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Share your honing set up

I thought it would be nice for people to share their honing setups. There might be a few tips and tricks that are useful to others.

Mine started out as just a rock on a tea towel. Over time I picked up a few simple items that have made life easier.

I found a small syringe that works really well for dripping extra water onto a stone. I got a couple of little rubber blocks at the hardware store that work well to lift up thinner hones up enough to work on comfortably. Recently I picked up a silicon honing mat (marketed as a drying rack). This has been a really nice upgrade from the tea towel. It contains all the drips and keeps the honing table ( dinning table) nice and dry. It also gives you a nice soft place to set things down that are up out of the water. Plus it’s non slip and rolls up to nothing. A very welcome addition.

I’m sure there are more elaborate set ups out there. I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s anything else that might be worth incorporating into mine.

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Legion

Staff member
I thought it would be nice for people to share their honing setups. There might be a few tips and tricks that are useful to others.

Mine started out as just a rock on a tea towel. Over time I picked up a few simple items that have made life easier.

I found a small syringe that works really well for dripping extra water onto a stone. I got a couple of little rubber blocks at the hardware store that work well to lift up thinner hones up enough to work on comfortably. Recently I picked up a silicon honing mat (marketed as a drying rack). This has been a really nice upgrade from the tea towel. It contains all the drips and keeps the honing table ( dinning table) nice and dry. It also gives you a nice soft place to set things down that are up out of the water. Plus it’s non slip and rolls up to nothing. A very welcome addition.

I’m sure there are more elaborate set ups out there. I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s anything else that might be worth incorporating into mine.

View attachment 1346226


View attachment 1346227
I like that mat. That's a great idea.
 
I guess I like to keep it to the essentials.
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1. Full sheet pan
2. Kasfly sink bridge
3. Optivisor with boost lens
4. Stone flattener
5. Spray bottle of water
6. Task light
7. Razors waiting in the wings, protected from water spray by freebie towel from favorite knife maker
8. Pug butt
 
I should have mentioned the loupes. These are very handy too. Somewhat pedestrian when compared to @Herrenberg ’s Optivisor though. That is a cool piece of kit!

I get a lot more use out of the 10x Zeiss than the 20x Belomo. The field of view on the 20x is very small. The 10x is a lot easier to focus and use.

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Legion

Staff member
I should have mentioned the loupes. These are very handy too. Somewhat pedestrian when compared to @Herrenberg ’s Optivisor though. That is a cool piece of kit!

I get a lot more use out of the 10x Zeiss than the 20x Belomo. The field of view on the 20x is very small. The 10x is a lot easier to focus and use.

View attachment 1346295
I have a few of these 60x loupes scattered around the place. They cost peanuts, and are perfect for edge inspection.

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I hone at the sink in the kitchen or at my bench. The scope is behind me when I am at my bench.
Loupes are everywhere... kitchen, bathroom, bench, desk, work, everywhere.
I hone, usually, in the kitchen, on a rubber dai, on a Silpat.
At my bench I have an Omnigrid mat, and a different rubber Dai.
Past that, it gets complicated... depends on what I am doing and what I am using.
 
I normally do my work at the kitchen sink. No dedicated area per say. Just the stones and a loupe here, no special pads or anything fancy.
 
most of the time I hone holding the acrylic slab in my hands, near the kitchen sink.

When a bench is needed (bevel setting), I place the glass cover of the stove, which is next to the sink, and use it as the base.

Other than that, just my Bellomo 10X loupe and one of my strops hanged on my bedroom’s doorknob
Nothing fancy, really.
 
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I thought it would be nice for people to share their honing setups. There might be a few tips and tricks that are useful to others.

Mine started out as just a rock on a tea towel. Over time I picked up a few simple items that have made life easier.

I found a small syringe that works really well for dripping extra water onto a stone. I got a couple of little rubber blocks at the hardware store that work well to lift up thinner hones up enough to work on comfortably. Recently I picked up a silicon honing mat (marketed as a drying rack). This has been a really nice upgrade from the tea towel. It contains all the drips and keeps the honing table ( dinning table) nice and dry. It also gives you a nice soft place to set things down that are up out of the water. Plus it’s non slip and rolls up to nothing. A very welcome addition.

I’m sure there are more elaborate set ups out there. I’m looking forward to seeing if there’s anything else that might be worth incorporating into mine.

View attachment 1346226


View attachment 1346227

Very nice arkie.
 
Your Silicone drying mat thing looks pretty good @Tomo , I might look into that!

This is the kind of thing I might do, though I wouldn't use all of it each time. I only really use the Naniwa holder for thin stones, so mostly just the black rubber mat stuff or damp kitchen towel - I go through a lot of kitchen towel. Also use the double-sided atoma at the top a huge amount.

Either on the outside table:

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Or at the end of the kitchen on the counter next to my stone table/cabinet thing:

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Anybody else do this...? The little ceramic jug on the left of the first pic is my 'slurry solera'. Any time I'm lapping a nice, fine-ish stone; jnats, coticules, slates, Tams &c. I wash the mud out into my jug. Take away from it to use on stones, and add back to it when I flatten stuff, so it's a continually replenished and evolving mix of ready-to-go working slurry:

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Legion

Staff member
Your Silicone drying mat thing looks pretty good @Tomo , I might look into that!

This is the kind of thing I might do, though I wouldn't use all of it each time. I only really use the Naniwa holder for thin stones, so mostly just the black rubber mat stuff or damp kitchen towel - I go through a lot of kitchen towel. Also use the double-sided atoma at the top a huge amount.

Either on the outside table:

View attachment 1346518

Or at the end of the kitchen on the counter next to my stone table/cabinet thing:

View attachment 1346517

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Anybody else do this...? The little ceramic jug on the left of the first pic is my 'slurry solera'. Any time I'm lapping a nice, fine-ish stone; jnats, coticules, slates, Tams &c. I wash the mud out into my jug. Take away from it to use on stones, and add back to it when I flatten stuff, so it's a continually replenished and evolving mix of ready-to-go working slurry:

View attachment 1346519View attachment 1346520
Usually when I am beating down a dished hone, enough to make an appreciable amount of “mud”, I am using WD paper. I kind of want to save it, but don’t because I am worried about contaminants from the paper being in it.
 
I guess I like to keep it to the essentials.
View attachment 1346238
1. Full sheet pan
2. Kasfly sink bridge
3. Optivisor with boost lens
4. Stone flattener
5. Spray bottle of water
6. Task light
7. Razors waiting in the wings, protected from water spray by freebie towel from favorite knife maker
8. Pug butt
Do you have any information on the stone flattener?
 
Anybody else do this...? The little ceramic jug on the left of the first pic is my 'slurry solera'. Any time I'm lapping a nice, fine-ish stone; jnats, coticules, slates, Tams &c. I wash the mud out into my jug. Take away from it to use on stones, and add back to it when I flatten stuff, so it's a continually replenished and evolving mix of ready-to-go working slurry:

I sort of do it. I save the mud and dry it out and then use it as a polishing powder. I have a little jar of Naniwa powder, and just started a little jar of King powder. I have put it back on stones on occasion, but IME it has less cut left in it than fresh mud.
 
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