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

I just had the most successful and comfortable shave to date with a Straight using a German H.Hill Blue Steel that i got on Thursday. Prepared with the circle method and Lynn's suggested pyramid and then what seemed like and eternity of stropping. I could definitely live with this level of comfort without question if my skills didn't improve and i never experienced a high grit of stone. Thanks guys for all the tips.

Originally Posted by Martin103

To each his own, but are you sure you pushed the 8k edge as far has it will go is my question!!

the simple answer is yes. I have been honing long enough and after using the 8K as a finisher I am confident I have gotten all but what maybe Lynn or Glen would get with it. I can get a nice three pass shave off the 8K. I much prefer the 12K or 16K edge. In some cases I go higher but that is only on a few razors out of 126 that are in rotation. Razors like case and other new york/american steel that have a higher rockwall. Also my razor that was made by Kenny Powell in A2 steel is another that likes to be pushed farther with the Cr Ox after the 30K shapton.

Originally Posted by Str8Shooter

the simple answer is yes. I have been honing long enough and after using the 8K as a finisher I am confident I have gotten all but what maybe Lynn or Glen would get with it. I can get a nice three pass shave off the 8K. I much prefer the 12K or 16K edge. In some cases I go higher but that is only on a few razors out of 126 that are in rotation. Razors like case and other new york/american steel that have a higher rockwall. Also my razor that was made by Kenny Powell in A2 steel is another that likes to be pushed farther with the Cr Ox after the 30K shapton.

Thats great i would assume that with a lot of experience honing this would be a little boring, for me a great learning experience,
Enjoy!!

Originally Posted by sharp

Just to try something different, I started JaNorton with one of my razors (WM Elliott) finished on the 8k side with lather. I didn't notice any benefit to the edge and it actually seemed to slow the stone down quite a bit (I did my normal finishing routine and It needed about 2.5 times as many laps on the lather to get it where I wanted it).

Your observation that lather can slow a hone down is a good one.
There are hones (mostly barber hones) that are too aggressive for
some faces, Honing with lather tempers the hone and lets it hone as
if it is finer.

One thing to try is to hone it in your normal way and then
wipe some lather on it and use it instead of a 10k hone.
Or use your 8k on Saturday night with lather to refresh
the edge. For a refresh the idea is to never have the razor
feel different but at the end of one month, two, three... remark
"golly this razor shaves nice".

A recent post by 32t "you have to compete one step before moving on"
is something that I noticed in Lynn's video. Racing to 8k is not
as effective as getting it right on 1k and 4k. My best edges
seem to "happen" on those days when I play with my 1K, 2k, 3K, 4k
hones. Playing with my 8k, 10k, 12k, 13k hones in isolation
is not at all productive.

Originally Posted by Str8Shooter

As with all things, opinions differ. I don't like the shave edge off my 8K. Can I shave with it? Sure. Do I want to when I can push MUCH better with a higher stone? Hell No!!!! I can drive with my feet but that does not make it a good idea. for me I much prefer the edge I get off the 16K shapton.
That being said I believe my edge's are better now that 8Kpush my 8k farther then I used to. Some razors i bevel set on the 1K, some on the 4K. Some even on 220!!!! It all depends on the razor.

I think that we agree more than it seems. I interpret the spirit of JaNorton is to use a readily available stone at a relatively reasonable cost to get a good shave. Maybe not the "best" but good. I can use a stone found on 1/2 acre {hectare} in Botswana and have the most fabulous shave. [I just made that up!] OOPs I should not have said that. I have only 2 left that I can let you have "cheap"

Tim

Originally Posted by 32t

I think that we agree more than it seems. I interpret the spirit of JaNorton is to use a readily available stone at a relatively reasonable cost to get a good shave. Maybe not the "best" but good. I can use a stone found on 1/2 acre {hectare} in Botswana and have the most fabulous shave. [I just made that up!] OOPs I should not have said that. I have only 2 left that I can let you have "cheap"

Tim

agreed. It wasn't a horrible shave off the 8K. I just like str8 shaving so I get a great shave. same with a DE. If I didn't care I would still be using a mach 3 with goo is all I'm saying.....
Paul

Will be back on track tomorrow. Birnando gave me a Filarmonica EBPD to try out at the meetup yesterday, so I have to give it a try today...

Encouraged (emboldened?) by the success I have had with the two razors I had chosen to use for a month, I added one more to see how it would respond: my recently acquired Zowada.

I taped the spine, killed the edge and got out the 4/8 Norton. After a 15 minute soak, I did 25 rolling x-strokes after painting the edge with a marker. Examination under a loupe showed a little more work on the toe was needed, and I did 25 more strokes paying particular attention to the toe. The bevel looked good, and it passed a TNT along the entire edge. Finished with a final 25 strokes and it was shaving arm hair well.

Replacing the tape, I moved on to the 8k, doing sets of 25 strokes with no pressure, only the weight of the blade, and checking with the loupe and an HHT after each set. At the end of the fourth set, the scratches from the 4k had been erased and the edge popped hair along its length.

I finished with 50 laps on linen, then 100 on leather, and shaved. The shave was every bit as good as the Zowada had given before the edge was killed.

Rick

Been distracted honing a few razors up for a barber shop & testing them & troubleshooting a stone, so didn't get to do much experimenting this week (both razors still shaved well), but did shave today w/ the Berg after another experiment. I gave it 40 circles no pressure on the 4k to remove all previous finishing & then 20 x-strokes 8k. Wiped the stone damp & did a 3-2-1. Stropped & shaved. Felt very similar to lather afterward, but I think lather works the best so far on this razor. I'm going to try this exact same protocol (except for only 15 strokes 8k) on the Gunmetal & see how it compares.

Originally Posted by georgephillips

This reminded me of something i heard as a technique used before concerning lather and stones. Does anyone have experience with using something other than water on the surface of the Nortons? (And by other I mean soap shaving cream lather, not oil) Has this been something that people have found to provide better or smoother polishing while honing?

After reading your comments and those by niftyshaving yesterday my morning shave took a lot longer than normal. After starting to lather up I washed it off again and ran upstairs to get my hone. I lathered up the 8k and got my first learning experience of the day. It doesn't need much lather. I couldn't see the edge. I need the visual feedback. I wiped most of it off and the blade just slid across the stone. Out of thin air I picked the number 30 and did 30 very light X strokes. Then 100 laps on my Latigo strop. 3 pass shave, one wtg and 2 atg. Noticeably smoother.

While doing all this I kept checking with my 50X scope. While standing in my basement under the corner light [Not my normal position!] I noticed something that intrigued me. I have noticed how the angle of the light changes the scratch pattern that you see. At the very edge there was a change. I first though a burr but I could see it on both sides and not feel a difference. It was less after my experimenting. My latest thinking is that I have been doing much more stropping than I normally have. Could I be making a micro convex bevel with the strop?

When you get done laughing any comments would be appreciated.

Tim