Thread: dumping the norton

I've just picked up a DMT 8000 (D8EE) hone. I've only used it for maybe 2x 10 minute sessions so far, but at the moment I'm not particularly impressed.

It feels quite rough at the moment, with quite a few areas which 'snag' the razor. However apparently this is normal and the hone will smooth out somewhat with use, the rough areas apparently will hone just fine and not cause any damage (so they say).

I think I need to give it a little more time to settle in, and hopefully I'll start getting good results. I definitely can not get a shaving edge off this just at the moment, I use this first then a progression of diamond pastes.

It's quite cool that its perfectly flat though, and stays flat, and doesn't need soaking before use.

Matt, I don't know how long you've been honing, and I'm no expert, but you might want to think about hanging on to your Norton - even while you check out other stones. A couple of times I thought I wanted to replace the Norton as my go to stone (especially after reading so much chatter around here ) - only to come back to it when I ran into difficulties. If you don't touch it for a year, then get rid of it. Just a thought.

Jordan

Matt,

The issues you're having with the Norton seem similar to the ones I had, from what I've gathered. It could be that a Norton edge doesn't suit your beard very well. I suspect that you might find the Shaptons behave in a similar fashion. I haven't tried them myself, but from what I've heard I think there are similar challenges.

You might try natural hones, like the Belgian blue/coticule progression. It seems like a few guys who had trouble with their Nortons experienced better results with natural hones.

If you like barber hones, the Spydercos might be a good option.

I'd steer clear of the DMT 8K. I think you'd find that it worked OK but that you still needed some polishing afterward, which puts you back on the market for a finishing hone.

For what it's worth, as much as I love my hones, I still need to finish my edges on chromium oxide for them to really be comfortable.

Josh

Originally Posted by jnich67

Matt, I don't know how long you've been honing, and I'm no expert, but you might want to think about hanging on to your Norton - even while you check out other stones. A couple of times I thought I wanted to replace the Norton as my go to stone (especially after reading so much chatter around here ) - only to come back to it when I ran into difficulties. If you don't touch it for a year, then get rid of it. Just a thought.

Jordan

YES Jordan !.....I absolutely "ditto" that ! ! ! !

I haven't shaved off a DMT 8EE but when you run it over diamond pastes and then Chromium, I get very good smooth shaves.

Later,
R

I like the Shapton 4000 and 8000 ceramic on glass stones. No soaking, harder surface, agressive yet so far for me neither stone is turning my edges into overhoned messes. They work better for me than the Norton 4000/8000 did overall. Not as easy to do pyramids though since they're separate stones. I don't do pyramids at this point so it's not an issue for me; Not saying the pyramid is bad, it's just something I got away from but may go back to in the future. It's all about experimentation, baby!

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

I like the Shapton 4000 and 8000 ceramic on glass stones. ... Not as easy to do pyramids though since they're separate stones.

Why don't you try gluing them back to back?

If I were to dump the Norton ?????
I would have to either go all natural, with the blue & yellow and a natural high grit polisher....

Or I would switch to the full line of Shapton's 1k 4k 8k 16k & 30k

Since I am already familiar with the Shapton 16k and love that stone I would be slightly bias in that direction...

Of course this just a hypothetical question right????

Originally Posted by Bruno

Why don't you try gluing them back to back?

Nev-ah!!!

I'm keeping those beauties stock.

Really though, it wouldn't hurt anything. If I honed using the pyramid progression, now that I think about it more, maybe I would actually consider some double faced tape or something. You may be on to something there, Bruno without intending to!

Chris L

Originally Posted by Chrisl

I like the Shapton 4000 and 8000 ceramic on glass stones. No soaking, harder surface, agressive yet so far for me neither stone is turning my edges into overhoned messes. They work better for me than the Norton 4000/8000 did overall. Not as easy to do pyramids though since they're separate stones. I don't do pyramids at this point so it's not an issue for me; Not saying the pyramid is bad, it's just something I got away from but may go back to in the future. It's all about experimentation, baby!

Chris L

I have been using the glass stones instead of my Norton 4K/8K lately and the pyramids work just fine. The Shapton glass stones are a great alternative. I still have a couple Nortons hanging around as well.

Have fun,

Lynn