Hello all,

As you can see my name is Andrew, I am posting from England. I've been shaving with a Dovo Blackstar for a couple of years now. I bought it from Geo Trumper in London, some of you may know of Trumper. I had a shaving lesson at the same time.

You may be horrified that to date I have only ever stropped my razor, never honed it. I went back to the fellow who taught me a few months ago about honing and he said I just needed a 1k grit stone, which seemed too low to me.

So after reading a few things, (though not this site, which I only just found) I received a Norton 4k/8k stone in the post.

My question is, (of course a dumb one), the Nortons baffle me a bit as to the touch they are rougher, much rougher than my King 1k waterstone, is that right?
I am being very unscientific, but the Nortons feel to the touch like aluminium oxide paper of about 240 and 600 grit, which is very confusing, the King feels like 1k grit paper. Is this just because the Norton's are brand new and unused? I remember the King, which I use for a kitchen knife feeling the same as it is now, when I first bought it.

Maybe it's just a difference of material between Japanese and other stones? I read that the US and Japanese grits match just at 4k and 8k.

I have read some of the Library posts from Lynn and others on honing, by the way - but still have the newbie question.

Thanks for your patience folks,
Andrew