Honing DE Blades

I'm not 100% sure about this 'technique'. I read about it on DFS. 

Take a ceramic/porcelain/glass coffee cup and take a used blade, mine is an Astra SP blade, and place the blade, end down, so the slot is pointed down along the interior wall of the cup . The blade will bend and follow the contour of the interior of the cup. Using your index finger rub it a few times in both directions. Then, flip the blade over and repeat. 

Now, this is very subjective, but it 'seemed' sharper after doing this to a blade that had 4 shaves on it? Frankly, this could all be my imagination. And, to further complicate matters I normally toss the blade after 5 uses, I'll have to extend my normal usage to truly get some sort of empirical data. 

If I 'think' it works I'll extend my blade usage for this experiment. I don't really want to extend the life if the blade, I'm perfectly happy to get 5 and done.

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R_B

Rock and roll!  I’ve no idea how to know what is going on here but as a lover of sharp things.  My kitchen knives, pocket knives, lathe tools, chisels, are all wicked sharp and putting an edge on steel is so much fun.  Anyway, I’m guessing you do in fact have a better edge but likely not because of sharpening but of setting that blade edge back upright much like a proper steeling of a knife does.  I sure don’t know though.

My guess is the same as Lipripper660 above. They made them many years ago and called them hones. Here's an example of what you're replicating with a glass.

I could see this being useful for vintage blades that you want to continue shaving with.

Yes, I realize I'm not creating a 'new' edge, but 'Straightening' the existing edge, like using a sharpening steel is an appropriate analogy. I've also tried stropping on my skin. That didn't seem to work that well.

I wonder if this would improve the performance of the blade if I did it before the first use?

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R_B

dave in KY ...do they still make the 'Hone'?

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R_B

dave in KY ...do they still make the 'Hone'?

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R_B

To tag people with breaks in their name you need to have their name in quotes after the @ symbol like this "Dave in KY"

No they are vintage hones that are sometimes on ebay or etsy etc.

"Dave in KY" ...got it. Another Forum I visit uses "@" Dave in KY form to 'tag' folks.

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R_B

"Dave in KY" ...got it. Another Forum I visit uses "@" Dave in KY form to 'tag' folks.

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R_B

You still need the @ symbol but also use quotes for the name. This @ "Dave in KY" but without the space gets you Dave in KY

Mom is 86 years old and remembers when men sharpened their blades on glass.