Thread: Narrow hones

Here is Nortons catalog In it the finest India stone they have is rated at 600 grit and it is the same color as your stone Or 22.0 microns in particle size.

Thats why we are saying your hones are too rough. Most guy here go finer than 1 micron in their sharpening, and many go as fin as 0.25 microns.

Even after clunking my razor on a faucet it doesn't get down to a stone in this category.

Oil stones should always be used with oil, you might be getting results not in line with what is expected from a stone of that type because it is clogged and therefore not cutting to its potential.

Norton impregnates their oilstones with a petroleum product that keeps the oil on the top from soaking in, thus keeping the swarf completely on top of the stone and suspended in the honing oil you add so that the stone remains pure and unclogged.

In a Normal oilstone honing progression it would be common to go from a extra fin India stone to a hard Arkansas or to use a soft Arkansas stone in place of the extra fine India stone. In fact for my kitchen knifes I use an oilstone progression starting at a fine India stone for blemish removal then moving to a soft Arkansas then to a hard white Arkansas stone for a finish, I don't go any finer with these implements as I don't think they need it, but for a razor I would start at the Hard white then move to a Black surgical and finish on a Translucent Arkansas if I wanted an all oilstone route.