Thread: New stones. Almost a good experience.

So, on account of me getting older, my better half bought me a set of Nortons, a couple of stone holders, a new strop and some strop conditioner. Life is good indeed.

I haven't been posting much, but if I had I would have shared with y'all that a few weekends ago while riding with a friend I picked up a Genco hammered tail (blued) "Wedge" with green translucent scales for a wooping $3 at a flea market. Yep, less than lunch. Heck, less than a beer on Friday night.

Said Genco Wedge was a little dirty, so I cleaned to discover it had absolutely no hone wear... and no edge either. Seems it was never honed. So I figured this was a primo opportunity to break out the Nortons and figure out the whole honing thing.

I learned a few things.

1) Stones are not flat out of the box. While I have read here over and over that the first thing to do with a stone is to lap it flat, somewhere in the back of my head I kept thinking that the stoneheads are way to finicky about this stuff. They are not; they are dishing good free advise (like most do here.) Heed their warnings or risk feeling like a fool when you go from the 1k to the 4k and destroy the bevel.

2) The texture of the surface of the stones out of the box is nothing, but nothing at all, not even remotely similar to what's under the surface.

3) It takes about five minutes to get half of the stone flattened. The rest takes about one and a half hours. The last little corner takes up the majority of the ninety minutes.

4) The cheap HF diamond 4 in 1 sharpeners are awesome to clean the Norton lapping stone and bevel the edges of the Nortons.

5) It takes less time to follow the pyramid than to not follow it.

I did eventually get the razor sharp enough to shave (what a rough shave!) but it was a lot of hard work and a humbling experience. Foolishly I thought after trying the unicot method a few months back on a couple of blades (nice shaves!) somehow qualified me to do a progression.

All I can say is this: I'm an old fool.

My face is sore; time for a Johnny blue and a Partagas Culebra.

Maybe I'll try another blade tomorrow. Maybe not.

Good night, friends.

practice makes perfect, you'll get the hang of it

Experience comes with time and action, but don't forget to take a day or two when you get frustrated. More than once I have considered throwing a razor into the plaster.

You probably didn't need to lap the last little corner but it shows you're OCD enough to do a good job. Welcome to the rocket science fraternity

Thank you for listening to my rantings and the encouragement. I'm taking a few days off from honing, mostly because I have to work to make money to buy razors and stuff, but I have already selected my next victim. It will be a Genco Red Cross that I got some time ago for next to nothing and looks very promising.

I know... cheap Gencos seem to find me - and I've absolutely no problem with that!

Snake, you chose well when the better half thinks of such things for gifts. I'm similarly blessed.

I'll stop crying in an hour or so - jealous about the Genco wedge. If you want/need a hand w/ honing it, pm me. Its not a razor you want to make your learning mistakes on.

'Hope it gives you decades of great shaves that puts many smiles on the lovely bride's face.

+1 on the nortons not being flat out of the box... mine werent so bad, I did leave the last little corner. I also noticed that the texture changed a lot after lapping, needless to say im glad I got the lapping stone with the set.
Did you round the corners with your lapping stone? Im pretty sure its ok to do, but not sure enough to try it...?

Originally Posted by epd

<snip>
Did you round the corners with your lapping stone? Im pretty sure its ok to do, but not sure enough to try it...?

Nope, I used a HF cheap 4 sided diamond hone (4-Sided Diamond Hone Block) to bevel the edges of the stones, and to clean the lapping stone when it clogged. I got mine on sale some time ago for 10 bucks at the store. If you ask me, the lapping stone should work just as good, but I just happened to have the diamond block in my hand when I thought of it.

I could have left the little triangle there too... but just felt it wasn't done right to me.

Originally Posted by pinklather

Snake, you chose well when the better half thinks of such things for gifts. I'm similarly blessed.

I'll stop crying in an hour or so - jealous about the Genco wedge. If you want/need a hand w/ honing it, pm me. Its not a razor you want to make your learning mistakes on.

'Hope it gives you decades of great shaves that puts many smiles on the lovely bride's face.

Man, I hear you. I'm a lucky man and I got a feeling you are too. It's a good place to be, isn't it?

Don't be too jealous of the Wedge... I ride a lot with my friend, and he knows I stop at every flea market, estate sale and antique store to ask for razors. It's amazing the amount of crap out there, and this is the first time in a year that I got lucky. Earlier I was offered another razor that had "Pakistan" stamped on the tang for $50! When I found the Genco the guy just asked for the three bucks and I saw no point in even bargaining... I was ready to drop $30 or $40 on it; kept the game face on and sprung for it.

It's already doing better by me. I took back to the stones and started at the 1K and worked up to the 4K, 8k and then I finished on the Coticule and it's a lot better. It's not like the ones honed by Lynn, Glenn or Sham that I have, but it's a very serviceable blade that I got there myself.

With any luck I'll make it to the next meet nearby and pick up a couple of pointers, feel like a fool for a bit and learn something.