New Norton WaterStone Help Please ..

... so I tried to hone one of the gift razors this fella' gave me while cleaning out his basement, and I'm getting worried that maybe the blades not getting sharp from pyramid hones because it's not perfectly flat? It's a Norton 4K/8K combo stone, I soak in in water for 10+ minutes and do a heavy usage pyramid like Lynns DVD suggests.. then strop 30 strokes but it's dull as all hell .. Researching the site, I think I saw someone mention that I had to flatten a new Norton Waterstone before it can be used with some 600 grit sandpaper and some countertop or plexi-glass piece for flat surface? Is this true? Why don't the Norton stones come flat since they're purpose is for sharpening blades - seems they'd want them perfectly flat if the goal is to sharpen blades.. Any suggestions for me on this? Also.. can I go right from the 8K to a strop and skip an 8K cuticle stone? I'm not sure how required a cuticle 8K stone is and the stone to make slurry.. if it's 8K just like the norton stone is.. ??? Any help would be much appreciated!


Thanks!
Jeff

Lap the stone. Use wet/dry sandpaper until it is flat enough to create suction to an ordinary flat surface. As to the reason they don't, ya got me. Its probably the same reason razors don't come sharp. Conspiracy maybe?

Don't use the coticule with a slurry. You might try it a little wetted and see if it improves the edge a little.

If these are important razors why not consider sending them to a pro, I have heard of a few guys actually destroying razors by honing them and having no clue what they are doing. Learning to hone on a razor you actually shave with or that is important isn't a good idea.

And also, don't use plexi-glass...definitely not stable enough. A piece of granite, plate glass, the Norton truing stone, or a DMT are all much better option.

Good luck,

Mark

My Norton was not razor "Flat" when I got it, cause it was not kitchen knife flat to begine with. These are mass produced stones and only get a quick go over before they get boxed and sold. Some will be acceptable most will not.

As far as Razor Flat is concerned, I don't think there is an out of the box stone that I would trust to be flat. Stones sold by venders here that hand pick their stuff I would almost trust fully... almost, I'd test it on a lesser blade before the good stuff came to meet it.

I've been on my stones for over an hour today so I'm a bit chatty about them (I may be stalling about getting back to them...). I also flatten after each session. That way when I get them out I have flat stones to work on.

Draw a grid on the stone with a pencil and when all the lines are gone, you'll KNOW it's flat. It's not a half bad idea to round the edges a tiny bit too.

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