Thread: An Embarrasing Honing Situation

You know what, that is a good idea, and it won't remove much metal to be dead certain if that is it. Janovar mentioned dulling the blade like that, too. Here goes...

So I'm back, did the dulling the blade test...It wasn't the bevel that was off. The razor started cutting my arm hairs again after 20 circles. Which, I decided to use instead of strokes, because upon closer examination after dulling and-resetting the bevel, I realized that there were a couple spots on the 4k side of the hone which were...gritty. And I didn't feel it before. This time around, I felt the texture changed in the middle of the stroke, so used the non-gritty area for circles. No problems now. Shame on me thanks to all who helped

Originally Posted by joenasarino

So I'm back, did the dulling the blade test...It wasn't the bevel that was off. The razor started cutting my arm hairs again after 20 circles. Which, I decided to use instead of strokes, because upon closer examination after dulling and-resetting the bevel, I realized that there were a couple spots on the 4k side of the hone which were...gritty. And I didn't feel it before. This time around, I felt the texture changed in the middle of the stroke, so used the non-gritty area for circles. No problems now. Shame on me thanks to all who helped

It sounds like the 4k side needs more lapping

yes, it most certainly does. such a little thing makes such a big difference sometimes

This is not the first time I read about grittiness of a Norton. I cannot understand why they still are recommended here.

Originally Posted by Kees

This is not the first time I read about grittiness of a Norton. I cannot understand why they still are recommended here.

Huh? Based on such ambiguous criteria is there anything you can recommend ever?

I certainly would very much like to buy 1-5 hones that can fix quickly any razor with 3mm chip to the finest possible edge, cost about $50 total, preferably much less, and don't require any maintenance ever. Same things about a razor that's guaranteed to give the best possible shave, costs $10-$15 honed and doesn't show any signs of wear....

I also read a bunch of times on the internet that using shaving brush will cause antrax and kill you. On shaving websites.

I think what the guys are saying, among other things is; You need to be sure what stones your using. That's important. Some razors do take longer than others. Just step away, and start fresh another time. This has worked for me in the past.

Originally Posted by Kees

This is not the first time I read about grittiness of a Norton. I cannot understand why they still are recommended here.

I have been recommending for at least a couple years now, that you should lap the Norton 4K past the gritty outer layer. Once you do, you get one of the most reliable and consistent hones out there in my opinion. I still use my Norton 4K/8K combos about 50 percent of the time and still wear out the 4K side a couple times a year.

As I mentioned previously, I had a razor that I could never get up to the level I wanted. A custom S30-V blade. It would shave but I wasn't satisfied with it and kept taking it back to the hones. I had a bunch of alternative hones and used them all but couldn't get it where I wanted it to be.

Sent it to a friend who is known to be a honemeister and he worked on it and told me that it would never give a really comfortable shave. I finally dialed it in with a Nakayama Asagi that I got from a forum member. My honemeister friend had taken it to a level where that little bit more from the j-nat seemed to do the trick.

Yesterday I gave it ten round trips on my Livi loom strop chrom ox canvas. Stropped on clean linen and leather 50/50 and now the thing is super sharp and smooth. Have to see how long it lasts but my point is that some are just tougher than others. If you've got some chrom-ox do some laps on that lightly and politely after you get it as good as you can on the hones.

the nortons are funny...I initially lapped this stone on 220 wet/dry, then on 400, then on 600, for quite a while, because I still felt that gritty feeling. I thought it was gone, and now it seemed after several honings and lappings some gritty spots reappeared...that I find strange. Has anyone found different layers of grittyness in their stone? Lynn? I'm just hoping I don't lap this thing down to a nub and find there's still a gritty spot..