Vent About My Honing Attempt

My razor had given me a few good shaves and now was time to hone. Rather than sending it off I decided to invest some time into learning to hone my own razor. I primarily took this undertaking because there is no one around my area (Bryan/College Station, TX) that hones razors and I didn't want to send it off again. So lets get it out of the way right off the bat. I should've done more research before diving into honing. That being said I watched some videos by Lynn and gssixgun on youtube. I followed the directions as best I could, but couldn't get the shave that a true hone master gave me when I sent it off. I later discovered that I should be lapping the stones flat before use. I believe the consensus is that I should get a DMT 325 for flattening/lapping.

Is this (Diamond Whetstone) the DMT the forum is buzzing about and if so should I be getting the coarse grit?
What other things should I know before moving forward with my honing?
Any encouragement or advice I might be missing?

Thanks,
Seth

Oh watch Glen's video on flattening norton stones, that is how to lap the stone, but you only do it once; after that just doing a quick 5 or 6 passes over the stone before honing will suffice unless you damage the stone. By the way what hones are you working with?

Norton 4K/8K

Sorry I thought I included that in the previous post.

Well, once you lap the stones flat, try again, that may solve the whole conundrum. If the stone has just a slight dish to it the blade won't make full contact and can make spots sharp and leave others dull...this wouldn't be the problem would it?

Im almost positive this is the problem. Not only do I notice a slight rocking at one end of my 8k, but the sharpness of the razor is inconsistent from one end to the other.

Lapping a new 4/8 is a must, so do that first.

However, don't expect instant results once you lap your stone. It still takes a lot of practice to learn to properly hone a razor.

Michael

check out the JANORTON threads for some ideas on how to best utilize your nortons, then go to pastes, sprays, or straight to the strop; whatever you choose after that.