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

Originally Posted by jdto

This should be educational. Is there a rookie category? So far, I have only used my 8k as a finisher on the handful of razors I've honed, to mostly good reviews. I have a nice comparison, with 2 TI Le Canadien 6/8s, one done by Maxi and finished on the Escher,.one done by me and finished on the 8k. I've been curious to try the one-stone 4k/8k method.

There is a let's have fun category whoops that is the whole shebang

Originally Posted by Magpie

I'm in if there is room for one more. =)

Most certainly plenty of room pull up a chair

Man, I missed this thread!!!

Is there room in here for a beginner, and I mean, raw, have only managed 3 bevels EVER kind of beginner????

I'm in because I suck totally at setting bevels. I have the required hardware, just am lacking in knowledge.

I have tried and tried, watching vids etc.. reading everything I can, but you can't get pressure from a video.

I've kind of stopped trying now, because I need someone to show me how to do it right. I've realized that I won't get it by myself.

So, I'd like to join in on this challenge, and maybe I will come out of it knowing how to set a bevel with my 4/8 norton. Maybe???? I'll get lucky and it will work.

Mike

Go for it, why not? We're here to help and talk about how we use the norton, solve problems on the norton, lap the norton, etc.

You should perfect for this to me.

I started tonight thinking why wait until January.

For my first razor I chose a George Westenholm and sons Washington Works frameback. It is my first frameback and has the biggest smile I have ever tried. It hasn't been honed in many years so it didn't need its edge dulled.

After watching the video I lapped my hones. It went pretty quick as they didn't need it.

I used one layer of tape on the spine and over 200 rolling x strokes later I was happy with the bevel. I would have stopped sooner but there was one rust pit that I had to remove. I say over 200 because I lost track counting in the middle. I held the stone in my left had. Pushing away from me I got the stroke down pretty well. I had trouble hitting the toe on the return. I used what I consider heavy pressure during most of this time lessening towards the end.

Once I was happy with the bevel I did 25 light strokes on the 4000 and 30 using the 8000.

For stropping I used a Beau Brummel strop that I got from a friends dad. He said he bought it in 1960 when he was in barbers school.
I did 25 passes on the linen and 25 on the leather.

I will find out in the morning how it shaves.

Tim

I wonder how Lynn will fare with testing the ones he hones for other people if he's only allowed to shave with the 2 norton honed ones this month :P

cue backlog!

Originally Posted by fragalot

I wonder how Lynn will fare with testing the ones he hones for other people if he's only allowed to shave with the 2 norton honed ones this month :P

cue backlog!

Lynn used only the Norton 4K/8K to hone razors for 2 years............

I heard he was getting fairly comfortable with this stone.................

Originally Posted by Lynn

Lynn used only the Norton 4K/8K to hone razors for 2 years............

I heard he was getting fairly comfortable with this stone.................

that's not what I questioned..

when I last spoke with you you said you couldn't keep up with testing the razors you hone for other people as it is due to your beard not growing fast enough...
and now you're technically not allowed to shave test them as it'd void the challenge

The spirit of JaNorton, as I understand it, is to learn/teach as much as possible about the Norton 4/8 and rediscover our appreciation for this hone.
It's supposed to be a fun learning experience - the main rule was to HAVE FUN!

If you're a stickler for following the "rules" of an event that's just for fun, the way Glen laid it out is:

Originally Posted by Glen

You have to use these two razors as often as possible, as many times as possible during January

It does not say that you can't shave test other razors - just get the most use possible out of two particular razors on the 4/8.

..........

A major milestone!!!!

Ok, I took my experience from yesterday's honing session and tried to apply what I'd learned today.

First lesson: Lynn's Circle video got me closer to a good bevel than I have ever gotten before. I shaved with the 2 razors I honed and was 'satisfactory' but not great. Good friends on SRP made a few suggestions to enhance the results, still using the circles.

Second lesson: The 8k can polish a lot better than I previously thought.

SO, I took yesterdays razors and started over today. I worked the 4k just as Lynn teaches. However, this time, I was not completely satisfied with the resulting bevel and how it raised hair, so I repeated the process on the 4k a second time, exactly as previous.

When I thought I was done on the 4k, hair was leaping off my forearm like NEVER before. So, I took it too the 8k.

I followed through with the circles and Straight and X strokes, keeping my elbow up as instructed. I examined it closely and thought it could be polished a little better. I completed 40 Straight and 40 X strokes and tested it again. I restarted at the light circle point in the process and went through the entire progression again on the 8k.

I finished with an additional 40 str8 and 40 X's and tested again. This time hair literally LEAPED of my arm. I made a pass about an 1/8 above the skin and hair literally covered the blade. I think I have it!!

I'm going to shave with just this razor today and see if it improved over yesterday. I believe I can even see a difference in the edge through the loupe. Amazing. I'll take to 50/50 to the Strop and see what I think.

Wish me luck!!!

Mike