Thread: Trouble with Shaving off a Norton 4k/8k

Okay, so after some practice I have a shaveable razor off the 8k. It's not sharp enough to get a really comfortable shave off the chin, but for the neck and cheeks its fantastic. Naturally, there's room for improvement, but I've been practicing a bit over the last few days. One of the razors I'm practicing on that I have a question about is a razor with a smiley.

I am attempting to use the rolling x-pattern, and I feel like it's going fairly well given the fact that I have essentially zero honing experience. I've found that watching where the puddle of water is in front of the blade is a great indicator of where the contact is being made. Using that, I try to keep the puddle of water towards the right of the hone as I make my x-pattern. Does this sound right? Right now I'm not able to do that 100% of the time, but with each stroke my results get more consistent.

Josh

Originally Posted by josh69162

I am attempting to use the rolling x-pattern, and I feel like it's going fairly well given the fact that I have essentially zero honing experience. I've found that watching where the puddle of water is in front of the blade is a great indicator of where the contact is being made. Using that, I try to keep the puddle of water towards the right of the hone as I make my x-pattern. Does this sound right? Right now I'm not able to do that 100% of the time, but with each stroke my results get more consistent.

Josh

Just make your strokes stone will have enough water always if you strokes straight(not lifting up one side of the blade etc) it will push the water.
you will see water from heel to tip.
it seems like you are cutting water.
hope this helps.

take pressure out when you hone on 8 k.

When using the rolling X stroke your key is to watch the puddle of water move from the heel to the toe of the blade as you make the stroke. If the water goes under the blade then you have not made the stroke correctly.

Your doing well, keep practicing.

Only after I bought a 12k naniwa did I actually learn to get a shave-able blade off an 8k (go figure!) I was surprised at the quality of the shave from an 8k, but also by the small amount of resistance that I once thought was "pulling". I can only describe the resistance as the difference in "forgivibility" between a true straight and a shavette. I think at least for me, the trick to get a blade ready off an 8k is to begin with very slight slurry and then with each set of 15 or so X-strokes, dip the stone in water, clean it off and with each set gradually reduce the slurry until there is none (this may be common sense to the more experienced folks though). Once there is no slurry just keep doing X-strokes to polish the edge and then strop it. I don't typically follow a pyramid but rather keeping the same number of strokes, but varying the amount of slurry.

This made me realize that when I started out I just kept doing sets on the stone with the same amount of slurry. By doing that you always end up keeping deep scratches and grooves in the edge and it doesn't get finer over time. But by reducing slurry as you go, it refines those scratches making the edge better.

Just my two cents.

Originally Posted by Eclipse

Only after I bought a 12k naniwa did I actually learn to get a shave-able blade off an 8k (go figure!) I was surprised at the quality of the shave from an 8k, but also by the small amount of resistance that I once thought was "pulling". I can only describe the resistance as the difference in "forgivibility" between a true straight and a shavette. I think at least for me, the trick to get a blade ready off an 8k is to begin with very slight slurry and then with each set of 15 or so X-strokes, dip the stone in water, clean it off and with each set gradually reduce the slurry until there is none (this may be common sense to the more experienced folks though). Once there is no slurry just keep doing X-strokes to polish the edge and then strop it. I don't typically follow a pyramid but rather keeping the same number of strokes, but varying the amount of slurry.

This made me realize that when I started out I just kept doing sets on the stone with the same amount of slurry. By doing that you always end up keeping deep scratches and grooves in the edge and it doesn't get finer over time. But by reducing slurry as you go, it refines those scratches making the edge better.

Just my two cents.

So the stone with the slurry will be slightly coarser than the same stone without the slurry?

Also how do you form the slurry?

Did u lap the stone.?

Slurry on a Norton, whatever the grit rating, is rather unorthodox. Slurry won't be any more coarse than the hone, but having those free, moving particles above the surface of the hone causes deeper scratches than having the partially exposed grit in/at the surface.

There is a lot more to honing than just grit ratings.

Slurry on a Norton, whatever the grit rating, is rather unorthodox. Slurry won't be any more coarse than the hone, but having those free, moving particles above the surface of the hone causes deeper scratches than having the partially exposed grit in/at the surface.

Said much better than my post. What I meant was those free moving particles keep "dinging" up the edge as your honing and by reducing the amount on each successive set of strokes (and therefore having a slicker, more wet and flat surface with the water) I would imagine it to refine the edge more. Like I said, it's hard to explain but this method turned out to be the way to get my blade working off an 8k which I never was able to. Also, I taped the spine with 3M electrical tape and used as light of pressure in the final few sets of strokes as possible. I also used two hands when doing X-strokes: 1 finger guiding the toe and the other the heel. After inspection with a 30X jeweler's loupe the edge (I thought anyway) looked pretty good. It delivers a beautiful shave with a minimum of irritation.