Stroning? Or, Hoping?

[weston]

Still trying to get my head into this whole hone/strop thing. Right now, my mental model is:

• Hone: what I have always called sharpening. Typically with a stone, starting however rough you'd like (hundreds to 1,000 grit), then work your way up. The difference, from what I can tell, is that the finishing stones go into the teens, perhaps even finer than that, whereas I stop between 5-8k for my knives (funny, but everyone remarks how 'razor sharp' they are)
• Strop: a blade massage. Smooth those bumps, bruises, warps, kinks, and other metaphorical steel knots out of the blade. So nice and ready now, time to shave!

So, when I take my blade to the bench and run it across 3micron paste, then 1, then 0.5, before bare linen and leather, what's that? I've always call it stroping, but with the higher grit pastes, I'm taking something off the blade, right?

In addition to a problem in wordplay (far from serious), I do have concerns about the blade; specifically, what level of paste does what, vs a proper hone (again, I go back to my mental model above - though, I am not honing my own razors, and having a "pro" do it). I want these things to last, have a horrible tendency to obsess (as just about every B&B forum member ), and would like to find balance when it comes to the blade.

Thanks, guys -

Weston

 

[mrlandpirate]

to my way of thinking
edge leading ...honing
edge trailing...stroping

 

[weston]

Yeah, I played with that, but it ends (for me) at a question: why hone edge leading, strop edge trailing? Not trying to be a pain - just comprehend.

I suppose edge leading actually sets the edge (angle)? And edge trailing cleans up the edge you have? Dunno.

 

[mrlandpirate]

Yeah, I played with that, but it ends (for me) at a question: why hone edge leading, strop edge trailing? Not trying to be a pain - just comprehend.

I suppose edge leading actually sets the edge (angle)? And edge trailing cleans up the edge you have? Dunno.

I hone to get it to my desired sharpness
I strop [balsa & leather ] to keep it there indefinitely

 

[Jnatcat]

For me if you use spine leading on honing you are not effectively concentrating on the edge and you won’t see and can’t tell when the edges meet and also can’t see the wave of water riding up the bevel as far as stropping. You are just polishing the micro edge to revove that last possible bit of a wired edge

As far as the rest of stropping goes you cannot have edge leading as you would never be able to strop as your cutting into it

 

[bluesman 7]

I don't consider spine leading strokes on a hone to be stropping, but I would not argue with someone calling them stropping strokes. If the medium mandates spine leading, then I would call it stropping.

 

[Proinsias]

Henk's ginding & honing may be of interest:
https://bosq.home.xs4all.nl/info 20m/grinding_and_honing_part_1.pdf

Komitadjie's Grand Unified Grit Chart gives a rough idea of grading relations:
GRITCHART

I do have concerns about the blade; specifically, what level of paste does what, vs a proper hone

When playing with pastes and powders it's nice to have a hone to reset things.

If you are taking your knives to 8K on stones then stropping through pastes up to 30K followed by linen & leather.....just do that with a razor.

 

[weston]

Proinsias - thanks! Perfect!