Norton 4k 8k Help?

Hi I'm wondering how I know when my razor is ready to move from the 4k to the 8k. I can shave the hair off my arm dry fairly easily and then I spend some time on the 8k. I still can't get it to pass the hht, but almost. Then I go strop about 30 to 40 times. Lather up and try shaving and it still pulls and isn't that comfortable. I'm asking because I have seen people and have been told that you should be shave ready with a 4k and 8k combo stone and I've seen people use it that seem like their razor is sharper than hell and cuts right through. I believe my facial hair is pretty course but still don't believe that should be a factor. I'm craving a good shave and am very anxious. Can anybody help me out please?

i would do a 4k/8k pyramid and then strop the thing for atleast 100 laps. i am no expert though. when i am honing i use the HHT to be able to tell if i am done on the 4k. but many don't like it, i am used to my hair, i have tried it with my girlfriends hair and it doesn't react the same.

First, don't waste your time with the HHT, it is a parlor trick and of no value in judging the sharpness of the razor. How long you need to spend on each side of the Norton will depend on the razor you are honing. Assuming you are using the correct technique, keep at it and it will eventually be sharp enough. None of this is rocket science, but it does take patience.

I'll suggest, since your new, a sort of no-brainer approach. This is the system I use to determine when to "move" on to the 8K.

I move to the 8K and do about 10 passes, then I strop the razor about 20 passes, then I test shave.

If the shave isn't good, then I repeat after I do some work on 4K.

If the shave is really good then I'll start adding 8K passes and then adding more stropping passes as the razor passes from sharp to wicked sharp.

Once it transitions to wicked sharp using only 8K and a strop then I know that the 4K is done with its mission.

easy one will be buy microscope from radio shack for 10 and see at least 30x.in this case you will see what are you doing.hope this helps

I am a new person to honing razors for the most part. I started off ill advised with a Spyderco and oilstone and was terrible. I then bought the Norton 4K/8K. Now, I recently purchsed the Chinese 12K from woodcraft and a Norton 220/1K for bevel setting. I can tell you that if you set a good bevelwith a low grit, the 4k.8K works better. Now the chiese 12K was $43 with shipping and it is the best bang for your buck if you want something to polish before going to the strop. It certainly helped with my German razors. I found that the English blades do fine with just the Norton, but are improved with the 12k. As for the HHT, I have sold a razor that wouldn't pass the HHT with me, but worked for the owner.
I hope this helps, but if it doesn't there are a lot of honers in the Members Sevices Area with years of experience and they can offer better advice that me.
Good Luck

I'm brand new at this, but I have managed to get two razors up to shaving sharpness. I just honed, honed, and honed some more on a 8k DMT till they passed the HHT the length of the blade. Then I went to town with the pasted strops to calm things down, then stropped the hell out of them. It took like maybe 4-6+ hours each.

One thing messing me up on the first razor was using too much pressure. Once I lightened up some I got an edge. If you honed alot of knives you may have some bad habits to unlearn, I certainly do...

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Originally Posted by Pete_S

I'm brand new at this, but I have managed to get two razors up to shaving sharpness. I just honed, honed, and honed some more on a 8k DMT till they passed the HHT the length of the blade. Then I went to town with the pasted strops to calm things down, then stropped the hell out of them. It took like maybe 4-6+ hours each.

One thing messing me up on the first razor was using too much pressure. Once I lightened up some I got an edge. If you honed alot of knives you may have some bad habits to unlearn, I certainly do...

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I guess if that works for you and you're okay with it, then that's fine; but I gotta say I don't want to spend six or more hours honing a single razor. Once the bevel is set, which should be done with something more in the range of 1k, it shouldn't take more than another 10 to 20 minutes at most to finish it off.

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Originally Posted by fiveten73

HiI can shave the hair off my arm dry fairly easily and then I spend some time on the 8k. I still can't get it to pass the hht, but almost. Then I go strop about 30 to 40 times. Lather up and try shaving and it still pulls and isn't that comfortable.

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Just curious, when you say you are shaving hair off of your arm dry are you touching the skin ?
Popping hairs off of the arm ........ or leg when you run out of hair on your arm is done holding the razor above the skin just barely touching the arm/leg hair. If you're touching the skin when shaving hair from your arm that isn't a reliable test.

If you go to the SRP Wiki, if you haven't already, there are tutorials on honing, stropping, pre- shave preparation, lathering, and finally shaving. Also videos on all of it too. Check out the bevel setting and pyramid guides. The SRP Wiki is in the toolbar above on the left. :gl:

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Originally Posted by Utopian

I guess if that works for you and you're okay with it, then that's fine; but I gotta say I don't want to spend six or more hours honing a single razor. Once the bevel is set, which should be done with something more in the range of 1k, it shouldn't take more than another 10 to 20 minutes at most to finish it off.

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I'm ok with it for the first couple razors, when I'm figuring out how to do stuff right. I'm not planning on it taking me that long in the future, I kind of think the novelty would wear off..