whats this black stuff on the hone after a few passes

okay just tried honing for the first time with my new Norton 4/8 grit stone. ummm i think i was doing well, well the reason i was honing was that there was a small nick in the blade(nothing big, just that i wanted to get rid of it). Any way i was making progress and i looked at the stone and there was like dirt or something on the stone, is this normal? I know its probably a easy answer but i want to be sure

That black stuff is called swarf. It's the steel you are removing from your blade. To a greater or lesser degree, you want to see it on the hone.

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Originally Posted by Bill S

That black stuff is called swarf. It's the steel you are removing from your blade. To a greater or lesser degree, you want to see it on the hone.

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As mentioned, when you hone metal is removed from the razor. It'll end up on the hone as it's removed...

If a nick is visible to the naked eye it's not so "small" :) but yeah what everyone else said on the swarf.