More Honing questions

[JnT]

NOOB here again. The more I read about straight razor shaving the more I realize that honing and stropping the blade is so important. This leads me to some questions that I have not been able to find answers to in the forums here. It's a possibility that I am just not using the correct keywords to search but either way I would be that a number of people have already asked these honing questions so please forgive me if you are feeling like a "broken record". Here are some questions I have been wondering about.

1) When you are using Japenese waterstones, how much water should be on top of the stone while honing the razor? Should the stone be just damp or should there be a "puddle" of water sitting on the stone as the blade is honed?

2) How much pressure should be used on the Japanese water stones? A very light pressure or enough that perhaps two hands should be used, one hand on the tail/handle and the other on the spine to provide constant firm contact on the blade with the stone?

3) Why must the blade be honed in the 1 side/next side, back and forth process? Why could one just not do like 100 passes (laps?) on one side of the blade, going in the same direction and then 100 passes on the other of the blade, going in the opposite direction? The reason I ask this is that it seems like an quicker, easier process than the one side/other side routine.

Thanks to all who reply!

 

[leighton]

3) Why must the blade be honed in the 1 side/next side, back and forth process? Why could one just not do like 100 passes (laps?) on one side of the blade, going in the same direction and then 100 passes on the other of the blade, going in the opposite direction? The reason I ask this is that it seems like an quicker, easier process than the one side/other side routine.

Thanks to all who reply!

To make sure the wear is the same on both sides and perfectly even. Also to retard formation of a burr/wire-edge.

 

[gugi]

1) i don't think the amount of water matters much. i use the naniwa super stones and just keep having water on the surface so that the razor can glide over it

2) you don't want pressure, one hand is certainly enough. you want the razor to be in contact with the hone, putting pressure will make it duller not sharper. a very slight pressure can speed things up when setting bevel, but that's it. watch the webcast from the srp NC meeting - you'll probably learn a lot.

3) alternating sides helps with avoiding burrs and folds. whether the two sides of the bevel will be the same is determined when setting the bevel and if your forward and backward stroke are different and you want the two sides to be the same you'll likely need more strokes on one side than on the other. i wouldn't worry about it at this stage.

 

[JnT]

Thanks for the info! It's funny how something that seems so simple can in fact be so very technical. I find that technical aspect of the straight razors so interesting.

Thanks again