Thread: Edge on Norton Hone

Originally Posted by Dups

yes I think they are...The hone is pretty much brand new (got it second hand but it was only lapped and used about 3 times by the previous owner)

respectfully, "I think they are" is not good enough. You have to be sure. If you look at the edges of the hone, you must clearly see evidence that the 90° edges are chamfered or rounded, so that the edge of the razor can't bite into the hone, as you do the X-stroke. It's easily fixed with a bit of sandpaper, if needed.

You said that the razor makes a different sound at the middle of the hone.
That's not good. That Reynolds doesn't have a smiling edge, does it? Because that requires a variation of the X-stroke, called the "rolling X-stroke". Not really advisable to for a first honing job.

It's also possible that the previous owner lapped the Norton on cheap sandpaper, and that it has some foreign grit embedded. It wouldn't hurt to give it a good scrubbing with a nylon bristle, under a running tap. That's generally recommended to deal with such problems.

You should not set that bevel on sandpaper. Not because it's not possible to do it that way, but because it's going to be far easier to do it directly on the 4K. (Not quicker, but easier)

Make sure that 4K is fully functional and get to work. Stay on it till the job is done. You will get there and it won't take you hours. Doing a bit of this, and then doing a bit of that, is never a recipe for honing success. The Norton 4K is what you got, and it will do the job.

The method for doing a lot of work on the 4K is in a post I made to another thread, a few days ago.
http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...tml#post291191

I don't think you're that far away from a good bevel.

Good luck,
Bart.

Thanks for the great info! Actually I think it is a bit of a smiling edge...What grit would you recommend for rounding the edges and corners of the hone? I used the grid system and a norton lapping stone to lap both sides of the stone just yesterday.

The 1K grit sandpaper would be fine. Just put it on the edge on the sandpaper and rub a few times back and forth. It doesn't take much. The smallest visible evidence of a bevel on the hone's edges is enough.

Hard to say if the edge itself is a smiling edge but the spine definately is

I felt like I was so close this afternoon after using the 1k sandpaper, I could pop some hair off my leg and then I moved to the norton for a pyramid and it totally ruined it.

Are you able to post a picture?

Is that Norton a combo? Otherwise you could try honing on the small side of the hone, which is the easiest way to hone a razor with a little smile.
The problem with a smiling edge is that the middle part of the edge will easily contact the hone while the toe and heel part won't touch the hone at all. Honing on a small honing surface deals with that. You could also do the rolling X-stroke, but that doesn't work with the method for doing heavy work on the 4K, as I described it in the linked post.

Originally Posted by Dups

I felt like I was so close this afternoon after using the 1k sandpaper, I could pop some hair off my leg and then I moved to the norton for a pyramid and it totally ruined it.

I think that you got a convex bevel a bit off the sandpaper. It's a typical problem with that method (already explained earlier on in this thread). It won't take you very long to fix that on the 4K, provided that the 4K is fully functional and that you manage to deal with that smiling edge.

I think I got the edges of the hone (norton 4k/8k) a little smoother..In order to avoid going over the sides..could I simply do forward strokes instead of x-pattern...I think I've read somewhere that forward strokes work just as well?

Only when the edge is completely straight (no smile) and the blade without the least amount of warpage. Applying a bit of pressure to the razor will force it to touch the blade, during the first part of bevel formation. But at a certain point, it is important to keep the pressure as low as possible, to gain further sharpness. The X-stroke continuously shifts the points of contact that the razor makes with the hone's surface. This rules out certain parts of the edge not becoming sharp because they don't contact the hone.

I got a dovo tortoise coming in the mail..Hopefully that one should be easier to hone..