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

Another flawless smooth Norton shave!

Honing regimen for todays shave: Pretty much like Glens latest Norton video.
Prep:
Killed the edge on the scuttle, confirm with a TNT.
apply tape
Razor is the 13/16 Globusmen
4K
Circles with slurry, around 30 with firm pressure
Then another round of circles(20) with medium pressure.
5 reg strokes
5 x-strokes
5 reg strokes
TNT, bevel ready. Pops hair all along the edge
5 "finishing" strokes
Bevel ready in literally 2 minutes!

8K

5 reg strokes
5 x-strokes

Pyramid:

4k: 5 strokes
8k: 10 strokes
4k: 3 strokes
8k: 10 strokes

Finishing 8k:

Change tape
Clean off hone
Wipe off excess water and "20 laps to dry"

Stropping:

Illinois #827
80 passes on linen
190 on leather



By blix72 at 2012-01-09

Surprisingly I got my very first self honed close shave last night after following Lynn's circle method, and then the pyramid of 4K/8K. I was really happy with the results of the shave as in after 3 passes I was close to BBS in most areas except my neck. The actual feel of the razor though still tugged a bit and parts of the third pass were approaching painful. (oddly the thayers splash down didnt sting like i expected it to.) My question is this, would others here in order to get smoother results take both razors back to the 8k and strop more all at once, or would taking the razor to the 8k for a few laps before each shave progressively sharpen and smooth it out a little?


**as a side note this thread and experiment influenced me to pick up a red imp and a EDACO which hopefully will be here in the next few days, so i can have a broader range of razor blade types and sizes to experience honing with.

So, 9 nine days in, I'm pretty happy with how this little experiment is going.
This far I've done both razors three times, not because it was needed, but because I wanted to try my darndest to get as much experience from the event as I possibly could.
It is a good thing I have a head to shave in addition to my face every day

I have tried to learn and adopt quite a bit of the various methods you all have described in this thread.
So, thanks everyone for participating

Today I've re-done the edges from scratch again, dulling them on the edge of the stones before starting.
I started out with setting the bevel using a mix of circles first, and then x-strokes. Slightly rolling on one of them due to the geometry of the razor.
Quite some pressure was used during this stage.
I seem to rely on feedback from the hones, the feel of how it glides over the hones and watching the water, so I'm not able to give an accurate count on number of laps, but I would guess around 40-60 circles and 40 x-strokes did the trick.
After this, the razor felt right on the two tests I have calibrated for my use. I always use the TPT and arm-hair test at this or any other stage in the honing. The arm-hair test was just slightly above skin level. Later on in the honing, the edge gets raised a fair bit away from skin level when popping them hairs off.

Then I continued on the 4K with about the same, maybe slightly less, laps of x-strokes using a more moderate pressure, easing up a bit as I felt it was getting close to max on that stage.
Once I felt it was where I wanted it, I did about 20 x-strokes to finish that stage using no pressure at all.

So, on to the 8K.
It is quite amazing to see how little work it takes on this stone, it really doesn't take much to get it from a 4K to a 8K bevel.
What I did today was to use a little bit of pressure for about 30 x-strokes, then it was absolutely no pressure for about 25 more.

I stropped both on linen (60), intermediate (40) and fine grained leather (60)

Both razors performed admirably, and in my book, they were both shave ready.
Sure, I cannot claim that they are on par with the razors I have that where finished on higher levels of finisher, but truth be told, the difference ain't big. At all.

And the story continues....

Yup

Tough one today with my TI Le Canadien, honed using circles then a pyramid. I think I need to go back down to the 4k because it was pulling pretty nasty. I believe I placed too much confidence in my ability to set the bevel with the slurry on the 4k, which might have been because I wasn't concentrating on detail. Still, the good thing is that the stones are right here and there's no lack of helpful information!

Lucky for me I have a lot of possible technques in this thread for what to try.

Full writeup here: http://straightrazorpalace.com/begin...tml#post903823

5th Shave

Razor : 7/8" W&B chopper

Method :

Again, I did 5 sweeping X-strokes on the N4k.

I then went to the N8k with just water. Using only the weight of the blade, I did 10 sweeping X-strokes again, then rinsed the hone, and did 10 more sweeping X-strokes with the OPPOSITE hand. I rinsed the hone and razor again, and did 10 X-strokes with my left-hand, then 10 X-strokes with my right hand with JUST the weight of the blade...no pressure.

I then stropped 40x on my homemade denim cloth strop, followed by 40x on my homemade cowhide leather strop.

Shave : I did my usual 2 pass shave (WTG, XTG), following the same prep procedures I always do. The shave this time seemed to be just as good as shave #4. There was no discomfort when applying witch hazel after my shave as I always do. Not sure what to do the next time...any ideas? I'll try anything, but I don't know how to top this one :P

Originally Posted by avatar1999

5th Shave

Razor : 7/8" W&B chopper

Method :

Again, I did 5 sweeping X-strokes on the N4k.

I then went to the N8k with just water. Using only the weight of the blade, I did 10 sweeping X-strokes again, then rinsed the hone, and did 10 more sweeping X-strokes with the OPPOSITE hand. I rinsed the hone and razor again, and did 10 X-strokes with my left-hand, then 10 X-strokes with my right hand with JUST the weight of the blade...no pressure.

I then stropped 40x on my homemade denim cloth strop, followed by 40x on my homemade cowhide leather strop.

Shave : I did my usual 2 pass shave (WTG, XTG), following the same prep procedures I always do. The shave this time seemed to be just as good as shave #4. There was no discomfort when applying witch hazel after my shave as I always do. Not sure what to do the next time...any ideas? I'll try anything, but I don't know how to top this one :P

Sounds to me like your razor has reached its limit on the 4k/8k, i stopped honing both my razors and just using them in a rotation
and doing good stropping trying to refine the edge a little more. Just my 2 cents

Teaser warning!

Thanks to this thread, I got my point and shoot rigged up to my toolmaker's microscope.

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my 4/8K tomorrow. This is going to be fun!

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

WARNING, a stupid newbie question coming up I should know the answer to. I got a brand new Norton flattening stone today from a VERY nice fellow from here for nothing. Thanks VERY much, Sir, you are a true gentleman!

On the instructions it says "for best results, bring the waterstone to the flattening stone". I read that as "Place the waterstone ON the flattening stone [not vice versa, as I generally do]. Does anyone lap their hone by placing the hone ON the lapping stone/plate? I guess it may not really matter, as long as which ever is on the surface is on a flat surface, the entire surface is lapped, and the *right* amount of pressure is used, however, it's my tendency to over think things, which in a way is better than not thinking at all (maybe, is it?)...

It can matter.
If you want to grind an initial spherical curve in glass to make a
telescope mirror the mirror blank goes on top. The top blank
will get concave and the bottom blank (both are glass) will get
convex. Grinding optical flats is terribly difficult.

This is why a large DMT or largish lapping plate is used to
flatten a waterstone. The good news is that as long as
all honing surfaces have the exact same shape you are good to go.

A DMT is a winner because it is so much more durable than a
water stone that it wins. It is possible to round a hone by
sliding a DMT too far over the top so yes waterstone on top
under running water is best. BUT having said that:
consistency is more important.

Originally Posted by Blix

...Wipe off excess water and "20 laps to dry"...

Hi Blix.
So you did 20 laps without water? How did that go? I haven't yet heard of doing any laps without water...