Thread: This sucks...

Last night I dragged my wife and 3 month old daughter on a 2hr round trip car ride just so I could purchase my Norton 4k/8k and flattening stone. (My wife thought I was nuts...) Anyway, I got these bad boys home, drew my grid on both sides of the hone and proceeded to lap each side until flat.

I then took one of my new Wapienicas and tried my hand at honing (first time ever)... what I discovered is that I truely suck at it. As I honed the razor, I noticed that I was getting an uneven bevel on one side, and absolutely NO bevel on the other. WTF... to make matters worse, after each pass on the hone, I was able to clearly feel a wire edge with my fingernail. <sigh...> At this point I was beginning to get a little frustrated so I grabbed one of my other Wapi's and gave it a go.

Better... I was able to produce an uneven bevel on both sides. I relapped my hone and tried again... a bit better,... bevel was more even, but nothing great. Only the point and heel were able to cut any hair at all. So I applied more pressure to the blade to try to set the bevel better, which I managed to do, but I also wore the spine on the razor a bit. The razor will not pass a HHT, but I was able to shave a patch of hair on my leg with ease.

So... after approx. 3hrs of dorking around with my razors, I finally went to bed... ... very, very unhappily. I'm really starting to feel like I'm in over my head with honing, but feel like I need to stick with it, as I want to learn -- plus I can't possibly justify this expense to my wife otherwise.

I have accepted heavydutysg135's offer to hone my razors, but I feel like I should keep practicing on one to learn this skill for myself. I plan on doing a pyramid on the second razor tonight to see what happens.

My overall feeling right now is still ... ... this sucks!

- Ken -

This is what you call the learning curve. Everyone goes through this phase and it indeed does suck. Like with any other skill, the only way to get past this sucky phase is to keep practicing. If you are getting an uneven bevel then this means that you are using uneven pressure (too much in some areas). One of the most important aspects of honing (along with being able to assess relative blade sharpness) is developing a perfect stroke with light even pressure along the entire blade. You must be able to consistently perform a perfect stroke going both directions before you start to get the results that you want. If you have not already done so, check out the honing section on Lynn's DVD. If you don't already have it then I will let you borrow mine. This will at least show you what a good stroke looks like. It will just take time to develop the feel for yourself. FWIW I have never heard of anyone that was able to put a great edge on a razor the first time they used a Norton; and the difficulties that you have to overcome now will make that first great shave from a razor that you honed yourself even more sweet. If you get frusterated then it is time to take a break. Have fun.

I agree with Heavyduty, but you might also want to check and see if the flattening stone is perfectly flat, if not you can use low git sandpaper to flatten it as well.

I really don't think that the flattening stone is the issue. It is the honing stroke that must be developed.

After 2 rounds of lapping, I'm hoping the hone has been properly flattened. I think the issue lays more with my inability to hone properly... yet! (But, I shall persevere...)

- Ken -

You might also have a slightly warped blade!

Hey Ken,

Happy to hear that you got your 4k/8k, I think mine's still en route from Florida or probably smashed to pieces in some customs office in an 'accident' in Winnipeg or something... bastards... oops getting off topic.

I'm not sure what Lynn has on his super-famous dvd, but I know that ToxiK has done some videos of himself honing, and on a norton, so I'll post the link below. He's very very informative, gives lots of tips, and all you can see is him honing an eBay special straight from a 1k to paste strop and passing HHT with ease, even got his patented 'Smells Sharp' adage attached to it.

I've watch them all about 5 times (also great for going to sleep if you've got insomnia haha as very very simple, dry, and rhythmic), and at least feel like I'll watch them another few times after I get my norton just to make sure.

He had posted one video at youtube, but the rest are at Daily Motion
Hope this helps a bit, and good luck man!

I'm in a similar situation - I just got my first hone, a Norton 4k/8k, and a couple of Wapis to learn on. On a side note, I got both a 5/8 and a 4/8 Wapi, but I thought they'd both be 5/8. Not really a big deal, the 4/8 may become my detailing razor, I just thought it was strange....

Back to the issue, what flattening stone did you get? I know that from time to time, the Norton flattening stone also needs to be flattened, but is it possible that it might need it straight from the box? That is, if that's the stone you got for flattening! The whole "flattening the flattening stone" issue is why I just got a DMT to begin with - it never needs flattening, and you'd use that to flatten a flattening stone anyway! Plus, I found a really good price on them!

All this said, I still haven't honed. I'm trying to find a good container to soak the Norton in, and possibly store it in the water. I don't know if that's a good idea, but according to Norton, they can be submerged long-term without problems. I know Lynn said he just leaves his in the water constantly, but like he also said on his DVD, he uses them every day!

A question I haven't really seen addressed before - does the water quality have an effect on the stone? The water around here sucks. Lather of any kind isn't easy to come by, be it shaving or washing lather. I find I have to use more of the soap/cream to generate any usable lather at all, and it dries up fast, even when I use a lot of water! I use one of Oskar's scuttles though, so maybe I'm using too hot of water in the reservoir? I plan to soak/store the stone in distilled water. With all the minerals in the water here, I could just see it. I'm lapping the Norton, and when I lift it from the DMT - wow! Calcium! Efflorescence for the masses!

Just curious....

Sorry about the hijack!

Joe

Originally Posted by Mojo

A question I haven't really seen addressed before - does the water quality have an effect on the stone? The water around here sucks. Lather of any kind isn't easy to come by, be it shaving or washing lather. I find I have to use more of the soap/cream to generate any usable lather at all, and it dries up fast, even when I use a lot of water! I use one of Oskar's scuttles though, so maybe I'm using too hot of water in the reservoir? I plan to soak/store the stone in distilled water. With all the minerals in the water here, I could just see it. I'm lapping the Norton, and when I lift it from the DMT - wow! Calcium! Efflorescence for the masses!

Just curious....

Sorry about the hijack!
Joe

I really think that the type of water should have absolutely no affect on the honing. Hard water has particles that are dissolved, they are not floating around. If anything the metal swarf that is quickly created from honing would have more effect, but even this has never been an issue for me. If you want to make sure, buy a bottle of distilled water; however, I really don't think that it will make any difference.

I used distilled water as we are on a well and I get much better results with the bottled stuff. It's about $.50 per gallon at all the grocery stores.

Lynn