Thread: Norton 4000/8000..What if it cost more?

Okay, Lynn, point taken.
And accepted.

Bart.

At twice the cost? Yes it would still be the benchmark stone for honing. Norton stones are for many many applications not just Razor honing, it is a old company that has established a longstanding place for itself in almost every area of honing and grinding. It is just coincidence that they make a single stone that is so suited to our purpose, I'm sure we are just a small blip on their sales radar. Way down under the heading of retail sales, woodworking.

A large measure of credit for the Norton being the benchmark that it is also has to go to Lynn and by association Classic Shaving. The two of which are in a huge way responsible for lighting the fire of Straight razor shaving across the whole United States. If they had taught us to hone using a pie plate and cheese we would all be debating the merits of that right now.

I'm not a big fan of tossing money into stones but I'm still very impressed with how smooth the 8K Norton is. I would think at twice the price it would still be a bargain.

I'm more than a little disturbed about the whole milking the cat thing though.

I have not got my Shapton Ceramic yet but I will say as of now you would have to pry my Norton and my Escher out of my cold dead hands. I like to play and have plenty other hones but when it is time to get serious and Hone the Norton and Escher always come out.

Originally Posted by Bart

I had the distinct feeling that you disagree with Forzato being banned for his review on the Norton, and that you wanted to conduct your own little silent protest by provoking things just a tiny little bit further. Forgive me if I'm wrong. I'm famous for being wrong. And for defusing situations that didn't need defusing in the first place.

Bart, wrong again! Not the case.

Originally Posted by Lynn

What if all the stones out there jumped up to $1,000 each, which stone would you go to then.? I'd hone on a brick with milk! What if a Coticule went up to $1,000 and the Norton went down to a nickel? What would you go to then? What if the Norton went up to $1,000 and the Shapton Glass Stones cost went to 5 cents each? What would you go to then? What if.....................................

Good points, Lynn. I'm afraid sometimes I may be prone to dabbling in the "what if" game. I see your point here and it's taken. I'm still on my own personal quest for deciding on what stones I like the best and I do enjoy talking about the wide variety of stones. Sharpening in general is very interesting to me.

Personally, I find the Shapton Glass 4K and 8K are very similar stones to the Norton and are as consistent as the Norton. I would have no problem using them daily, but I hone so many razors every day that it's just easier for me to use the Norton Combo and keep flipping it vs. changing stones all the time.
Lynn

Your thoughts on Norton vs. Shapton means tons to me Lynn, more so that coming from anyone else and I'm sure others agree. I may ask you about your professional opinion on other stones in the future, but by PM since that would be more appropriate.

Thanks guys.

Chris L

I really don't mean to poo poo any discussion. I am totally in favor of trying every stone out there and probably have. I have also experimented with virtually every method out there. As I said in another thread, I don't even decide if I like something without trying it on a hundred razors first, but all of this still doesn't mean that we will all end up using the same method or the same media. We tend to migrate to what is successful for us. What is important is that we all learn the best we can and teach more people who can hone their own razors. Personally, I have found the Norton and the Pyramid to be the easiest and most consistent for teaching new people. That doesn't make all the other methods or stones out there of less value, whether they can be taught to pre-schoolers or not. The Norton is not a sacred cow, but when you go back 10 years ago there wasn't much available that anyone knew about and it was incredibly hard to find someone who would teach you anything about straight razors. I'd say we've come a long way and encourage all of you to keep learning and sharing.

Thanks,

Lynn

Well, over this side of the world, and based on the current USD/AUD exchange rate and when I bought my Norton combo stone, you could say my Norton *did* cost almost double what it does in the US. Never regretted it for a minute, best money I ever spent.

(And at the time I got mine, there was very little available over here. The importers now have Shapton glass stones - the 16k goes for approx. AUD160 + postage, but to me it's a niche stone.)

"Brand new Norton?- $120. Bottled Evian? - $5. The ability to be totally self-reliant and sharpen my own razors? - Priceless!"

James.

I like my norton, but it was also a price decision.
With the 4/8 you get a lot of versatility and quality for a reasonable amount of money.
My coticules fall in the same category. Granted, the 8x3" was not cheap, but still afforable as far as large natural finishing stones go.

The escher might be even better, but I am not going to buy one to find out.
Over here I can buy Jap ceramic stones up to 10K for a reasonable price, and if Norton would double in price, I'd give them a try.

For me it is a matter of good results for a good price, not about the best result at any price.

Price matters, but only to a point. You could purchase
a Spyderco Fine and UF for less than the price of a 4/
8k, and forget about soaking and lapping while you're
at it. However, there are not that many folks out there
who have had the necessary time to evaluate them
and come up with equivalent methodologies such as
the Pyramid. This is still relatively undiscovered country.

I'm going to be experimenting with a DMTEE/Coticule/Escher
combination sometime in the next several weeks, which is
decidedly not a budget approach to honing (but perhaps
still less than the Shapton suite + DGLP)

- Scott

For me the price points are not something I think about too awfully much. With a bit of savings, we can all purchase which or whatever hone.

Some of this is simply personal preference; like natural vs. artificial stones...or fast cutters vs. slow. "Comfortable" edges that are produced vs. those that need some smoothing.

It is hard not to be impatient....so many possibilities. But it is fun!