Thread: The Famous/Infamous Norton 4/8 "JaNorton 2012"

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

...Are folk going to hone once and only strop for the rest
of the month?...

No way! I'm learning too much, I'm going to keep going until my 5/8 razors are 3/8 razors...

Seriously though, I may take the W&B back to the 8k on the weekend, it was a nice shave with it (better than the previous attempt, which was also quite good) but I noticed some scratches on the edge under the magnifying glass that i think the 8k will remove. If not, it's back to the 4!

Originally Posted by richmondesi

Where is the joke?

10char

Originally Posted by Blix

Dudes, we're only three days into this, and now I firmly believe in: "If you can't shave comfortably off a Norton 4/8k, you suck at honing!"

Now joking aside, this is incredibly fun.

I'd have to agree, and I'm REALLY new to honing, anyone want a Shapton 16k? ;-)

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I'd have to agree, and I'm REALLY new to honing, anyone want a Shapton 16k? ;-)

Hehe, after this month the second part of Norton fun comes in, trying out various ways to bring the edge even further!
But yeah so far this have been an eye-opener and the Norton have taken quite a few of us by surprise!

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

I'd have to agree, and I'm REALLY new to honing, anyone want a Shapton 16k? ;-)

Sure, I will take it off your hands if you don't need it anymore :-)

Ok it's been a very busy beginning of the year for me and I did not have time to report on my first shave so I'm going to report on my first 2 shaves of the year. After the first shave I learned alot and the second reinforced much of the same.



1 January 2012 I was really excited about this day I've been looking forward to the start of this challenge for a month now and the kick off was no disappointment. I have been cultivating a full beard since the end of September, though, I normally have just a goatee, this event I decided it was all coming off. I left it long no trimming as I figured I'd always be working off of bare skin anyway and coming in at the top of the hair it shouldn't have been an issue as long as I honed right. I'm happy to report I did.

Pre shave: I ran my blade through 100 passes on each linen and leather then hopped in the shower for a nice hot 1 and a good noxema face scrubbing.

Shave: Was pretty straight forward got a good lather up with my Poraso applied the lather to a wet warm face and pulled off a respectfully smooth 3 pass shave I'm quite out of practice with my blade as the full beard didn't really afford many opportunities to shave more than the base of my neck. So I had quite a few nicks nothing major but lots of little stinging nuisances. This shave was also the first time shaving the chin and upper lip since I've started with a straight, I'm happy to report it went well.

Post shave: consisted of a cold water splash followed by the alum and a few shots with the styptic then some poraso pre/post shave and Nivea post shave moisturizer then a splash of original old spice for colorful words.

I learned quite a bit about my shaving and honing with this opener and I've gotta thank this wonderful site and Glen in particular for this challenge I even learned a little bit about life this time around.

1. my honing is good not great therefore I need to practice more that blade will see the 8k again, at least before the month is out.
2. shaving my chin is easier and more natural to me than my neck (who'd have thought)
3. I still have to work on my pressure while shaving every error I made this time out could have been avoided with less pressure.
4. I LOVE Poraso shave creme this was my first shave with it and now I see why it's such a goto for so many consistent stable and comfy.
5. I look horrible without a goatee now I remember why I grew it in the first place that's coming back before the end of the month like immediately. (I guess that means 2 was a pointless lesson)

This is me before the shave

And after


Shave 2
4 January 2012

Pre shave: did 50 passes on each linen and leather then a hot shower with a noxema scrub

Shave: went with the poraso sensitive skin shaving soap as it got bitterly cold around here the past few days and I didn't want to over dry my skin. worked a good lather into the whiskers and proceeded with a solid 2 pass shave WTG/ATG. Spent a considerable amount of concentration focused on keeping the pressure as close to non existent as possible with much better results only 1 nick and that wasn't all that bad either. I've started re shaping the goatee so no chin work this time.

Post shave: consisted of a cold water splash followed by the alum and then some poraso pre/post shave and Nivea post shave moisturizer then a splash of original old spice.

Lessons
1. I definitely need to continue with the pressure reduction as this was an infinitely more comfortable shave than last time.
2. I was pleasantly surprised to find shaving off the full beard did not destroy the edge I spent over an hour cultivating.
3. This blade is going to hit the 8k for sure on my days off next week it's good just not as smooth as I know I can get it.

Overall this has been a great start to the year and I've learned lots, my stones are going to get this blade perfect then they'll get a lapping just to be safe before the second blade hits them. Next shave is Saturday and I can't wait. Happy JaNorton to all.

Used the Brian Brown today. It's still not as smooth as the Gotta, so it needs more work, but a decent shave still.

My shave number 2 was with my Puma INOX. It was acceptable, but not great. I suspected it would be less outstanding than the Revisor based on my HHT results (unlike Gary, my calibrated test remains accurate on the Norton), and I was right. So, I did a few more circles with slurry before doing more x strokes on the 8K. I should shave later today with the Puma to see if there's any improvement. There's a reason that I chose this razor for the challenge. I can get a very good edge off of my coticules with INOX razors, but only my Shaptons make it easy. I'm looking forward to finding that greatness on the Norton 4/8

Originally Posted by richmondesi

My shave number 2 was with my Puma INOX. It was acceptable, but not great. I suspected it would be less outstanding than the Revisor based on my HHT results (unlike Gary, my calibrated test remains accurate on the Norton), and I was right. So, I did a few more circles with slurry before doing more x strokes on the 8K. I should shave later today with the Puma to see if there's any improvement. There's a reason that I chose this razor for the challenge. I can get a very good edge off of my coticules with INOX razors, but only my Shaptons make it easy. I'm looking forward to finding that greatness on the Norton 4/8

The shaptons are fast cutters aren't they??? Even my 16K seems to cut fast.

Originally Posted by Str8Shooter

The shaptons are fast cutters aren't they??? Even my 16K seems to cut fast.

Even the 30k cuts fast