hone more than the razors need it, changing stones and testing finishes on different razors.

I do like the bench honing when I visit a few razors at a time, i can watch a show at the same time. In my hand, I like the feel of the connection but need more focus.

try it all

 

[Toro Blanco]

Start on bench but always finish on hand. I tried many many times and for me it was hand finish that gave me the best edges.

 

[frozenoak]

This is a surprising read. I don't think I've ever considered using a stone in hand. Granted, I've never honed a razor, but I have made many knifes. After heat treating my progression usually starts with a file (like a stone in hand I guess) then to a 320, 600, 1200 DMT and 3000, 6000 stones on the bench.

I guess I do have a tiny hard arkansas stone that I carry in my backpack for emergency repairs in the field. It does get used in hand but I would not expect good results from it.

I may have to give this a try.