Thread: King + Norton Progression?

Hi everyone, its been quite a while for me but I'm still in pursuit of the smoothest possible edge I can hone. I've recently got hold of a couple new stones and I've definitely had a bit of improvement in my edges as a result. The new stones are pretty familiar with many of you I think (King Ice Bear 1/6k combi and the Norton 4/8k combi) and I'd be grateful to hear your experiences. I'd like to know if anyone has tried this as a progression....
simply. King 1k, Norton 4k, King 6k then Norton 8k ??
I've read in places.... somewhere? that the king1 is finer than the Norton 4 and likewise
the king 6 being finer than the Norton 8. Not so sure about that, what do you guys think?
ps I always end up finishing with a nani 12 but I think the former work is all important.

My first honing setup consisted of a King 1k and Norton 4/8k combo stone. That combination was slow, but manageable and once I was able to shave with the edges off those hones it made learning my Naniwas and Shapton Pros a breeze.

Thanks. I guess I'm trying to establish where the other grits fall into place after the King 1. in particular whether the King 6 would go before or after the Nrtn 4 or even perhaps after the Norton 8 which has been suggested somewhere else. What I really need is a bunch of old blades to experiment on but they're difficult to come by in the UK...cheaply anyway.

Originally Posted by jonjo

. in particular whether the King 6 would go before or after the Nrtn 4 or even perhaps after the Norton 8 .

Using a microscope this would be easy to determine. Hint, look at the tooth in the edge, not the scratch pattern.

King 1K, Norton 4K, Norton 8K - strop and shave.

Watch the Video of Lynn finishing a blade on the Norton 4/8 and using less than 10 strokes on the 8K. If you did your part on the 4K it really doesn't take much at all or require any in between steps.

Stones take as long as they take. It depends on the hardness of the steel. Lynn hones a lot of Dovo razors which are quite soft.

Originally Posted by bluesman7

Stones take as long as they take. It depends on the hardness of the steel. Lynn hones a lot of Dovo razors which are quite soft.

This is also true, and the exact reason I don't hone by numbers. But the point I was getting at was you'd just spend more time than it's worth slipping anything in between the Norton 4K and 8K. I don't think I've ever been satisfied with just 6-8 strokes on the 8K, but I've also never gained anything trying to work a filler stone in there either. YMMV.

I've seen folks test the King 6K vs the Norton 8K. Some say they're about the same. Some say that the King stopped improving the edge at a lower level of polish. Since the OP has them both they can see which they prefer. But in this case I would imagine it would boil down to using whichever is finer, and letting the other collect dust rather than forcing it into the progression just to be able to say it was used. My wager is that the Norton 8K is finer, but I don't have a King 6K to test it against. Just suspicion that if the 6K were as fine or finer, we'd have a King 1/6 thread to go along with our JaNorton 2012 thread.