Thread: Edge on Norton Hone

I still feel like the edges are a bit rough..don't know if that's just me being a bit paranoid or..Do people use paper on the sides of the hone as well when they get a new hone? I know you need to lap it prior to using but?

Originally Posted by Dups

I wonder if a 1k waterstone would be better at this than a 1k wet/sandpaper..

Just a point here. Japanese waterstones have a different rating system to SiC paper. So a 1K stone is about 400 grit in sandpaper equivalent. A 4k Jw/s is around 2000 wetndri. Less risk of convexing the edge with stones.

Originally Posted by Dups

I still feel like the edges are a bit rough..don't know if that's just me being a bit paranoid or..Do people use paper on the sides of the hone as well when they get a new hone? I know you need to lap it prior to using but?

On new single grit stones I lap one thin & one wide surface and chamfer their corresponding edges also. Even a slight pit on an improperly chamfered edge can catch your razor on an x pattern and wreck your efforts.

Stick with the x pattern. Forward strokes are for flat straight blades. A rare animal.

I would guess that you are not keeping an even FLAT stroke on the hone. The handles may be dropping slightly as you hone. This isn't a problem on the sandpaper as the edge has no grit and you aren't honing when the razor dips. The hone however is screwing up the edge when this happens. Your razor doesn't smile enought to be make it that much more difficult to hone. A simple x-pattern stroke on the hone should work well, as long as you keep the razor flat and use no pressure.

By the way I've used sandpaper to set bevels for years and have never had any significant problems moving to the hone afterwards

Originally Posted by Dups

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

Probably not.

How many strokes per sheet of sandpaper do you do?

I think you might be right about dropping on the side when I do my X-pattern.
I can't get the edges to be smooth enough that I don't have to worry about it.

have you checked out heavyduty's honing videos? they have a good demonstration of the rolling X pattern. i forget where they are. somewhere in here. sorry.