Thread: Anyone PREFER a Norton 4/8 to a coticule?

I found the issue. Thank you.

I see so many people in the same situation, they buy every natural hone going and still not get the results they want.
My advice would to be to get a known synthetic, Norton 4/8, Naniwa 5/10 etc and learn how to hone, they are nice and consistent. Learning how to hone is hard enough without all the guesswork of a natural. Once you get great shaves every time with the synthetics then worry about naturals, as there's no point having all these naturals and not get a good shave.

Originally Posted by J743

I think one of the reasons I brought this up, the idea that maybe the Norton 4/8 could deliver more keeness, was the HHT performance--which for me matters. What I didn't realize was that upon closer inspection of the hairs I was using, and I mean close--some were thicker than others. With a really fine hair I can't pop a thing, maybe a violin if I'm lucky. With another hair simple, a little thicker, yet much finer than any whisker, I'm HHT 3-4. I usually grab a hair from a brush lying around the house. Never thought twice about it. I'm beginning to see why so many aren't crazy about the HHT test.

Bingo. I stopped caring about the HHT when I realized that hair on my arm is thicker than hair from my head, and the stuff on my face runs the gamut. If I pluck a hair from my head, which is quite fine, a razor will never pass the HHT. Tree-topping arm hair is good, but in my experience that's no guarantee of a good shave. So for my purposes, the HHT does me little to no good. And of course I have no idea how my razor would cut anyone else's hair. Someone telling me about their blade passing their HHT also does me little to no good.

This is why I skip that test, and move directly to the shave test. HHT can be good, but lacks precision and control. Shave test is definitive - it cuts hair smooth with no tugging, or it does not.

Ya, just honed a razor on my lunch break. Same deal. HHT 4 on one hair, HHT2-3 on a slightly thinner hair that didn't look too dissimilar. I'm done with it — on a coticule it matters a bit tho, as sharp took me ages to get.

I think the issue was not "I don't know my coticule" but rather — how does the Norton 4/8 compare, if both are ~8k edges, what can the Norton do the coticule cannot?

Extreme consistency with the Norton, once I get it to the 8K my routine is very repeatable. One set of 20 circles and 30 rolling x-strokes all with very light pressure, sometimes I might need a few more x-strokes but most of the time I move to the PHIG after the above

Originally Posted by J743

Ya, just honed a razor on my lunch break. Same deal. HHT 4 on one hair, HHT2-3 on a slightly thinner hair that didn't look too dissimilar. I'm done with it — on a coticule it matters a bit tho, as sharp took me ages to get.

I think the issue was not "I don't know my coticule" but rather — how does the Norton 4/8 compare, if both are ~8k edges, what can the Norton do the coticule cannot?

Originally Posted by rodb

Extreme consistency with the Norton, once I get it to the 8K my routine is very repeatable. One set of 20 circles and 30 rolling x-strokes all with very light pressure, sometimes I might need a few more x-strokes but most of the time I move to the PHIG after the above

This. And to take it one step further - not JUST his Norton 8k, but ANY Norton 8k. There will be little/no variation through the life of the stone, and one stone to another.

Naturals on the other hand can vary between layers of the very rock you have in your hand. And I surmise that you're already familiar with variation from one stone to another since you seem to have a few coticules.

Originally Posted by Marshal

This. And to take it one step further - not JUST his Norton 8k, but ANY Norton 8k. There will be little/no variation through the life of the stone, and one stone to another.

Naturals on the other hand can vary between layers of the very rock you have in your hand. And I surmise that you're already familiar with variation from one stone to another since you seem to have a few coticules.

THIS is a good reason to recommend the Norton 4/8, even after all it's recent years as a razor stone.
Lots of other things have come along since, including rediscovering older hones.

It is not so obsolete, really. As was said, it is a benchmark to teach with.
It is also a great mid-range hone to continue to use, no matter how bad HAD get it's grip on you!

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Back when I first came around the Norton 4/8 was THE most used hone on SRP. Lynn used to wear them out regularly. Randydance told me that I should shave test on the 4/8 before finishing with a higher grit. If I wasn't 'there' at the 8k level I wasn't ready for the higher grit. I've shaved off the norton 8k many times and truth be told I could get along just fine if that was all I had.

If I could only have one hone (shudder) it would be a Norton 4/8.

+1 That was the exact advice the two of them gave me when I was first learning to hone.