Thread: New Honer!

OK, so I've now got every shaving bug I think I can get...now just to FEED THEM ALL!

I have the norton 220/1K, 4K/8K with lapping stone set on its way. I own a Chinese 12K. I own a strop. With practice, I can now take care of my razors. Nice.

Does anyone know if the Norton Lapping stone will flatten the chinese 12K, or do I need to do the sandpaper/glass technique to flatten the Chinese 12K?

Now I need to find a CHEAP razor to practice on that has a decent enough balde to give fine shaves IF I do it right. Anyone have any recomendations or (even better) a razor like this they wouldn'tr mind getting rid of?

I have four razors that came shave ready, now I need to match that!

If it was me I wouldn't try the Norton flattening stone on the Chinese 12K. My impression is that it is a rather hard stone and might mess up the Norton. I would opt for a DMT D8C continuous plate.(not the mesh) I would put the Norton in the classifieds. Having 4 shave ready razors is a great head start. Now you have a benchmark to shoot for in your own honing. Antique stores locally or ebay are my source for razors. In general most Solingen or Sheffield blades are of a high quality in my experience. Just get as many as it takes to give you the practice you need.

Thanks for the help. You said you would send the Norton tothe classifieds...you wouldn't keep it for flatterning the Nortons?
On that note...will the nortons need flattening when they get here?

If you watch Lynn's video he was using the Norton for flattening and it served him well so I expect you could use it and get along fine. I don't care for them because I am a flat freak and they can wear and change. A D8C won't change and it will be as flat as it was when you got it for years. It is good for taking out serious chips in damaged blades and doubles as a knife or other tool sharpener. It costs more then the Norton so I would ........ and did ....... get back some of the cost by selling the Norton.

The D8C will flatten any hones you get from now on. You will wear out before it does. Yes the Nortons will need to be flattened when you get them. Any hone will. You can get hones pre flattened from some vendors at an extra cost but to me that is a waste of money because you will sooner then later need to do it yourself if you are doing any amount of honing at all. BTW, this is just my opinion and with all things in this hobby there are other points of view.

Fantastic info, thanks again. Appreciate the help.

Now I'm off to ebay to find a lot of cheapos to practice and learn on.

How much more work is involved when using the dmt d8f over the d8c to lap the chinese 12k? Thanks.

Originally Posted by ejcjr

How much more work is involved when using the dmt d8f over the d8c to lap the chinese 12k? Thanks.

Luckily, my Chinese 12k came pre lapped from Chris L, cause I'm here to tell ya, that is one *hard* stone. I can't imagine trying to lap it with anything less aggressive than an D8C. I get much better results raising a slurry with my D8EF than with a slurry stone, but even then it requires a fair bit of rubbing to get a good slurry up.

A hint when using the Norton Lapping stone to lap the Norton stones....
The plate will leave a rougher surface on the stones then say the DMT or a Shapton DGLP
Start with the 8k stone lap and set it aside
then the 4k lap and set aside
finally the 1k
The 220 I just do a quick rub down on under running water...

Take the 1k stone and rub it and the 4k stone together under running water, then do the same with the 1k and 8k this will leave a much smoother surface on the 4k/8k.... You could also use high grit sandpaper to accomplish the same thing, but using the stone is just quicker and easier...

IIRC it was MParker that came up with this system always lapping higher grits down to lower grits on your lapping plates, to prevent grit transfer problems, and then rubbing the stones together to smooth out the higher grit stones... If you had all separate grits this becomes even more effcient.... as you would rub the 1k to the 4k and the 4k to the 8k etc: