Thread: Contaminated Norton 8K ?

Excuse the length . . .

I have a brand-new Norton 4K/8K. I lapped it on 400-grit sandpaper, chamfered the corners with the sandpaper, rinsed it off well, and cleaned the blue plastic box.

And then I think I did something really dumb - cleaned off the Norton with a green Scotchbrite pad ("replaces #0 steel wool").

I'm working on a Henckels carbon-steel razor -- nothing fancy. There was substantial edge damage, which I took out with sandpaper hones (600 / 1K / 2K), down to a clean bevel. Then started working with the Norton.

Everything looked OK after honing on the 4K side.

After honing on the 8K side, there were some deep scratches in the bevel that I didn't remember, and several tiny chips in the edge - visible under 10x diamond loupe.

I went back to 2K, smoothed everything out, good edge. After 4K Norton, everything looked fine.

After 8K Norton, scratches and chips again, on one side of the edge, at one end of the edge. I have a peculiar honing pattern, and that damage can only have been caused by one section of the Norton.

My deduction:

. . . One part of the 8K surface has been contaminated by coarse grit.

I can't see it or feel it.

What do I do next? [Besides "Resign" . . .]

thanks --

Charles

PS -- after CrOx pasted strop and leather strop, the edge seems pretty good. I'll try it out tomorrow. But it still has those !@#$% scratches and tiny chips.

Your 8K side may have some contamination or inclusions that are causing your problem, as you have already surmised. Why not just re-lap it if you suspect that the surface is not what you want? Whether the problem is stray grit embedded in the stone or a defect in the stone itself you can just lap down to a clean surface and start over.

Another possibility is that the specific razor you are honing may be micro chipping as you work down to a polished bevel. Can you try another razor and see if you get the same results? The Resto guys can speak to this better than I can, but you may still have some porous or oxidized steel that will not permit a smooth polished edge until you set a bevel that removes all the suspect steel.

Relap. And then hone again.

If the damage still occurs, turn the hone around so that it is reversed from how you'd normally use it and hone again. If the damage is now in another place, you have reason to believe there is a contamination in the hone. If the damage is still in the same place however, something is wrong with your technique or perhaps the steel itself.

I suspect this is one of the reasons for an X stroke while honing. It would be less likely to repeat a stroke over a 'bad' part of the stone..

I just went through this honing a W&B wedge. I had massive scratches and a few chips towards the heel.

I think that after I restored the razor, I did not remove enough of the old steel to find the nice clean stuff underneath. Unfortunately, I can't help with the 8K issue. I contacted another member, which you may want to do if you have the opportunity, and he lent me one of his Coti's.

The natural stone took care of the honing issues, quickly.

Hone seems contanimated to me. For the future, I would get a dmt 325 plate for honing, its much easier than sandpaper.

That being said, just relap it a few times, this will remove any particles left in the stone.

Thanks to everyone -- I re-lapped the 8K side, and the scratching disappeared. There's a nice polished bevel, now.

Every new problem is an emergency, I guess. Thanks for the calming advice.

Charles