Thread: Sanded Norton

So I was cleaning all the swarf and mold from my Norton with some ultra fine sand paper and now the 4000 side feels much smoother than it used to. It also seems to be applying a less drastic action to my razors. I scrubbed it with an acrylic brush to see if there was just sand stuck in the pores, but it's still the same. Is this to be expected?

X

I cleaned my 4k side with a pumice stone and it was funky for a bit.

Originally Posted by RichZ

I cleaned my 4k side with a pumice stone and it was funky for a bit.

What do you mean "funky"?

X

Originally Posted by xman

What do you mean "funky"?

X

I do believe it would mean... it wasn't quite right....

Hope this is what RichZ meant.


Terry

Originally Posted by wvbias

I do believe it would mean... it wasn't quite right....

Hope this is what RichZ meant.


Terry

That is right on the money!!

What do you mean by sandpaper? You don't mean actual dry sandpaper do you? You lap with wet/dry sandpaper, not dry sandpaper. You may have the "sand" embedded in the Norton. Otherwise, your fine and its just got the post lap smoothness the stone is actually supposed to have. And then the question would be "what took so long?". LOL... What have you been honing with?

Yes, its supposed to feel that way, just a little different. Now, just to make sure that you don't have any embedded abrasive grit from the sandpaper take the hone and place it under running water and rub it with a nylon scrub pad and/or your fingers to remove anything that should not be there.

The general rule that I currently follow is to use either a very hard stone, like the chinese 12000, or a coarser stone, like the Norton 1000 to lap either my Norton 4000 or 8000. It seems that the particle's from the 1000 do not become embedded and the chinese 12000 is so hard that it appears not to leave any debris. Just a hunch on my part but thats whats been working the best for me. Later, when I get another 4000/8000 I will lap like with like.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Yes, its supposed to feel that way, just a little different. Now, just to make sure that you don't have any embedded abrasive grit from the sandpaper take the hone and place it under running water and rub it with a nylon scrub pad and/or your fingers to remove anything that should not be there.

The general rule that I currently follow is to use either a very hard stone, like the chinese 12000, or a coarser stone, like the Norton 1000 to lap either my Norton 4000 or 8000. It seems that the particle's from the 1000 do not become embedded and the chinese 12000 is so hard that it appears not to leave any debris. Just a hunch on my part but thats whats been working the best for me. Later, when I get another 4000/8000 I will lap like with like.

Great to have someone I trust confirm my own method of lapping. The first time I lapped my Norton 4/8K, I got a lot of imbedded grit from the sandpaper. This was particularly bad on the 4K side (the 8K side cleaned up quickly with a nylon scrubbie). I had used 440 wet/dry silicon carbide sandpaper on a granite lapping plate.

Since then, I've used only my Chinese 12K to lap all of my other stones. Works like a charm.

Just another data point,
Ed