Thread: Thank you JaNorton - success at last

I've been straight razor shaving since February of last year. Started with a shave ready Reppenhagen, then picked up a couple of others that I attempted to hone myself. I had limited success but it didn't last that long except for a sweet little Karnak 5/8 round point that I absolutely love. But alas it began to be a bit rough as well.

Skip forward a bit and I have aquired a few other razors and finally sent off two of them, the original Reppenhagen and a sweet Henckels 6/8 Barber Notch I received for Christmas, to be professionally honed. At the same time I stumbled across the JaNorton thread about halfway through January. Began to read, saved the pennies and picked up a 4/8K combo stone. Read all 51 pages, watched most of the videos and took my beloved Karnak to the stone.

I didn't follow the exact JaNorton challenge but did the following:

- killed the edge on the side of the stone.
- built slurry on the 4K using a 1500 Masahiro I had.
- 40 circles with moderate pressure on each side.
- 20 heel to toe x-strokes with moderate pressure
Razor was starting to cut arm hair all the way across the edge.
- cleaned off slurry and went to water only
- 20 heel to toe x-strokes with light pressure.
- 20 sweeping x-strokes (a sycle motion since the razor has an ever so slight smile to it).
- 20 heel to toe x-strokes with no pressure.
Now it was starting to very easily pop hair.
- switched to 8k side
- 20 heel to toe x-strokes with light pressure
- 20 sweeping x-strokes with light pressure
- wiped the stone off so that it was just damp
- 20 heel to toe x-strokes with no pressure
Popping hairs now with easy so I stepped up to my C12K
- 50 heel to toe x-strokes with extremely light pressure
- 20 sweeping x-stroked with extremely light pressure
- 30 heel to toe x-strokes with almost no pressure.

I followed this with 20 laps on a nice suede strop that I use in place of a cotton followed by 75 laps on my leather strop.

The shave was awesome. So smooth, very nice and clean and for once the ATG went so smoothly. I had no facial irritation. Felt great.

So the next day I decided to see if I could stretch just a bit more out of the edge so I back pedaled to my pasted balsa strops. I did 50 laps on the Chromium Oxide side then 50 laps on the Iron Oxide side followed by 30 on the suede strop and 100 on the leather strop.

The shave was even better. So smooth. It's interesting that the two razors I had professionally honed still feel sharper but this Karnak feels so much smoother. Part of it may be that I can handle the lighter Karnak better compared to the heavier Henckels or the Reppenhagen but either way it's by far my favorite.

Anyway, just wanted to share my success. I love this place, the Norton 4/8K and all of the great people who share so much of their knowledge.

thanks,

Charlie

Congrats Charlie! We all strive to arrive and stay where you are with this love of ours. It is always subjective but
with the different twists and turns we do to personalize the process that works for us makes straight shavers the keepers of the flame! : )

I've seen recommendations for 15-20 laps on the chromium oxide, not 50. Don't know much about iron oxide but on the crox alone that seems like overkill.

Sounds like things worked out for you, the more razors you hone will also hone your skills...

AxelH,

I'll look into it. My thought for more laps is that I'm using a fairly short piece of Balsa, only about 12" long so I figured more laps would make up for the lack of distance.

Thanks to everyone.

Also meant to throw out a specific to gssixgun for spearheading this little experiment. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to sort through all of the opinions and options to find what works. This is a great way to find a known system, learn from it, then experiment from there.

Charlie

Originally Posted by CharlieTN

AxelH,

I'll look into it. My thought for more laps is that I'm using a fairly short piece of Balsa, only about 12" long so I figured more laps would make up for the lack of distance.

Thanks to everyone.

Also meant to throw out a specific to gssixgun for spearheading this little experiment. Sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming to sort through all of the opinions and options to find what works. This is a great way to find a known system, learn from it, then experiment from there.

Charlie

The size of the strop does make a huge difference, or as the joke goes "size does matter" comparatively speaking your 50 lpas would be equal to 25 on my bench strops .. Also keep in mind the base medium is also a factor... You are using Balsa which tends to be more effective faster (can also lead to a harsh edge faster too) I use Leather and some use Felt. All these have a different effect.. If it works repeat it a few times then tweak it more...