Thread: Honemeisters and (final) hone

I am just testing my hypothesis, here it goes:

NO honemeister here finishes a razor on Norton 8K for customers.

I am pretty certain that this is the case, and also believe that other people who can state they are very good at honing also use other / additional steps after the 8K.

This post was inspired by opinions / statements that we do not need anything after the Norton 8k. I believe that this is correct, as I have had multiple razors shaving from 'well' to 'extremely well' after the 8K. However, these razors are almost never as sharp as what I have gotten from Joe and Bill. While there is certainly skills disparity involved, I am absolutely sure they use other / additional tools. So I just want to make it clear that while we do not 'need' much after the Norton 8K, we are unlikely to get the stellar results honemeisters get without additional tools and steps / work.

Cheers
Ivo

Depends on the razor. I have gotten magnificant results from the Norton 4K/8K only on some razors and in fact used it exclusively for quite a while.

Have fun. Hope I qualify as a honemeister..........hahahahaha

Lynn

Buuuurn!!!

Thanks, Lynn. In fact, I have had magnificent results from the 8K for a Fili and a Puma, and just a tad worse for a Heljestrand and an Engstrom.

So is there some 'rule' - certain brands / grinds / steel work well with the 8K, or is it strictly individual (according to your experience)

Thanks
Ivo

The one razor I got results comparable to finer finishing results was the TEW, but Lynn has a few thousands of blades on me so he came across a few more.

I'm not a honemeister, but I've gotten outstanding results with the 8k on a few razors, my W&B frameback gets every bit as sharp on the 8k as it does on the boron carbide. But I generally polish everything on the boron carbide or chromium oxide anyway just from force of habit.

I may not *need* the chromium oxide, but I sure as heck *want* it :-)

I use only barber hones (American Hone Co. "Reliance" and "Little Devil") and a vintage Belgian. Never used a Norton. I've used the Belgian to finish, but have also finished on the barber hones to HHT followed by thoughrough stropping.

Like Lynn for quite awhile I used the Norton 4K/8K as my only hone also. I also got great results with all kinds of razors. Yes, when I got my 12K Kitayama and my Coticule I was able to improve but in most cases the degree of improvement was slight.