Thread: How much time/effort should it take to lap a Norton 4k/8k

Great advice indeed.

Especially when I had lapped my stone until the pencil grid disappeared and then read the reply about doing it a second time. Lo and behold . . . more flattening to be done. Just finished it and what an amazing difference it makes to the look and feel of the stone. The amount of ground up steel powder in that thing was very shocking, but I suppose it should be expected.

I for one, was just amazed at the amount of yellow and white slurry juice that got washed away to get this stone flat again. After dropping the $$ for the stone in the first place, I was almost tempted to put the sandpaper juice through a coffee filter so I could weigh the debris and put a price tag against it.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. My hone is now in better shape then when I bought it.

I am not keen on the sandpaper route unless you attach it to something flat. If your using your hand it is luck of the draw I would recommend some sort of lapping stone worth the investment.

Like Josh, lap my stones after each use. That way I can always start my next honing session with a flat hone. When I am removing nicks on my norton 1000 / 4000 I sometimes lap in between too.

Think of it like this: if you lap after each use, you only need to remove a tiny bit of material, so it will be done very quickly. If you wait, you need to spend a lot more time.
I heartily recommend using a flattening stone.

They are a lot quicker than the sandpaper, a lot less messy, and easier to use.
The norton flattening stone costs 30$, and in bang per buck it was the best investment I ever made for honing.

Currently I am using a DMT 325 grit (55$). It cuts a bit slower, but the diamond plate can also handle all other types of stone without problems.

Hi why don't you just buy a norton flatterning stone that is what i use it cleans the stone and flatterns the stone i use it quite often just to clean the stone sometimes.

The main reason I lap after every honing session is that I don't like what happens to the edges of the hone as I work. On the 4K side especially, the edges seem to get really rough. I think it's because the shoulders of the blade hit the stone and wear it down quickly. I don't know if it hurts the edge, but that nasty gritty feel makes it hard to imagine the edge improving as I go along.

It's hard to lap away part of your expensive hone, but keep in mind that if you don't lap it, you're edge won't develop the way it should. In the end, you'll be using up your hone anyway and not getting good results. Worst of both worlds.

Lynn has gone through seven to 10 Nortons at this point, last I heard, but it took him 10,000 razors to get there. So I think your hone will hold you for a while.

Josh

All good advice above!

I use wet sandpaper laid on a piece of plate glass. The plate glass is wetted and placed on a few wet pages of old newspaper on a tile counter. 400 grit for start on 4K and 8K Norton; then 600grit for both. 600g and 1000g for the 15K Pro. Shapton followed by 1000g and 2500g. 3000g for the Shapton 30K glass. I like the ability to use the grits I know work for me. After a session, I keep the washed sandpaper standing in the sink to drain then insert them separately into an old issue of Shotgun News along with the plate glass. I store on tile with some flat weights (books).

Monte

Once again I will state that after fighting with sandpaper I bought a DMT 8C. I now feel that the DMT should be standard equipment with a 4/8 norton. This is the best money a young aspireing honemeister that has a norton could spend. I lap every couple of razors. It dosen't take much once it is flat.

Don