Thread: Honing Progression?

HI I was wondering I have a little nick in my blade so I'm using a rough stone to set the bevel again. It's probably somewhere around 1000 grit. I was wondering if I should go to another stone before I go to the 4k side of the norton. I also have the col. conk stone which I have heard some say is around 2500 to 3000 grit. Would that be better to go there before the 4k. I was also wondering if I went from the 1000 to the 4k side of the norton if it wouldn't do much because you are going to too high of a grit too soon after the 1000 so it wouldn't do too much. Any help?

If your stone is 1k grit, the progression from 1k to 4k is just fine. It won't hurt to use a 2-3k stone first but it's not necessary. I've heard a few bad things about the Col. Conk hones, namely that they did more damage than they removed, but have never used one.

I had a Col. Conk "razor" hone . It's a great finishing hone for knives , but IMO it's useless for razors . The 1k , 4k , 8k , 15k progression is what I use when I restore an edge . The Norton 4k works faster than the Col. Conk hone . If you have the Norton 220/1k , I think maybe you should use the 220 side to get the nick out of the edge , because it will take you a month of Sundays to get it out with a 1k .

Harrelson Stanley of Shapton USA says that doubling the grit is ideal. I.E. 2k, 4k, 8k etcetera. That is the way they designed the glass stones. Makes sense what with the Norton 4/8 being the workhorse of razor honing for synthetics in the past.

I routinely go from 1K to 4K when honing.

Lynn