Norton hone help

[smalltank]

so...got my Norton set in 220/1k/4k/8k/naniwa 12k...

I was going back n forth between 1k and 4k..didnt do much..realized ohh..maybe I should re lap my stones..felt gritty til now just realized it..ok ok...relapped and much smoother..my razor is just starting to cut armhair..just barely though..not smooth or without slight effort..keep going on my 4k til it gets sharper then go to 8k?

ST

[ace]

You can try going back and forth, but I'd recommend staying with the 1K until you are sure you have set a proper bevel. From there it is a matter of polishing the bevel with the 4K and up from there. Without a bevel properly set, you are wasting your time moving to higher grits.

[HNSB]

You'll have to experiment to understand what cutting of your armhair means...

Probably though, you should do more on the 4k before moving up... Just keep looking for improvement. When you don't see improvement anymore, try moving up.

[smalltank]

Pietersman in the chat told me..going back to a 1k wont do anything other than waste time and metal..so I should go to the 4k til its sharp enough...it does cut arm hair..though when I feel the blade with my thumb..isnt really sharp..make sense?

[HNSB]

I'm assuming that Piet told you that based on the fact that the entire edge is cutting arm hair - that being the case, the bevel is probably set, and any more work in the 1k is indeed wasting steel.

On the 4k, you need to experiment until you can reliably tell when you are done with the 4k. A good way to start is to look for improvement, and then move on when you don't see any more improvement.

[JimmyHAD]

Check out these two tutorials on pyramids with the norton 4/8. They are in the honing section of the SRP Wiki, which is now apparently named "Library" on the toolbar .... for some unknown reason .... Anyway .... if you've set a good bevel the 4/8 pyramid works well for a beginning honer IME. Give it a shot ;

Pyramid honing guide - Straight Razor Place Wiki

Honing - Alternative approaches - Straight Razor Place Wiki

[HNSB]

... Wiki, which is now apparently named "Library" on the toolbar .... for some unknown reason ....

We went PC... Library sounds friendlier than wiki.
Besides... We were running out of things to confuse you with.

[smalltank]

Well..went in for a test shave with shave cream..shaves well I think...
12k is my finisher..I go some laps on that..re strop..re test shave..though its tough to REALLY tell as I shaved yesterday..but it gets mostly of where I put the razor.

[JimmyHAD]

Depends on what stage of the game your razor is at. Does it shave arm hair when laying on the skin all the way from heel to point ? Or does it pop arm hair without touching the skin ? Have your read the description of the bevel set in 'honing, alternative approaches' in link I provided ? Does the bevel look like what is described in that tutorial ? When the bevel is correctly set we move from the 1k to the 4/8 pyramid. When the razor is done with the pyramid it should shave well, heel to point. Going to the 12k before it shaves well at the 8k level is not the best way to go about it.

[smalltank]

yes..read both links.

umm..its not "scary" sharp..but it shaves my arm hair at every point..heel..middle and toe with no effort...maybe I should wait a few days and see how it really shaves..also went 30 laps on my leather strop after 12k laps back n forth as well..small circles also on my hones....I read somewhere every razor produces different edges..so its been a month or so since I had any of my razors sent out