Thread: Establishing Bevel: Norton 220/1000 vs. Naniwa 1000

I am assuming as both the Norton combo and Naniwa are 1000 grit, they would be good for a first stone in a honing progression (to establish a bevel).

Which would you recommend buying as they are approximately the same price?

Do either work better for a first step hone? Why?

I am no expert on hones, I just recently began to hone my own razors after 10yrs of using straights. A buy of the combo would seem reasonable for bevel setting. I have not used a Naniwa

I used the same combo stone for a Wade & Butcher that had a portion of the rear of the blade badly damaged. I paid $10 for the blade. I set all fear aside and trued the blade slowly.

So I was able to true the blade and set a bevel on the 220/1000 and moved through hone progressions and finished on the 8000. This was the first time I ever did this. It took a week, because I took my time. The blade was in bad shape when I purchased it. Consequently it now moves through the beard like butter . The 220 was great for removing metal easily and quickly, the 1000 was slower cutting, allowing better monitoring as I honed. This Link may be helpful also: Honing a damaged blade - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Bri

Keith, I was just reading a link posted by Lynn in May of 2009 check this out first, I believe it will be good reading for you task at hand.

straightrazorplace.com/forums/basic-honing/36014-honing-what-i-think.html

Bri

I've read it several times....thank you, Bri!

While I have no experience with the Nortons, I'm getting mixed results with the Naniwa 1k. On the one hand, its a great stone, very smooth, consistent and builds swarf pretty fast so it seems like its cutting the steel pretty quick. OTOH, it takes forever sometimes. I've honed 6 razors tonight and I keep going back to the old routine of DMT-F then to EF to set a bevel.

I think that going from the 220 to the 1k naniwa works, but you have to be popping arm hairs off the 220. Yes, its possible. I did that with the Boker Red Injun. Haven't been able to replicate the results on a W&B though. Maybe its because I bread knifed that one and I needed more time on the 220. Either case, I ended up setting the bevel on the last razor using the dmts. Maybe its the added benefit of the 600 grit stone as an intermediary, or maybe they cut faster, or maybe its because the swarf doesn't build up.

Swaft washes off pretty easily with the dmts and builds very slowly. Not so with the Naniwa, the swarf is there after the first stroke. All that said, I love adding 5-10 strokes on the Naniwa 1k after I finish on the dmts. I think it just gives the bevel that extra smoothness. Who knows. I'll keep at the Naniwa, hopefully I'll start to understand the stone. I still use the DMT X too btw. It just chops through steel. But the Naniwa is much smoother, you might even be able to shave off of it. I was popping hairs...

i use mainly norton 1000k . something wrong with 220 side useless
Now i have seen Lynn used 1k naniwa 1k to set bevel and he did a lot faster then i usually do on 1 k norton.
i am planning to by Naniwa because of it is weight . it is so light you can keep your hand easely.
This is all i can say about them.
hope helps

I agree with Sham on this one. We watched Lynn use one at the Missouri meet and we were both impressed with that hone. I'm also planning on buying one to replace my Norton. I also haven't found much use in the 220 side of the Norton.