What is/are the most common mistake(s) made while honing?

Over the course of this year I have come a long way in efforts to learn to hone. I have acquired a variety of stones, mostly Coticules but also a couple hard arks and some slate. My edges have run the gamut from wonderfully sharp and smooth to "who do you think you're trying to fool" but I don't always know why I have the successes or failues I do.

I would like to ask the more seasoned hone masters and those in the know if they might shed some light on the common mistakes they have seen others (or themselves) make while honing or learning to hone. What one or two things do you think others do or don't do that seems to separate them from you?

I wonder... Are we not lapping our stones often or well enough? Are we spending too much or too little time at different stages? using too much/too little pressure or maybe using too many different kinds of strokes?

I would like to get better at my honing but don't know what mistakes I might be making ...any thoughts?

Not knowing when to stay or move on to the next grit correctly

Let's start with getting the bevel set. After that, you are just polishing out the stria from the previous stone.

Yes, keep the stones flat.

I move up when the stone tells me to move up. The sound and feel along with how the water or oil behaves on the edge are my indicators. I look at the edge under magnification and when I think that it's ready, I try a shave. Back to the stone if needed.

Pressure? I don't usually apply much pressure. Some blades may take some but for me, they are more the exception than the rule.

The rule is that there are no hard and fast rules. Let the shave tell you when you have arrived.

1-Not setting the bevel completely
2-Not maxing out your refinement stages before hitting your finisher
3-toe heavy honing
4-too much pressure in general
5-ALWAYS USING TAPE FOR EVERY BLADE NO MATTER WHAT

I don't have as much experience as many on here but when I've found myself in the same situation as the OP regarding having some edges that are great and some that aren't quite there I've generally discovered the culprit is as kcb5150 notes above...not setting the bevel completely.

I expect it to cut leg hair easily after the 1k and to be able to do it with the toe, belly and heel. If it doesn't I stay at 1k until it does. Everything after that is gravy.

If you're a synth guy staying on any given refinement grit too long is another bad one

I would say using too much pressure in general. This was my biggest issue when I first started.

My second mistake was using too little pressure ; so much so that I was not in control of keeping the edge and spine on the hone.

It took me a few honing sessions to find the 'sweet spot' when finishing. Using baby oil on the finisher seems to help me for whatever reason. Maybe it minimizes any ill effects of extra pressure.

Buying more/different hones before you have mastered the old ones.

Pick a honing "system", and get so you get consistently good results with it. Know that you have little room for improvement before you experiment with a different type.

Then stick with that one until you know it completely, and so on.

Rather than list common mistakes I will attempt to offer a no-nonsense conceptual frame. I've posted this before so bear with me: On one side you have your lapping plates to keep your hones flat, whatever they may be and on the other end you have clean untreated linen and leather strops. Its everything that goes on between keeping your hones flat and using clean strops that we all kind of have to figure out at the honing table. Of course we take advice and post on forums and such. Of course we wind up with hone we dont care for that much. And if you want use pasted strops then by ball means try it. But just leave one set of linen and leather untreated. But at least thinking of your lapping plates and your clean strops as a solid frame posts within which all your trials and errors take place. I know many will not get the point I'm attempting to make though.

Too much pressure
Uneven pressure, failing to get the toe and heel as properly developed as the center
Not having and using good bevel set tests

Using tape regardless of or without knowing the bevel angle is frequently talked about though it has never been a habit of mine. Mistaking a false edge/burr for an unset bevel is also something I have seen quite a bit.

Cheers, Steve

Also while this isn't a mistake not knowing what a known good edge feels like to begin with can leave you at a loss as to what you're aiming for in the end. The reason I haven't mentioned mistakes is because other members have detailed many of them quite well. But a mistake I was kind of guilty of was trying to resolve my shortcomings by being too dependent on forum advice. And while this advice was critical to my fledgling skills it had to be counterbalanced with time spent honing and giving myself some periodic distance from external influences. All of these factors need to be metered out I guess.

Legion said:

Buying more/different hones before you have mastered the old ones.

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I am totally that guy. It's past time for me to pick one and ignore the others until I get my edges dialed in on it.

Not knowing the bevel is set is culprit number one. Inconsistent stroke including liftin the spine is number 2 imo. Get 10 gds for under 50 bucks and pummel them. Thats a great boot camp for.new.guys imo.

You want to get something sharp? You rub it on a rock until it's there. Want it sharper? Rub it on a finer rock. You want to actually know what you're doing and produce really good edges on everything you sharpen? Stop looking for counts, signs, or measurements. I can pick up a violin, and have someone show me how to move the bow and where to place my fingers and probably play something simple through rote copy. I can't pick up a violin and have someone show me how to move the bow and where to place my fingers and suddenly be able to play every piece of 18th century violin music written. Nor can anyone explain the music to me sufficiently I could. You get better at honing by doing it until you can feel and understand what is happening. The efficiency of a skilled honer can't be taught, it is a practiced and developed skill.

Great post, Ian.

I kind of disagree. What Ian says is absolutely true, the first time, but after you've honed 50 millon razors, a pattern appears. One caveat, I'm a synth to jnat user, YMMV.

After bevel set, I generally do 2x20 circles and ellipses + 40 alternating x-stokes, flipping the blade every stroke on the last 40 to eliminate fins/whatever. Synths or naturals. I arrived at this by feeling and looking at the bevel under magnification as it progresses with the stones.

I do this because this is what I found works 97+% of the time. But it is because I tested the methods that Ian and all of us do in our honing, and this works nearly all the time. I do of course note stiction and slurry, but 97+% of the time it's good at 2x20+40.

What this means is that you need to observe the bevel scratch pattern as it progresses, and after enough observations you'll know generally, about how many strokes it takes for you to erase the last stone's scratches from toe to heel.

The other 3% of the time usually involves bad grinding, which is another topic.

Cheers, Steve

One piece of practical advice that may be helpful and it still applies to me is that you may more or less have the basics of honing down and still run into problems from time to time and not know what is different. Just realize that things can be different and don't second guess whether you know how to hone or not.

I have a group of daily shaving razors. They are all sharp and I have honed them all from scratch. Every now and then I run into a problem child and while I've gotten them to shave they aren't at the same level (yet) as my daily shavers. They may have had pitting issues, geometry issues and I just haven't completely gotten them dialed in yet.

When you are new and you run into one of these "problem children" you may not realize it. You may just think that honing is too difficult or that you don't know what you are doing. If you have several razors just move on to another one and hone it well and come back to the difficult ones when you have time to figure them out.

The comments and advice everyone has made are exactly what I was looking for. Some of the recommendations or thoughts may seem so obvious or "beginner" but unless they are said I wouldn't be able to pull it all together. I agree honing is very much like violin, there are technical things a teacher can/must teach but the song is the result of all the little things the artist does with those technical. Still, those technical elements matter.

Using too much pressure on hollow grounds.

Steve56 said:

Not having and using good bevel set tests

Mistaking a false edge/burr for an unset bevel is also something I have seen quite a bit.

Cheers, Steve

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These two statements caught my attention.
Care to elaborate on some bevel set tests and false edge/burr identifiers?
Thanks