Thread: Hone help..?

If you use paste often you will need a bevel setter as the edge will become concave and short. 4 months of weekly crox and you will need bevel set. Jmho.

Ok! Seems the General consensus here is to go with the Norton. I can go with that, I'll pick up a Norton 4/8, and a full size linen/leather strop. Add a little .5 micron green paste, and I can make my touch up strop.

If a flattening stone is not necessary, I'll try with sand paper to save a few pennies.

I should be able to pick this stuff up in the next week or so, thanks to everyone who gave their opinions!

What is everyones opinion on the Norton Flattening stone. Will it work on all stones? I like the price, but I have heard some people don't think it's up to the task.

I bought the Norton flattening stone but do not like it as it is very gritty in use and wears fast. I also have an old 8 inch fine (red, 600 mesh, 25 u) DMT diamond whetstone which I have been using for years to sharpen knives. I tried it on my water stones and found that it works very well for flattening and cleaning water stones and for raising slurry. It is fast, always flat, and works clean. If I were to purchase a DMT new for flattening and cleaning stones rather than using the DMT that I already have, I would get the courser grit DMT that is recommended by other members and honemeisters. I have never tried using sand paper for stone flattening.

I use an 8K Norton to finish my razors and it works well for me. I also make inexpensive pasted bench strops for knives and razors. The CrOx and 0.25u diamond paste work well for me when my unpasted every day strop starts losing its effectiveness. When the pasted strop starts to lose its effectiveness for touch-ups, I drop down to the 8K Norton or, if necessary, even a 1K stone and work my way back up. There are many ways to finish razors, this is one way and it has been an easy one to use, inexpensive, and working for me. At some point, I will try a higher than 8K grit finishing hone and see whether I can make an improvement on the sharpness, smoothness, and longevity of my current edges.

HTH

The DMT 325 is what you want for flattening. It will never need flattening itself and works really, really well. I own one myself as well as the Norton 4/8 and a Naniwa 12K. That is all you really need for sharpening stones unless you are doing major renovation work to old Ebay razors.

Make sure you research how to use the stones properly beforehand. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!"