Thread: good deal on norton combo stones?

i have been wanting to get into honing my own straights for a while now, but the cost has kept me from doing so for a while now. unfortunately i can not go into an antique shop without looking for straight razors. so i can continue to send them out or buy stones and practice with some of my less desirable blades.
would you please advise me on this possible purchase? its $120 also there is a slurry stone for 15 bucks. if there is a better kit out there for around the same amount of money i would be grateful to be made aware. thanks in advance.
frank

Amazon.com: WATERSTONE WOODWORKER PACKAGE: Home Improvement

Technical Details
Package includes; 1 ea - Norton 220/1000 grit combination Waterstone.
1 ea - 4000/8000 grit combination Waterstone
1 ea. Sharpening Woodworking Tools DVD (26 minutes).
Set of Norton Waterstone instructions.
Total price purchased separately $164.99 - SAVE $30.00

edited this in after some responses....
well thanks for the quick responses. i have been straight razor shaving for around 2 years now. i have a new dovo. i also have a boker(1880ish) a b.s. crown (1880) a horton sheffield(mid 1800) and some new (to me) blade i bought at an antique store last week. it says solingen but also has chinese characters on the tang and box. trademark a w s with a scale of sorts engraved ( the scales arent engraved. thier trademark is a scale.) i do send my stuff out for honing. i use kenrup for all my restoring. was just thinking about honing myself b/c of spending 15 to have it honed and 10 for shipping /return shipping, and then going w/ out it for a couple weeks. also was wanting to further my maintenance experience beyond stropping. shaving is kind of my moment of zen. i can just relax and focus on it and not on the things i think are important. more of being in the now. i think honing could provide that head space too. thnx! oh yeah, i also already have lyns video.

There are other kits you would find more useful; they come with the lapping stone (which isn't necessarily useful imminently, but could be) and not the DVD- which is more about sharpening things like chisels and planer blades. I believe these sets sell for around $117 on amazon.

Amazon.com: Norton Waterstone Starter Kit: 220/1000 grit stone, 4000/8000 grit stone, SiC flattening stone: Home Improvement

This kit would be better suited because it's cheaper and includes a lapping/flattening stone


However A set of honing stones is only needed if you are planning on restoring a bunch of razors offering honing in the classifieds or buying e-bay specials.

If you are buying this just for one or two razors you have I suggest instead to send them to a professional honemeaister and then just purchasing a razor hone ($25-45) or use a pasted strop to maintain the edge.

Alot of new guys assume that in order to maintain thier razor they have to learn how to hone and go buy a complete set. If you are just starting and don't know whether or not you'll keep with str8ts or if you have a few blades it is a waste of money to buy a expensive hone set.

If however you are dedicated to learning how to hone make sure you buy some cheap razors to practice on otherwise you may ruin you nicer ones.

again if this is just for your first razor send it to a pro for $20 and buy a razor hone to keep up the edge as long as you don't drop the razor,clang it on the sink, or roll the edge by improperly stropping their will be no need to do a pyramid style honing.

Hope this helps

Here's another option:

Norton Waterstones

It's only a few dollars cheaper if you want the flattening stone. I purchased the combo only for $104.00. From what I understand the flattening stone at some point will need flattening, so I wasn't interested. I used the sandpaper method to lapp the hones when I first got them.

Hone Lapping 101 - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Then I got tired of the sandpaper method and recently purchased the DMT8C.

Thanks Kent I forgot about that place because it charges a $10 CA tax
but yeah the cheaper the better.

And it is usually reccomended you lap your norton stones right from the start as some members have them being delivered uneven in the past.

oftenfacetious mentioned a norton slurry stone anyone have any experience with that?

I found that the Norton 4K/8K combo was not only not very flat new out of the box, the 4K side was very gritty feeling. Flattening with the Norton flattening stone made both sides cut much more evenly and gave a nice smooth feel to the 4K side.

Now all I need to do is practice a bit. It seems that I'm getting the heel really nice and sharp, but the toe is somewhat lacking. Still a useful shave, but I know it'll get better. Good thing I've got three razors so that at least one of them is useful on any given day.

By the way, I found the 4K/8K combo at Peachtree Woodworking for $89.99 and the flattening stone at Amazon for $29.99.