Thread: Slurry

I started using my New Norton 4000/8000 and I've realized it's going to take a lot of honing to sharpen a razor that's never been honed before.

I've been reading around online, and most instructions I've seen talk about the slurry doing the sharpening, and to build up the slurry first.

What is slurry? How do I build it up on my Norton?

Nortons don't take a slurry. You can use pressure on the 4k side to speed things up.

That's the generally accepted stance, Michael.

Bill Ellis did make slurry (with rotten stone). He says it wears the Norton faster but speeds up honing for him - so he's willing to do it.

I also make slurry sometimes - with lather, as on a barber hone. But I hear it ruins your stone, so do it on your own risk. For me - it's very messy and PITA but gives good results (= smoother edges).

Also - with lots of water and pressure - I'd say we also get slurry on the Norton.

Just another data point, as Ed would say

Cheers
Ivo

I'm trying to put an edge on that new ebay razor from Poland. Is it normal for this to take FOREVER with the Norton 4000/8000?

i'm assuming you have one of the wapienica razors. Generally those don't take much effort and get a nice edge pretty quickly. You might want to describe your honing process so that others can give you some tips

Originally Posted by edk442

i'm assuming you have one of the wapienica razors. Generally those don't take much effort and get a nice edge pretty quickly. You might want to describe your honing process so that others can give you some tips

Thanks!

I soak my norton's for 5 minutes or so in water, then add water while honing to keep the stone fairly wet. Then I try to do like I've seen in the videos:

Spine and blade both on the stone, holding the shank with 2 fingers and a thumb on the spine pushing the blade forward across the stone with a little pressure, down and slightly across, in a small "x". Then I flip the blade along the spine and pull it towards me reversing the path.

It has a small bevel, but nothing like the one on the other razors I have. You have to really look to see it.

About how many laps on each side of the stone do you normally need? I've done about 100 laps on the 4000 side, and 60 or so on the 8000 side. Is my perspective of "a lot" just too low, perhaps?

Do not go by the size of the bevel, as all 7 of the Wipienica razors that I honed have had very small but incredibly sharp bevels when they are shave ready. You have already done WAY more strokes on both sides of the Norton than what is necessary to get the razor shave ready. 100 strokes on the 4K side will lead to unnecessary hone wear and 60 strokes on the 8K side is way too many and will lead to an overhoned razor. Look up Lynn's pyramid method and do a small pyramid to get the razor shave ready.

Originally Posted by heavydutysg135

Do not go by the size of the bevel, as all 7 of the Wipienica razors that I honed have had very small but incredibly sharp bevels when they are shave ready. You have already done WAY more strokes on both sides of the Norton than what is necessary to get the razor shave ready. 100 strokes on the 4K side will lead to unnecessary hone wear and 60 strokes on the 8K side is way too many and will lead to an overhoned razor. Look up Lynn's pyramid method and do a small pyramid to get the razor shave ready.

Crap.

Thanks for the info. Hope I didn't ruin the blade.

You did not ruin the blade.

Have you shave tested it yet? Strop it for 50 round trip laps on plain leather then test shave. Let us know the results. Then we can go from there.