Norton Norton Norton!!! .... Bugger.

[Domminigan]

I've got quite a group of straights that had been neglected for decades. I've been honing them slowly on some Chinese stones and a set of watchmaker hones and barber hones that my Grandad used. I finally decided to order a bigger stone with a grit that I could identify. Searched around and it seemed the vast majority was suggesting that a decent stone was the Norton 4000/8000, so I ordered one through Amazon from another company.
The anticipation of the arrival of the new stone was really stretching my poor mind. I began stroking some of my barber hones. I would wake from a deep sleep in the middle of the night to find myself stalking through the house cradling my Chinese unknown grit stone and murmuring "Soon, my precious will be here!"
I woke one morning to find my vintage Norton stone in it's wood case sitting upon a tiny litter carried by my unsharpened straights with a message stating "your bretheren and I will join as one and put all these little razors in their places!" written in a circle around it.
I believed today would have to be the day it arrived when I came home from work to find many little packages on my doorstep, one of them from the company that I bought it from! It was, however, the only item not packaged in a box.
Upon opening it, I discovered to my complete horror THIS:



The case is damaged badly enough that it will not stay closed, the stone slides out with little provocation, and while in transit the stone had fallen out of the case as much as it was able to which cause the stone to chip in several places along the edge.
Now I have to wait to see what the company wants to do about it.
Until then, I have great fear for what my slowly unraveling mind will do. Will I wake to find all my straights forming themselves into a pentagram around my Great-Grandpa's grinding wheel?

[Doc226]

I'm sure they will make it right.

Love the big grinding wheel.

[Domminigan]

The seller, Hartville Tool did not only make it right, they went quite a bit further. They are shipping me another case and credited me a large portion of the purchase price of the stone. I'm intending on reinvesting the refund back into their company as a result!
I'm so happy! I can finally lap the stone and start honing my razors! ... It was a close thing though, This morning I found one of my J.A. Henckels razors eyeballing my remaining Fusion in a most disturbing way.

[Doc226]

The seller, Hartville Tool did not only make it right, they went quite a bit further. They are shipping me another case and credited me a large portion of the purchase price of the stone. I'm intending on reinvesting the refund back into their company as a result!
I'm so happy! I can finally lap the stone and start honing my razors! ... It was a close thing though, This morning I found one of my J.A. Henckels razors eyeballing my remaining Fusion in a most disturbing way.

Very good, gotta love when a company stands behind their product.

[inspiringK]

Good news!

Now, let's get back to that grinding wheel....

[Domminigan]

Good news!

Now, let's get back to that grinding wheel....

Grinding wheel was my Great-Grandfather's. It's somewhere between medium and fine grit, but is well out of round for trying to grind a razor. He had a rhythm for sharpening his tools that over the years has made itself evident in the "wobble" of the wheel as it's spinning. My best guess is it's a natural sandstone, and is about 2 1/2' in diameter. I've got a few of his tools that he used to sharpen on it. Dad has the rest.

[paco664]

awesome customer service... that wheel is the coolest thing i have seen in a long time....

[Seraphim]

True up that wheel and get cracking! You could set some mean bevels with that bad boy!

[xMackx]

That big grinding wheel looks like something braveheart used to sharpen his claymore.

[Domminigan]

That big grinding wheel looks like something braveheart used to sharpen his claymore.

Actually, that wheel is what I used to sharpen the first sword I made.

[xMackx]

Actually, that wheel is what I used to sharpen the first sword I made.

That s really cool, I just recently was given an anvil my great grandfather made out of a piece of rail road rail. He was a machinist, it feels nice to have anything in the family especially tools that will out last us.

[Domminigan]

Agreed. When I buy hand tools, I try to buy old tools in decent shape to pass down to my family.