Quote Originally Posted by Slartibartfast View Post
if used correctly. Is there really that much difference in going norton 8k -> paste and bbw -> paste?
I have no experience with the Norton 8K. But my experience with pastes, is that the edge falls back a bit within very few shaves. Not everyone seems to observe this. I think it depends on how abrasive one's beard is. Pasted edge are sharpened with the edge trailing. Hones are used with the edge leading. All sharpening deposits bur-like steel at particular parts of the edge. Trailing edge sharpening does so at the very edge. As a result the very edge exist out of less sturdy steel. Controversial, but this might even explain why we have to restrop the edge so often, that most of us do it before every shave. How well such a weaker edge copes with the impact of whiskers, depends on the nature of the whiskers, how well you prep them, possibly even the used shaving angle. In my personal shaving practice the effect is pretty obvious, so I try to restrict edge trailing honing to the bare minimum, if at all.
Others have testified to witness no adverse effects at all. I also suspect it depends on the actual abrasives in the paste. Diamond particles tend to offer a lot of abrasion and very little plastic deformation, while with Chromium Oxide (which is much more a typical polishing substance) this tends to be the opposite.
Bottom line: if used to gain a small performance boost that adds some extra smoothness to the way the razor shaves, pasted stropping is highly effective. If you need to rely on a lot of pasted stropping to save a subpar edge coming of the hones, you'll have to wait and see what happens, in particular on the field of edge durability.

Quote Originally Posted by McWolf1969 View Post
I thought the BBW, hones or behaves like it is around 4K grit? Sorry if im wrong. :-(
Anyhow, i think it would be cool, for those who have experience in this area, to post or teach us about some progressive paste honing...like coming off of a 4K or 8K. Any takers?
In light of what I have written above, I'd opt for diamond compounds if I were to really sharpen razors on pastes. Starting with 3 micron, coming off a 4K. Refining on 1 micron. And finishing on 0.5 micron. Try to avoid doing more laps than needed.

As far as rating the BBW. It certainly goes sharper than my Chosera 5K, but not as the Chosera 10K, which are the only synthetics I have available to compare to. It also easily outperformes a DMT 8K when it comes to smoothness and a pull free shave. BBW's are highly under-estimated and under-researched. They are not fast, but for the home-honer that can't be too much of a problem.

Best regards,
Bart.