Thread: removing knicks on Norton 4k?

To be honest, I'm not sure whether I've ever experienced a well honed razor. When my razor was sent to me I was assured it was shave ready, but it didn't feel great to shave with. For all I know the guy who honed it might have put the knicks in it and I've only just noticed them. I've no idea if the guy who did it was great at honing or poor at honing.

If it were honed by someone like lyn, I could have faith in the honing and put the less-than-perfect shave down to poor technique.

As is, I'm not sure how the knicks got there, but I gotta get 'em out. I don't know of any honemeisters in England, so, rather than send it on a long trip across the pond to Lyn, I wanna jump in feet-first and begin learning to hone.

There are two or three ways to go for honing in the UK. Poona here on SRP (over in Belfast) will hone it for postage and a small fee. From my experiences I would be tempted to start out with at least one good reference razor. It lets you know what you should be expecting. I have various eBay razors I am 'experimenting' with right now re honing - I wouldn't like to rely on any of them till I know better what I am doing. And that doesn't happen overnight - at least for me.

Hope it works out - it just takes a little time to get it just right. And I'm still aiming at that myself.

cheers
Stephen

Thanks, Stephen. I think you're right about my needing a good reference when learning to hone. I've heard of Poona, and am gonna get a few razors to send to him in a couple of months. Poona's studying for exams at the moment, so, understandably, he's not offering his honing service till they're over.

I'd like to work on this razor in the mean time, and I'm hoping I don't have to invest in an additional stone. Hopefully I'll be able to get it closer to where it should be, then I can check it against a well-honed razor in a few weeks. Frankly, I'm a bit impatient and eager to get into honing.

Patience is not one of my virues either, however I think it is worth cultivating as a reference point is essential. Good luck with what you decide to do - remember that you are not alone, there are lots of folk spread around trying to sort this skill out satisfactorily. Keep checking back here for support - that's my strategy.

Yes... the 4K will remove the nicks...

Whip up a good amount of slurry and start honing past the chips, the 4K slurry works fast so keep checking the edge so you don’t remove more steel than you need to... shouldn't take too long for those small chips.

When you’re done, first, wash the blade, dry and set it aside.
Then thoroughly wash the hone, this will remove any 4K grits that may “drip” down on the 8K side.

Important… wash the 8K side last.

Then polish on the 8K with some slurry, don’t forget to do the Thumb Pad Test (TPT) while on the 8K to be sure when its shaving sharp.

Of course you will read posted threads about honing a smiling edge if that’s the kind of edge on your razor.

When you are done... strop and you should be good to go.

Hope this helps my friend

I'm not sure, but I think Bruno or LX_Emergency could hone you a reference blade. May be not LX as he's a new father, but check with Bruno - he's over in belgium which is not that far away.
If that doesn't work, I could probably part with one of my reference edges.

Thanks, guys.

Smythe, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, and really good advice for using the stone. My Norton will be arriving in a couple of days, so I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

Thanks, Gugi, I'll check out LX and Bruno, and pm you about your razor.

I think the best idea for me would be to get a second razor as a reference, rather than send my own out for honing, since I really want to get started learning this skill. If I get my razor honed I'll probably be anxiously waiting for it to go dull and lose its edge, just so I could put it on the stone and start honing.