Thread: Norton 4k not cutting

Quick question for you hone experts out there. I recently purchased a norton flattening stone for my 4k/8k. Problem is after I flatten the 4k side it no longer cuts....I know this sounds bizarre but I've used this stone for 2 years with no problems. The 4k stone is abrasive, but it takes no metal off the burr... any suggestions? FYI, the 8k seems to be fine...

BTW, I used to use sandpaper until recently when i glazed my stone with a low quality brand and decided to switch to the flattener.

Sounds like you glazed it again.

What would you suggest as a fix for this? It seems strange i could glaze it with such a low grit flattening stone. I think the norton is 200-300 and I usually use 600 grit wet/dry.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Sounds like you glazed it again.

Originally Posted by Gravitas

What would you suggest as a fix for this? It seems strange i could glaze it with such a low grit flattening stone. I think the norton is 200-300 and I usually use 600 grit wet/dry.

I'll be interested in the answer to this, as my Norton 4/8 doesn't seem to be cutting it very well these days either. A Tam O'Shanter removes metal quicker.

This is very interesting to me. I have never used a special stone to flatten so no idea there...

Why not just do the wet/dry sandpaper again and see it this works? A less aggressive approach would be running water and scotch-brite, I guess

Cheers
Ivo

This is really weird. Does the surface feel different to you? I'm not sure how it's possible to glaze a water stone...

Josh

Josh,

I am not sure how you define *glaze* but it can certainly collect too much crapp and feel smooth and cut worse. I have not lapped my Norton many times (as I do not use it too much) but after some scotch brite and occasionally wet/dry I do notice improvements

Cheers
Ivo

It's very strange because when I glazed the stone with the lower grade wet/dry here was a noticable smoothness relative to its normal state. However now the stone feels like it should, but is no longer effective. I did try to go back to my normal method of lapping with 600 with no luck. I'll continue to experiment tomorrow ad report back. Perhaps the flattening stone was shipped out not flat, in which case I'll need to lap that with 220....
Thanks guys for the input, I'll let you know what happens.

Ivo,

I was thinking of glaze in the sense where the hone material itself seems to get smooth. Some of my barber hones get progressively smoother and shinier the more they're lapped, but it seems to be the hone itself rather than a buildup of some kind.

With my Norton, lapping seems to remove any buildup of metal (and tape ) and "reset" the hone. I'm puzzled.

Josh

I'm not totally clear on what "glazing" means. Buildup of swarf, tape, etc. is called "loading," no? What is "glazing"?