Thread: got nortons, now what?

Got a couple of old barbers razors. Got a Norton 220/1000, 4000/8000, and a lapping stone. Lapped all 4 sides. Some razors are dull, some are rusty and dull, one with little nicks in blade. Start with 1000 and pyramid on up? Do I need to reset bevels on 1000 first. Would it be best to be conservative and start with 4000/8000 pyramids for them all, and in the process, will the bevels work themselves to where they ought to be if I am patient and apply light pressure and proper form/stroke. Have never honed before. Any advice?

Welcome to SRP. Have you looked at the SRP Wiki honing tutorials here ? Watched any of the honing videos ? I would suggest you take the best one you have condition wise and send it out to a pro. You can find members offering honing in the SRP classifieds. When you get that back you'll have a good one to shave with and a benchmark to judge your own efforts with the others.

Start on the worst condition razors first. If you mess one up it won't be too big a tragedy. There is too much to cover in one post. Having magnification is a big help. An eye loupe or a microscope. One way or the other learning the TNT and the TPT to gauge sharpness is a good idea to start with. In general you'll need to set the bevel first and do that on the 1k. Then the pyramids on the 4/8. You can read on the bevel setting and the pyramids at the wiki link above. Also check out the tutorial 'alternative honing methods' here.

after a months into honing I have my doubts about a 1K taking out nicks of any degree

Originally Posted by Oldfalguy

after a months into honing I have my doubts about a 1K taking out nicks of any degree

There are nicks and than there are larger chips. Throw a layer of tape on the spine and do circles on each side with moderate pressure. Some back and forth strokes and keep checking for the micro chips to be gone. If it is a larger chip you might go to a coarse hone like a 325 or whatever until you've worked the chip out. How big a chip are you talking ?

Just got a set of nortons myself...... Good luck with honing, it definitely takes a lot of practice

Originally Posted by Oldfalguy

after a months into honing I have my doubts about a 1K taking out nicks of any degree

Could you clarify what you consider to be a nick? I ask because I consider the 1K to be perfectly up to the task of eliminating nicks.

I don't have any nicks..........yet....
but I have found it was hard for me to set an even bevel with the 1K
but then again it was probably my technique in that I did use my left
fore finger "ride" the blade along the hone which caused a real funny bevel on opposite ends of the blade on both sides- hard to explain-
So of course I sent it to Lynn and will no longer use any portion of my left paw when honing.

You will find that setting the bevel is AT LEAST 90% of the effort and skill required to hone a razor. The biggest mistake beginners make is to move up to finer hones before the bevel is fully set.

I'm not skilled with graphics to I'll just revert to my usual letters description...

Bevel setting is converting the edge of the blade from a rounded "U" shape to a perfect "V" shape. If you move up to the higher grits too soon, then all you are doing is polishing up the sides of the "U," and that means that you are polishing the bevel of a still dull edge. Until you have that perfect "V," along the ENTIRE length of the blade, the bevel is not fully set. Knowing when this is accomplished is probably the greatest challenge of honing.

Hopefully after all of Lynn's good works I will have a bevel I can sustain
for many years if I don't use mr lefty to mess it up and I can follow your words to the letter and keep that V smooth.

Originally Posted by Oldfalguy

Hopefully after all of Lynn's good works I will have a bevel I can sustain
for many years if I don't use mr lefty to mess it up and I can follow your words to the letter and keep that V smooth.

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!