Thread: How I soak my Nortons (and other stuff about how I hone)

I just changed the water out on my Nortons, and it occurred to me that I do a couple of things that others may or may not do, but I don't recall seeing posted.

I've recently been using anti-microbial hand soap in my soaking water. I used to use bleach to prevent the slimy stuff from developing in water. The problem with bleach is that if I used a little too much it would sometimes cause darkening of the blades I was honing. It was never dramatic darkening, and it would come off with metal polish, but I don't like polishing after the blades have been honed if I can help it.
A squirt of the anti-microbial soap in each tray also prevents the slime from developing and has the added benefit of helping to carry away swarf better than the bleach water does. I have not had a problem with the light oxidation that I would sometimes get if I got crazy with the bleach.

The other thing that I do is to keep each stone in a separate tray. I used to have a large pan for all of them, like in the Mastro Livi video (IIRC). If I had developed any auto-slurry on my 1k, putting it back in the pan would cause some of it to suspend in the water, and contaminate my finer stones. I suppose there is some risk of my 4K slurry contaminating the 8K, but I haven't had a problem with it. If I didn't have a combo stone, I would keep them separate as well.

Oh, and my Nortons have been in water pretty much continuously for over 4-1/2 years.
No problems yet.


Added as a somewhat unrelated afterthought, because people are curious:
My basic honing progression is Norton 1k, Naniwa SS 2k, Norton 4K, Norton 8K, Naniwa SS 12K or vintage Thuringian.
For razors needing more work, I also use a Chosera 600 or even the DMT 325 prior to the Norton 1k.

The only other stone that I keep on my table is a Naniwa SS 400, which I use for flattening the Thurry. I find that the softer binder leaves a nicer finish when finish lapping natural stones vs. the DMT 325. If you use a Naniwa SS 400 for the hard naturals, just use it for finish lapping. It's very soft and will wear out quickly if used to flatten a new stone.

I really like the Naniwa SS 2k between the Norton 1K and 4K. I know there's plenty of evidence that it's not needed.
But... If you're a person that is obsessive about scratch patterns, like I am - try it out if you have one available. It really does a great job of taking down the 1K scratches vs. just going to the 4K.

A picture of my (very) humble honing table: