Thread: Quick daft question

Be sure and keep us posted on how the honing goes.

Bob

First: Tell the wife to know her role and make a big mess followed by ordering her to clean it up for you. jk.

Norton probably deals with SO many more fields of expertise that SR honing is at the bottom of their list of concerns.

A ceramic stove top works perfectly for lapping the way you're going about it, I do it that way too. Also allows for easy cleanup.

GOod luck.

Originally Posted by brooksie967

First: Tell the wife to know her role and make a big mess followed by ordering her to clean it up for you. jk.

This must be from "Brooksie's Guide to Blissful, Long-lasting Marriage".

I would tell the wife to know her role, but then I might end up having to fend for myself, & to be fair I get it quite easy.

A ceramic stove top, what's one of those? We have an Ikea kitchen with a 600mm hotpoint free standing DF cooker, there's nothing ceramic about it. I could use the glass cover, but I'd get royally punished if I used anything in the kitchen, & I daren't go near our new dining table which is the wifes' pride & joy (not to mention expensive).

I'm sure I'll find something I can use. I did have a big old white bathroom tile that I put outside, I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's completely flat & nobody has been in the garden to take it (you'd be suprised what people will take if they think you aren't looking).

I'm not even going to consider honing my one SR until the jewellers loupe I ordered from Amazon turns up. I'm not actually sure if it needs it & this is new ground for me. On the one hand my shaves are the best I've had & I'm so close to not needing the mach 3 to finish off with, but on the other hand the razor feels more tuggy than it ever has. I'm thinking better technique by me & a duller blade but can't be sure. I want to at least look at what the edge is like under magnification & carefully figure out where to go from there.

Just a tip to help with lapping: use a pencil to draw a grid on your stone. Lap until the entire grid is gone. Re-draw the grid and it should disappear uniformly within another 10 or so figure 8's.

Originally Posted by brooksie967

Just a tip to help with lapping: use a pencil to draw a grid on your stone. Lap until the entire grid is gone. Re-draw the grid and it should disappear uniformly within another 10 or so figure 8's.

That's what I was thinking. I did see that 600grit paper is recommended. Would you advise going any higher than this on either side? I've had a look at the stone & both grits are slightly raised in the centre, so it definitely needs a bit of flattening out.

My other question, in the Norton instructions it says I only need to soak the 4,000 side. Will there be any harm in soaking the 8,000? I'm not sure how I'd only soak one side when they're stuck together anyway.

I don't have a norton so i can't really comment specifically on the finish you should be looking for on the hone. I know that the Naniwas like a 600 grit finish, my naturals get polished much higher, the jnat is almost mirrored now.

I typically use 180 grit sand paper for any major lapping, then 400, then 600 to finish a synthetic. Naturals get polished via rubbing/nagura stones over time.

I couldn't get higher than 600 at my local DIY shop anyway, so kind of a moot point. I'll try with the 600 & see how it goes.

Well, I found out the hard way that you shouldn't start the lapping a Norton with 600 grit, it takes too long. I got the 8,000 side to an almost glass like finish which I was very happy with, but when sitting on a flat surface 2 opposing corners are still raised up off that flat surface, & once it's that smooth sanding on 600 really doesn't remove much at all so it's hours of going round in circles...literally. I tried the 4,000 side & gave up quite quickly when I realised how little impact the 600 grit paper was making.

Unfortunately the only sandpaper I had left in the house was 40 grit flat power sander paper, or 80 grit standard sheets (not wet/dry), neither of which I was taking the risk with. I'll grab some lower grit wet/dry later on today & try again this evening.

Kaden,
I have both a Norton 1/4 and a 4/8. I picked up a DMT to lap them properly after discovering that nothing in my house was truly flat for lapping as you're doing. I also discovered that one or two corners were well off compared to the rest of the hone (either lower or higher). High corners were easy to take off, but the low corners I eventually smoothed over and left. They're small enough that they don't affect my honing strokes, and trying to lap the whole stone down to that level would leave me very little stone left!

With the 4k side I would be comfortable using 120 +/- grit regular sand paper just to knock the rough stuff off (DON'T go too far!). Then bump up to 300. You want to make sure any grit that came off the 120 paper is removed by the 300 and that the hone is clean when you're done.

You could use the 300 on the 8k if you've got corners you need to knock down, and then finish with the 600.

So far as a bevel setter goes, you might keep an eye out for King brand hones. They tend to run a little cheaper than Nortons here in the States, and since buying my Nortons I've read several good reviews on the Kings.

Peace,
Jim