That very last little bit on a 4/8

I've been honing on a norton 4/8k and I have it down pretty well. I have a blade that I am capable of shaving with, but it is still just a little...coarse..., not as smooth as I would like. I tried stropping on the back side of my webbing strop pasted with toothpaste, then following through with lots of stropping on the unpasted side and lots of work on the leather but to no avail. I've also tried super super light strokes on the 8k but it was little help. I'm not sure where to go next.

Also I know I should search, but there is SO much info that sorting through it is quite time consuming, I'm pretty sure someone here can give me a quick answer, because y'all are the best!

Thanks! Nick

Are you sure that you have the Bevel set properly? Because if the bevel needs to be reset you'll want to start on a 1k rather than the 4k. I ran into this problem when I started, so I went out & bought a King 1k to use as a bevel-setter and it made ALL the difference in the world. Once you have the bevel set, you're basically just using the 4/8k for polishing (which you are doing now, but you might just be polishing a non-existant bevel)...You should be able to pop hair BEFORE you even go to the 4k...And you should be able to shave off the 8k no problem...

If youre sure the bevel is set & that the 4k is done, then I would try x-strokes on the 8k until the water is basically non-existant, then do 5-10 straight up & down strokes with little/no water, VERY light pressure...

IF you don't not posses a 1k don't worry this article will help you set a bevel on a 4k glen did the video and if you watch the video you to will get a hang of the bevel setting granted it does help a lot to have a 1k but since you don't take a look at the video for info
http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...norton-4k.html

Toothpaste, the white past, is basically diatomaceous earth which has a large variation in particulate size up to 200 micrometers. Thats a whole lot coarser than 8k. I did the same thing :) but had a pocket microscope that showed me my error quickly. If you want to make a pasted strop use chromium oxide, or iron oxide, or French chalk. whippeddog has the first two in small quantities and any welding supply house will have the French chalk as soap stone marker.

Welcome and good luck on the learning curves

Jonathan

Have you properly lapped the Norton hone? Getting the hone nice and flat will help. The lapping should also smooth out the roughness that comes with a new Norton hone.

Now that I'm not in a hurry. Most toothpaste is in the 3 to 10 micron/micrometer range, that is still plenty bad for a shave ready edge. Chrome oxide, Iron oxide, and French chalk are some of the basic pastes, but diamond, CBN, and others can be used to paste a strop. Also did you paste the strop with toothpaste or just think that it is toothpaste instead of the factory paste. If it is a factory strop with the original paste that is the least likely source of trouble if the razor passed the HHT similarly before and after stropping.

+1 Check bevel. The least tools method would require gently killing the edge on glass or the corner edge of your highest grit stone. Then proceeding with bringing the edge back if about 20 laps doesn't bring the edge back go to a lower grit.

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Originally Posted by henryconchile

The lapping should also smooth out the roughness that comes with a new Norton hone.

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Interesting I had not heard that. Just did it to make it easier to hone.

Jonathan