Thread: First time honing--Sucess!

I bought/got for Christmas last year a Norton 4/8 combo and a Chosera 1k. I had planned on participating in the JaNorton challenge, but life happened and the norton remained in its case, unlapped and unloved. I used the chosera to sharpen a few knives, but set no bevels.

I fell off the straight band wagon when my only straight got smacked against its warped scale and rolled a significant portion of the edge. Plus my poorman's strop was nicked to heck.

I bought an awesome strop from RickBoone/stinkandstain.com and never used it.

Finally, tonight I said no more! I want to use a straight again. Enough of these less than manly single edge nonsense things. I want hardened steel against my throat.

Out came the stones. I had to dig, but finally found some sandpaper and lapped away on a piece of marble tile I use as a poor man's surface plate.

I picked this Fenney Tally Ho up some time ago, but set it aside in hopes I could hone it up "someday."

I set the bevel with the Chosera, checking it against my arm hair and stopping when I didn't notice an appreciable change in cutting ability.

I then went to the 4k, did x strokes until the edge felt sticky on the stone. Then the same on 8k. Then a little 1-5, 1-3, 0-3 pyramid action. 50 laps on nylon and 100 laps on leather.

Got a good shave. My face hadn't been shaved in a week and a half so the hair was incredibly long. I think the hair held extra water because my lather sucked horribly.

All in all it was a very rewarding experience. I honestly didn't expect that nice of an edge off the norton. I'm going to run the edge over some chromium oxide and iron oxide and see how she rounds up, but it's only up from here.


Now.......for a good finisher..........any ideas?

Good work.
I've been using naniwa 12k (white) lately, and it's as consistent as always.
There has been a flurry of activity in the classified hone/strop section.
For a little (?) bit more, you can grab that Charnley!

Good luck!

For your first finisher, I agree with Xuz on the Naniwa 12K...you can't go wrong.

Only other suggestion I have for you my friend is to have a pro-honed razor to compare to. I say this because I have come to find that many shavers out there who hone their own don't know or forget what a "nice" edge is all about. I am seeing more and more of this here lately, so please take no offense if you don't fall into that category...just want to make sure you are shaving with the best edge you can produce & urge you to be even better.

Congratulation on the first shaving edge by the way!

Congratulations! It always amazes me when someone can pick up some new stones and hone a razor to shave ready on the first go. My learning curve has been about 2 years and I've still got a ways to go. I envy you, LOL!

I have the Naniwa 12K and find it to be a great finisher.

Well MWS, it's because I'm highly intelligent, damn good looking, have a body like a god, and never cheat on my taxes. Lol. I sharpen a lot of pocket knives, and I think that helps. I could feel the edge getting close.

Shooter, I think the edge wasn't perfect per se, but definitely passable. Was it the best I can produce? Not even close. I'm going to go back and really wring everything out of the nortons and then finish on green and red paste on a balsa, then see where the edge is.


For you guys that have it--What's so great about the naniwa 12k?

Btw, I lied a little up there........sometimes I cheat on my taxes.............

The Naniwa 12k is a great finisher, vintage thuringian or escher are very consistent. I truly think that coming off a Norton 8k to a Charnley would be a mistake. You have to get the maximum potential of the norton, as you mention the Ja Norton thread is great i was part of it and
it really helped my honing. There also paste like crox after the 8k works well,and very helpfull to refresh a razor.

Jolly good on you!! while consistant results take time, it's alway fun to get great honing right off the bat!!
I think you first succesful honing will help make it easier for you to stick with it when things get dicy, and at some point they will, Congrat's and have a great shave every day!!

tinkersd.


"A World Without String is Chaos!"

Rudolph Smunts

That's awesome!! Congrats!

The Naniwa is "easy" in that if you have the Norton’s down, it doesn't take too much messing around to master it! Some other stones take a bit more "learning" or as I like to say, "love" lol. It's a great stone to use as a bench mark.

Its a nice feeling that first blade you bring back to life! good job

You can get a NICE edge of a Norton 8. I do prefer to follow up with my Shapton 16k, but I do like the edge of the 8k too. I only have those two hones and have never used anything else. If I had money to throw at the thing I'm sure I'd have a LOT of hones with funny names, but at the moment, I don't see a need to get any other hone at all...

So I'd get a Shapton 16k. The great thing about the Shapton is it doesn't need soaking, so you can drag it out when needed without soaking, drying, etc. and it's great just for touch ups; 1o laps on the4 Shapton (15-20 on my harder Swedish razor) is enough to keep my razors good to go most of the time.