Thread: got nortons, now what?

Originally Posted by Disburden

A bevel isn't going to last for many years, maybe a year or so, if that. When you shave the facial hair puts little chips in the edge and causes burrs in the edge, this starts right away. Proper stropping is the solution to reverse this type of edge ware but eventually you'll have to hit a pasted strop or a touch up hone (something that is 10K or 12). If you choose to use pastes at this point the edge will eventually round off at the bevel and not be nearly as effective as it was at first. Then nothing will help except the hones.

I love my Norton stones but you have to be careful not to wire the edge or over hone on them, they can do this easily, especially the 8k side of the combo. Make sure you lap them often too, they get clogged up very fast.
Have fun!

Sorry but I can't agree. As long as the razor isn't damaged and is properly cared for a bevel will last indefinitely. You will have to periodically touch up or maybe do a little more than touch up but to have to redo the bevel is not a routine honing operation it's really restoration. If you develop chips through shaving something is going on there. I had that issue with my Zowada's and in the end it had to do with the double bevel configuration or maybe just the angle of the bevel.

For many years the Norton 4K was the coarsest stone I had and I did all my restores on it including taking out chips and redoing bevels. Yes if you have to do gross work the 1K is faster and even the 220 can make it go faster and easier sometimes. The best practice in my opinion is to start with the highest grit you can get away with and if that doesn't work or is impractical go lower.

Shortmoneyshave

To answer your question, if a blade is nicked I usually start out lower than 1K and work up from there and I never start out higher than 1K.

You need to re-read Utopian's second post. It's the single most important thing to remember with every razor you hone, trust me. Every razor you hone will be different and will react different to the stones, some of them seem to be real buggers to get sharp. When I hone a razor and I just can't quite get it there with my finish stones, it's because I left my bevel setting stone too early. Time and again that's all it was.

I took a nick out of an eBay W&B with a 1k Shapton, so you can get them out with that grit level.

Nelson's advise is something to always consider. Start at the highest grit you reckon you can get away with an only move down if you have to. That way you're saving metal, and you can always take more metal off but you cant put it back on.