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was going to buy a Nagura stone to both dress my Norton stone and to create a slurry for sharpening. instead i purchased an Arkansas stone from Lowes. it worked perfect on the Norton. creats a nice slurry for sharpening and helps to keep it flat while honing. this stone is small maybe 4"x 1/12" and maybe 1/2"thick, its mounted to a plastic base, which gives you something to hold onto when in use for about $10.00. they have a smaller one, im sure would work as well. :)
Careful George. The slurry you are creating is likely coming from the AK stone, not the Norton. This will throw off your perceived grit, so to speak...
Jeff
when i used the AK (its a light gray stone) the slurry on the 4k is pure white. and on the 8k its pure yellow. i thaught as long as the stone being used was a harder or more of a coarse grit it would be ok.
You might be alright, but it would make me nervous. There are far more knowledgeable stone guys than myself here, hopefully they will offer their advice on the matter. What it comes down to is practical experience. If it IS leaving larger particles than 4k on the stone, you should be able to tell with a microscope on the razor edge after a few laps on the slurry, and will likely be able to feel it with the honing stroke as well. There is a visible difference in the edge of a razor honed with 4k and one honed with something more aggressive. Namely bigger chunks of steel gouged from the edge. I could be overly cautious here, but I lap my Norton, and other stones, on an 11" DMT Ultra Fine diamond stone. The grit on it is supposedly 1200, and after lapping, I rub and rinse my lapped stone very thoroughly befor putting a razor to it. It is a well known fact that diamond is harder than any stone, but it will still leave the odd particle or two on them when used for lapping. I learned this the hard way. You can actually feel it when you hit a large particle that was left behind. You can see what it did to the edge too! Let us know how it works out..
Jeff
Jeff, thanks ill check this out a little closer.
You would be amazed at what one can do to ruin a stone <g>.
I took a vintage, well worn Coticule I had and tried cleaning the surface with a pumice stone. Well, as soft and crumbly as a pumice is I thought it would be fine. O few larger, "crumbs" came off of the pumice and cut dep grooves right into the Coticule!
Some 400 grit wet/dry, 30 minutes time and 1/16" of lost Coticule and it is good as new.......lesson learned about stray grit particles!
Tony
The norton requires only that the 4k side be soaked for at least 10 minutes to be saturated with water and the 8k only needs to be wet. That slurry making thing will mess you up on the Norton.
X
ok.. isnt honing in a slurry important. maybe ill scratch that idea and just stick to the Norton as is..thanks to all!
Norton makes Nagura for use with the 4K/8K stone. It is 3/4" x 3/4" x 3" and retaisl for around $17.
It is useful to lap the Norton with as well to even out the wear.
Tony
I use a 6" X 2" DMT extra fine to flatten my norton. I do this near running water and rinse when the slurry builds. When I am finished cleaning and flattening the stone, I rinse it well. I do my honing on a clean, wet stone. I do not use the slurry. The edge comes from the stone.
I think awhile back one of the experts here posted something on using a slurry stone to create a slurry and I believe the consensus was don't do it. Even though the slurry stone might be softer than the hone what might be happening is pieces of the slurry stone might be breaking off but the actual minerals in the stone could be harder than your hone and could be messing up your grit schedule.
I've been told nogura stones are like chalk but you really don't know. Afterall steel is really not that hard on the hardness scale in comparison to most minerals so a coticule with garnets which has a hardness of about 6 or so on the moh scale compares to steel with a hardness between 3-4 maybe. The Norton is faster because its harder, its ceramic. So its not just the grit size but the material thats why a diamond stone cuts so fast.
A slurry is important for a Japanese waterstone and a Belgian coticule but not for the Norton 4/8. However it does make for a faster cut but it also makes for a wider bevel and the edge is not as fine. If you really want to use a slurry on a Norton get a fine Nagura stone. If Norton has a slurry stone you might consider that also.
Just be sure to finish on the 8K side without a slurry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by George
The slurry issue is always subject to debate. Some school swear by it other say no way. I know that in Japanese tradion this is a major part of using the stones, creating a slurry with other stones but then again they are not sharpening razors as we are.
The info from the Beligand states that the stone will break down in use and the tiny garnets will become suspended in the slurry created and that is why they work so well. Both Dovo and Thiers-Issard use them and I was told by a reliable source at TI that they don't use oil for that very reason.....the slurry. They feel that other liquids like Naptha disperse the slurry and any peritcles faster and with their fine, thin edges they don't want any particles under the blade, only the stone itself should do the cutting.
There is a lot to be learned about this.
Tony