Proper tool box

I am just a beginner and until now I got my razor honed, so far it has been a real pleasure to shave with a straight. I got to the point that I need to go deeper therefore please tell me if I have the picture. A good tool box to maintain a couple of razors are a good hanging strop, a Norton 4K/8K waterstone and a paddle strop with different paste. Is this sufficient to achieve good result or I need something else, Am I missing anything, I don’t wont to start a honing business but I wont to make sure I have everything to succeed beside that before I take the plunge I just wont to know what kind of investment is required.

Gentlemen have a great day and by the way this board is great

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Originally Posted by Norm58

I am just a beginner and until now I got my razor honed, so far it has been a real pleasure to shave with a straight. I got to the point that I need to go deeper therefore please tell me if I have the picture. A good tool box to maintain a couple of razors are a good hanging strop, a Norton 4K/8K waterstone and a paddle strop with different paste. Is this sufficient to achieve good result or I need something else, Am I missing anything, I don’t wont to start a honing business but I wont to make sure I have everything to succeed beside that before I take the plunge I just wont to know what kind of investment is required.

Gentlemen have a great day and by the way this board is great

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Norm You have it. See Tony Miller about the strop and paddle strop. His stuff rocks.

I believe you will also need some sort of laping setup for the norton.

My impression is simply highish grit sandpaper on some very flat surface (glass, machined granite, etc.) can work but you will need something.

You mean something to get the Norton perfectly flat before using it with a straight?

Looks like you have it covered, thats all I have and it works great.
Lapping the hone will make a substantial difference. All I did was to soak the hone for a half hour, lay a wet piece of 600 grit wet and dry sandpaper (silicon carbide type) on a clean wet glass plate. Lay the hone on the surface and move it around making sure its wet. The patterns dont have to be huge sweepers, I used a small figure 8 and could see immediately the clouds of coloration moving in the water from the high spots coming off. Only takes a few minutes per side on a new stone. After that I would recommend rinsing the hone under lukewarm water with a clean tooth brush and a light scrubbing to remove any 600 grit that may have left the sandpaper.

Edit: use nice (flat!) glass for lapping, nothing from the old days with any waves, bubbles, etc.


Dave

I'd go with 1000 grit sandpaper. It's also much faster for putting the initial bevel on a really dull blade.

I got the picture thanks. Is this a one shot deal or it i has to done once in while

Norm.

Every once in a while. Read up on the "lapping" threads in the Hones forum. They contain lots of useful info on the procedure.

Mind if you get a razor from a member or have one sharpened by one of the great honers you can get by after that with a pasted paddle for a very long time. The paddle is easier to use than the hones

I have two razors on their way to be tuned up by an expert.... and there will be a third one in the box on the way back, someting cheap to practice sharpening. in any case will get in contact with tony to see what he has to propose to equip the tool box

Regards

Norm.

I wouldn't be in that great a hurry with the lapping setup. I know many feel they just need to be lapped from the outset but I used mine quite awhile before I lapped mine. I would save my money and get a shapton lapping plate they make lapping a real pleasure and do an outstanding job.

Some nortons are flat from the factory, some aren't. I thrashed around for a month with mine before I broke down and lapped it, then popped out a shave-ready razor first try :cen . Better safe than sorry.

Gentlemen,

thanks for the valuable information, I have different machine shop working for me, the day I will use the Norton stone Iwill make sure it is perfectly flat.

regards

Norm.

Lapping is a must, IMO. Sounds like you have all the right tools, though.

I actually have a shapton lapping plate that I used once to lap my 15k shapton. For the norton I prefer wet/dry sandpaper on artificial marble.

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Originally Posted by mparker762

I actually have a shapton lapping plate that I used once to lap my 15k shapton. For the norton I prefer wet/dry sandpaper on artificial marble.

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Hey mparker, where did you get your marble? I was thinking about getting a piece, but I'd want to be sure to get a piece that was flat. Maybe a tile supply store?

Home Depot. It cost about $1.50 or so for a 1 ft square tile.

I'll put in a plug for the marble + sandpaper approach. Works great and the price is right.

Would it work well to cut one of those tiles down to 3"x12" and contact cement on some leather for a bench hone?

Seems it would be a nice stable/flat base for such.

-Geoff

Geoff, check out my gallery. Mine was made with a piece of marble that I got gratis (thanks Jason :D). Actually the pic doesn't do it justice. It's exactly as you described with three qualifications:
1) Use a dough roller after you attach the surfaces to evenly distribute the adhesive
2) Press it flat with a flat surface and a heavy weight
3) Leave it like that overnight to cure
I used a small amount of chromium oxide abrasive powder that came from Randy (thanks Randy :D) mixed with strop dressing that I got from Tony M. You can also use a 50/50 mix of lanolin and glycerin.
With the investment of materials and labor, it's cheaper/easier to just get a ready-made one from Tony, but I like fiddling with things.

Thanks for the info and pic.

I wanted two seperate bench hones; figure I will order some abrasive pastes and leather from handamerican.

I have free access to a tile saw and the tiles are apparently only a couple buck. I think I can come out pretty cheap this way.

Not a huge savings by any means but I too like building stuff so what the heck ;)

Nice to see it worked for someone else!


I plan on picking up two of the tiles; one to chop into 3" strips and a second for use in lapping with sand paper.
I will glue the leather and then place the flat side of the second tile on top with weights. Provides a nice flat surface to compress the glue/leather overnight.

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Originally Posted by FiReSTaRT

Geoff, check out my gallery. Mine was made with a piece of marble that I got gratis (thanks Jason :D). Actually the pic doesn't do it justice. It's exactly as you described with three qualifications:
With the investment of materials and labor, it's cheaper/easier to just get a ready-made one from Tony, but I like fiddling with things.

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