Thread: 'feel' of the norton 8K

The 8K side of the Norton should have a smooth drag with very little resistance. The Norton lapping stone is really the best I have found to date and I have lapped through 5 1/2 Nortons to date.

Have fun.

Lynn

Ha ha, yeah, don't listen to me--listen to Lynn.

Lynn in some of my idle moments I've wondered how many Nortons you'd been through, especially after seeing the sliver you were honing with on the DVD. I guess that answers that question.

I think you have to lap through at least one or two before you can start calling yourself a honemeister. I'm about 1/8 of an inch into my first.

Lynn, do you polish your 8K at all after using the flattening stone? I've found that with the coarser grits of sandpaper the stone feels a little on the rough side, and I'd always assumed the flattening stone was under 400 grit. It doesn't seem like the roughness affects the edge, just makes it harder for me to control my stroke.

Josh

I go right from the flattening stone to use.

Lynn

Bruno,
I've been getting reports from my customers that they've been experiencing roughness problems with Norton 4k/8k stones. One fellow reported that it micro-chipped his Double Duck and he had to redo the edge completely with his belgian stone. I sell Nortons because people want them and they're an inexpensive way to start learning about honing straightrazors. They usually graduate to a coticule fairly quickly and then call me exclaiming about the virtues of the belgian stones. The belgians are more expensive but in this case you're getting what you pay for!

Lately, I think that St. Gobain (owner of Norton) has changed the manufacturing process and possibly are even making them offshore. A guy I know who sells tons of Nortons every year told me they're now making them in Asia. I have noticed that the new Nortons no longer have a chamfered edge. At least one company I get a catalog from has spun this as a good thing. I don't think so. I think it will lead to pressure flaking of the edge and that's not attractive. I think that by eliminating that manufacturing step they are saving money and that would be consistent with moving to offshore production.

I doubt your 600 grit sandpaper, used to lap your Norton, would lead to roughness felt in the blade. The grit would wash off when you're finished lapping. BTW, I always lap stones under running water in the kitchen sink and that seems to work really well.

Howard

Howard,

That's alarming news, and I think we should try to chase this down and find out if it's true. If so, we may need to find another "standard" hone to recommend to newbies, although I'm not sure what alternatives are out there...

I'd be willing to lap and test out hones if anyone is having problems. Maybe getting a few senior members to compare newer stock to our current Nortons would help answer the question.

Josh