Thread: Norton Vs Dan's translucent stones

Has anyone had experience with the Norton Translucent stones? I've had a Dan's surgical black but I am looking for a stone for finishing a little less hard for razors. Curious to see what experience you have had one against the other.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Has anyone had experience with the Norton Translucent stones? I've had a Dan's surgical black but I am looking for a stone for finishing a little less hard for razors. Curious to see what experience you have had one against the other.

Wouldn't be surprised if Dan's is their supplier.

One difference ive read in the past is the quality Dans puts into lapping. When i got my Dans, it didnt need much if anything.

Norton owns their own mines. Very old ones at that. Trying to find a slightly softer translucent will be very hard. I would actually recommend you look for a Llyn Idwal. It is a type of novaculite just like Arks but in my experience they are slightly softer, and will concur that it is a little easier to hone on with that slight difference in hardness. Better feedback also IIRC.

Noviculite changes by density. Are you looking for a less dense stone? The color of the stone doesn't have an effect on its density.

Don't judge an Arkansas stone by its color.

Looking for a finishing stone that would be somewhere in the 16,000-18,000 range. Dan's said there was very little difference between the surgical black and translucent stones.

I have both translucent stones and I don’t find a difference in mine between Dans and norton (vintage). Dans stones are some of the best quality I’ve come across in all the Arkansas stones I’ve had. Vintage norton stones and Dans are equal IMO.

The only exception is the Washita stones. The difference between vintage Norton/Pike Washita stones and all others is truly night and day. Like they are different stones altogether.

Look at a different stone if you’re expecting something around or equal to that grit range.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Looking for a finishing stone that would be somewhere in the 16,000-18,000 range. Dan's said there was very little difference between the surgical black and translucent stones.

Having talked to Dan at Dans Whetstones and his son Steve personally I can say the is no difference between the Hard Black (aka surgical black) and Translucent. They both come in at 2.5+ gravity. Unless you do the gravity test there is no way to tell the difference between them. Also add the True Hard variety to the NO DIFFERENCE category with the black and translucent. I’ve written a fair amount on this in other threads.

Originally Posted by jkatzman

Looking for a finishing stone that would be somewhere in the 16,000-18,000 range. Dan's said there was very little difference between the surgical black and translucent stones.

You may be "splitting hairs" here (pun intended lol). As others have said, it would be difficult to tell any appreciable, quantifiable difference between edges off either of those stones, though I've heard arguments from experienced honers that one or the other produce finer edges. For what it's worth, I get the finest edges I've ever achieved off of either my vintage Norton translucent, or my 8x3 surgical black-it doesn't seem to matter if I use either individually, or follow one with the other in either progression. Ultra-fine, crisp but smooth, skin-friendly edges are the result.

Obviously, as both are naturals, and it's useless to try to pin them down to grit ranges, how keen an edge you get seems to come down to other factors: how well-prepped your edge is before putting it to the arks, how finely burnished/broken in is the surface, your technique, all the various lubricants used (water, water with dish soap or shaving lather), WD-40, Ballistol, Smith's, and all the others.

Still, I'll put an ark edge up against any 16-18k synthetic edge (or even the vaunted SG20 edge that was on all of my blades for a time), though it will involve more work to achieve it.