Thread: How sharp off the Norton 8K?

WOOHOOO! In about an hour I was able to get four razors to pass the HHT off the 8K side of the Norton. My jury-rigged diamond balsa strop and the 1 and .5 micron pastes have my razors sharper than I've ever gotten them before.

I almost didn't start this thread this morning, because I thought, "What will I learn that I haven't already read?" Well, it made all the difference.

Here's what I learned:
-The razor should pass the HHT (at least with my hair) off the 4K side of the Norton before moving to the 8K. I did about 10 light strokes to get it to that point.

-I need to do more strokes with more pressure on the 8K. I did 25 strokes with a good bit of pressure--haven't been able to figure out how much "two time the weight of the blade" is--using enough pressure that I was sure the blade would stay flat.

-After that, five to 10 very very light strokes puts the fine edge on the blade. After that it was passing the HHT pretty easily, although on some of the razors the hair was still "popping" instead of just slicing cleanly.

-Pivoting the handle about 1/8 of the way closed makes it much easier to keep the blade flat.

-Standing at different angles to the stone makes a difference. I have so much practice now with the side-to-side motion that it's actually easier for me to control than a N-S motion, but for the strokes with pressure the N-S is better.

Thanks Alan and everyone else. I'm not at honemeister level yet, but I think I'm making progress toward that goal. You guys are incredibly helpful.

Now I can put my Norton away for a while and work on my shaving technique. Yippee!

Josh

Congrats! It was all you man. The skills were locked in there all along.

I shaved this morning with one of my newly honed razors, a 5/8 roundpoint Solingen Razor Co. model that is fast becoming my go-to blade.

It was a thing of beauty. I felt like I was just wiping lather off my face--no tugging at all on my cheeks, and only a little bit on my chin.

I even got most of the work on my chin done with the straight, switching to my DE only for a quick clean up.

I'm psyched. Thanks again everyone.

Josh

A question about the HHT. I can't get ANY of my hairs to cut just by hanging.

I hold the razor flat (horizontal facing away from me) and move the hair over the razor. The hair just bends. I don't think that my hair is very coarse... is that the problem?

Am I just chasing a dream? Is there a better way to test for sharpness?

The best test is the shave test. My blades can't cut any hanging hairs growing long enough in this house but they still give exceptionally smooth and irritation free shaves.

I was working on my new Norton tonight and I'm having a really tough time getting any hairs to cut too. Could it be that the coarseness or lack thereof of the hair affects the HHT?

I bought one of those $10 microscopes at Radio shack and I look at the edge an it looks very nice and smooth after some laps on the 8K, but I don't know. The hairs just get pushed away from the blade pretty much all of the time.

I do feel that I've gotten very good at keeping the blade flat while applying hardly any pressure at all. That took some time to get comfortable with.

Maybe since my hair is somewhat fine (on my head) I should just try shaving with them and see what's what.

Using fine hair for the HHT makes it very difficult to pass. My hair is just right but I never let it grow long enough lol.

Originally Posted by spacetoast

I was working on my new Norton tonight and I'm having a really tough time getting any hairs to cut too. Could it be that the coarseness or lack thereof of the hair affects the HHT?

Yes. The best hair to use for the HHT is probably facial hair, but most of us don't have any long enough anymore.

The hair on my head doesn't work with the HHT, so I use the hair on my arm instead. It took a little experimentation to figure out which part of my arm had the best hair for the HHT. I used a honemeister blade and went around my arm popping hair until I found where the hair got fine enough that even it couldn't pop them. Then I used that as my target while honing.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Yes. The best hair to use for the HHT is probably facial hair, but most of us don't have any long enough anymore.

The hair on my head doesn't work with the HHT, so I use the hair on my arm instead. It took a little experimentation to figure out which part of my arm had the best hair for the HHT. I used a honemeister blade and went around my arm popping hair until I found where the hair got fine enough that even it couldn't pop them. Then I used that as my target while honing.

That is an excellent idea. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm just going to send one of my razors to someone so I will have a standard to compare to.

That certainly makes me feel better knowing about the hair thickness. Sitting at the table with your hones and razors and feeling like you are getting nowhere is a bummer.

Spacetoast,

It's funny how we're all so different: My arm hair is blond and so fine that I've never been able to do the "arm hair test."

Your best bet is probably to get a honemeister razor and learn the thumb test. I'm working on getting a feel for that now.

If you can snag some hairs from someone else, or possibly a dog, that might work for you too. I have a handful of hair in a little ziplock bag that I kept from last time I cut my hair.

Josh