Rookie Needs Opinions on Norton Stones

I found what appears to be a good deal for a Norton Stone kit. It comes with a 220/1000 combo, 4000/8000 combo and a SiC Flattening stone.

After searching the forum I discovered there are as many opinions about stones as there are straight razors I want.

Would this be a good kit for a rookie? Any one have this kit and what do you think? Good, bad, buy, pass?

Thanks for any info!

If you are talking about those cut down Norton avoid them.. you need some finesse to get the most from small rocks and just starting out you need some surface area to just get the basics down..

From what I hear;

The 220 is worthless for razors, described as a 'muddy mess'. The 1k is a very thirsty stone. The SiC Flattening stone is considered a bad joke as it (wait for it) needs to be flattened.

Lots of people use and love the Norton 4000/8000. I'm not one of them.

If you check around I'll bet there are members in your area who have the 4k/8k Norton as well as other hones that you could try.

+1 on the 220 1k and flattening stone. The 4/8 is ok. I prefer them to the naniwas though, they warp based on moisture content. Naniwa pros are excellent but pricey. The 4/8 is a great starter. if your honing not too many razors then your good to go IMO. But you may want to move up to something else. Dont have to though. Good luck

From 1st hand experience - the 220x is good for clearing big chips out of heavy blades if you're going to be doing that. Otherwise, most guys honing most razors won't need it. Without experience, it's easy to get into trouble fast on that stone.
The 1k works fine, but it's not a 1k like a Naniwa, more like an 800x, but a grainy one. Works though.
My 1k and 4k were thirsty as heck.. the 4k wore fast and it was more like a 2.5-3k stone.
The 8k wasn't thirsty, but it felt rubbery when soaked. It's a 3µm stone, which maps to a 5k in Naniwa's system. I never ever, not once, did I ever get a perfectly even polish on any razor with that stone. I never really liked it even though it worked for the task at hand.

The flattening stone needs to be flattened - but once it's flat you're good to go there. It works. It never suited my style or my approach but it works.

That being said - those stones work fine and you can hone razors very well with them. If the price is good, you can do well with them, and you can go a long way with them too. An added benefit is that they sell fast too - so if/when you want to bail or jump to another system you can get a lot, or almost all, of your investment back pretty quickly.

kcb5150 said:

If you are talking about those cut down Norton avoid them.. you need some finesse to get the most from small rocks and just starting out you need some surface area to just get the basics down..

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I totally understand where you're coming from here but just want to say that mileage varies - I greatly prefer smaller handheld stones myself, to the point that I am handholding my Shapton while bevel setting now. But I am probably weird in that regard and your advice is generally good.

My fear is that a new guy playing with circles is a formula for disaster

It's a mixed bag for sure - on one hand, it's easy to be consistent with circles. On the other, they remove metal even faster than half-strokes and are ridiculously efficient, and you really have to watch the pressure.

Everyone, thanks for some great info and opinions. This kit does have the 3x8 hones. I think after reading the info here I am going to wait awhile on the hones. I do have 3 straights, 2 came ready to shave but I still would like to send to someone to be sharpened. The other is a Boker Elite that might cut butter and really needs to be worked on.

i will wait until I get a cheap straight to venture into the sharpening.

Thanks again for the help.

Oh if they're full size, it is a lot less complicated. I thought you were talking about the quarter size ones that a seller cuts down.

They need to be soaked. They do get the job done. I think you should look into the shapton pros. They aren't expensive and much better imho. If I was going to use synths all the time I'd buy all shapton pros.

slant81 said:

They need to be soaked. They do get the job done. I think you should look into the shapton pros. They aren't expensive and much better imho. If I was going to use synths all the time I'd buy all shapton pros.

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Thanks, I will check out the Shaptons.

Consider lapping film, too, if you need to get your foot in the door cheaply. Good results come quickly to the newbie. See the Lapping Film thread.