Thread: Hone advice

OK after reading the one stone thread and the entire Janorton thread I decided to take the plunge and get a Norton 4/8. I found one on flebay as a set that is coming with the 220/1k stone. My question is after doing research here that the favorite 1k is the Chosera. If I sell the 220/1 Norton I am almost halfway to the Chosera. Should I go ahead and upgrade the Norton or is it good enough?

thanks

The Chosera is Mo better, but honestly unless you are honing alot of razors you really don't NEED it...

I wore out the 1k on a 220/1k before I really started experimenting with other Bevel setters here is a write up I did some time back

http://straightrazorpalace.com/hones...l-setting.html

But in conclusion, it is your money

I think the chosera 1k is worth the $ if you have them to spare. It is not that you cannot set a bevel with the norton. It is a matter of speed and efficiency IMHO. People will tell you that if you don't hone gobs and gobs of razors you don't "need" it. There may be something to that but if I'm out on a trail with a lot of climbing I'd rather be riding a geared bike than a single speed. It is sort of like that if you know what I mean.

I won't have much to add here, except to underscore one part that Jimmy and Glen state.
.
The most critical part of honing is the bevel set.
We spend gobs on Gucci finishers.
Why would we want to select the tool for the most critical operation with only the money that's left over?

Do you need that speed and hardness? If you learning slower is in my opinion better. You have more time to stop mistakes to happen. As for upgrading it later to Chocera. Unless you do a lot of honing the question is more about do you fancy more funky hone rather that that good old workhorse?

I'll offer the alternate opinion, having many 1000 stones. If you're going to buy a dozen or two fix-up razors on ebay, I would stick with the 1k norton.

It's not that I don't like the chosera stones better, it's that they won't do the job any better, and the difference between the two of them is not something that will make or break restoring razors for a hobbyist.

I have 5 stones in that range right now. When I get a new razor in the mail, I will set the bevel with whatever stone is on the bench, it really makes little difference. Any of them will do the bevel geometry right and any of them will leave very uniform scratches for the next step to remove.

If I used any of my 5 stones (or even a slurried hard arkansas or an aggressive slurried coticule) to set the bevel on a razor, you would never know which one I used if I did the finishing process properly. If there was a difference in time between any of the alumina based stones (norton, shapton, sigma, bester, chosera, ...) it would be measured in a minute or two.

(I don't have all of the stones I have because of razoring, I have them because I was on a bender woodworking, where you use a medium grit stone like a 1k every time you hone something, and you remove a lot of wear each time you use it. Even at that, I could get along with any of the 1k stones I have for *that* just fine).

Once you have your shavers, something would have to be mad wrong with a razor that you had in shape to remotely consider putting it on the 1k stone. The coarsest stone any of my "in shape" shavers have seen in the last two years, after the initial restoration, is an 8k synthetic or a coticule. Any more than that is honing off excess good edge (and spine if you don't tape) for no reason.

In my opinion, you're about $60 apart in what you can get for the 1k/220 vs. a chosera cost new. Spend that on another razor or on a more favorable finisher. If you don't paste or powder an edge off your last stone, you *will* feel the difference between finishers if you last finisher is inadequate. If you feel the difference between various bevel setters when you shave, something is way wrong in your finishing.

Thanks for all of the replies, but the decision was made for me. The stone set I bought was advertised as like new used only 1 time. That is probably true but it looks like the guy must have tried to sharpen a chisel using the center of the stones. They are still in great shape with no damage and I got a really great deal so I am happy. They will need a fair bit of lapping though and I think that it will reduce the value of the 220/1k so I will just keep it. After I learn what I am doing then maybe I will pick up a Chosera at a later date. I will need the experience on the Norton 1k anyway so I can compare for myself. Looking forward to honing my first razor. I will keep you updated on my progress.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but I'm an off-topic kind of guy.

How the heck do you lap a 220? I have a 325 DMT but wouldn't that result in
the 220 lapping the 325? Can I use a concrete sidewalk if it's flat?

Well heck Ace, that's a darned good question! I wish I knew the answer! I used the Norton lapping stone when I had a Norton. But I guess you'd wrap some 220 or lower grit W/D around your DMT maybe? I see that suggestion from Zib alot. I've tried it a few times, but never really embraced it well enough to get it right. lol. I'm sure it works. I'd just find a flat table top, and some w/d most of the time.

Yeppers, 220 W/D and a flat surface is what I used, I never much worried about it though, as I seldom used the 220 anyway...

In fact the only time I remember using it in the past was for Spine restoration before I bought a DMT 325,, I don't even own one any longer