Thread: Norton 4k/8k Slurry

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.