Norton 4k/8k just arrived. Flattening question

I received my 4k/8k today and in preparation for my first hone.

Before using the stone I drew a grid and used the flattening stone to level it out.

It took me quite a while to clean up both sides of the stone. The 4k and 8k seemed really unflat out of the box.

The 4k side looks even now but the 8k side edges of it still have the factory roughness, i can't seem to get rid of it.

How quickly does the flattening stone wear? Is it possible after the first use it would need to be leveled out? It almost seems like the leveling stone is uneven too.

Should the stone be cleaned after use? So far I have only rinsed it off.

Has anyone experience this before? Or maybe I just need to get the technique down.

I have attached a picture of the 8k side.

Thanks guys for all the guidance. I'm quite happy to have joined the forum.

It may still need a bit more lapping. On the edges just put a slight bevel to round them off a bit. I don't do anything but rinse my stones after use and set them out to dry for a few days. Check out gssixgun's youtube video he did on lapping the nortons; very helpful explainations.
Oh, and yes I have heard the norton lapping stone tends to not be level itself out of the box, in which case you can use a piece of floor tile or pletzi glass, and 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper and lap the stones that way as well.

LOL i had the exact same issue and posted this in the hones thread having just recieved my hone also. One thing i found helped was lapping it a few times (assuming your using the nortons flattening stone as I was)... the 4k side is quick and easy - or was for me (2x lapping) and the 8k side took me 6 lappings on my kitchen counter using the blue case to hold the hone and pressing my full upper body wieght down doing straight up/down and circular motions, with pencil drawn grids to get better results. I still have some roughness as you can see in the picture but I simply hone away from the corners and i must say i have produced a very sharp edge doing so. If your worried about those edges, some folks seem to complain about the nortons flattening stone and opt for the DMTdiamond plate at 2x the price. The nortons flattening stone will concave and require flattening also - or so I read whereas the DMT won't. In the end i figured since I only have 1 razor - honing every few months or so, I wouldn't require a DMT since the life of a nortons according to Lynn is anywhere from 2000-3000 razors lol. If i honed my blade every 3 months for 50 years that would only be 200 razors making lapping a once in a while job.

Hope this helps and have fun honing :P

Also found doing it while wet works faster than dry...I rinsed the stones off every 30 seconds or so so the slurry wouldn't wear away the grids as opposed to the stone.

I dont know why these stones dont come lapped out of the factory. I hear ya about the lapping. I bought the norton flattening stone. I used a couple times. I decided the 325 dmt was the way to go. For the few times I used the norton I lapped it and could see that it was not flat either! So I had to flatten the flattening stone! Ridiculous. DMT for me, I also have the 600 for chips and the 1200 for bevels. Worth it to me.

i used the Norton lapping stone in the past and it worked well for me, after i got my 12K nani the lapping stone seemed to be to rough so now i just use 1200 grit wet/dry sandpaper laid flat on my counter (while the wife is gone of course) and that works great. sometimes the nortons can take a little while to lap their first time

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Originally Posted by bill3152

I dont know why these stones dont come lapped out of the factory. I hear ya about the lapping. I bought the norton flattening stone. I used a couple times. I decided the 325 dmt was the way to go. For the few times I used the norton I lapped it and could see that it was not flat either! So I had to flatten the flattening stone! Ridiculous. DMT for me, I also have the 600 for chips and the 1200 for bevels. Worth it to me.

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I agree the flattening stone should be flat & it's stupid that it's not, the hone itself not so much as they don't even advertise it as a straight razor hone, it's sold as a knife sharpening whetstone & imagine lapping isn't an issue for sharpening knives & tools.