Can't get razor sharp enough : or something else is wrong

[EL Alamein]

All good advice here but I will throw a bit of a monkey wrench in this. I recently bought another Norton 4/8 k stone to replace my old worn out one of a decade ago. The quality of the 4k side is abysmal compared with the old stuff. It's very crumbly and will not produce that straight unchipped edge that the old one did. I am aware of the need to lap the daylights out of these due to more recent threads about this problem. I have done that and taken off quite a bit of stone and it still will not perform the same as my old stone. There will be nothing left if I keep lapping to get to the "good stuff". And honestly no one should *have* to do that, they should be darn near good to go right out of the box with maybe only a minor flattening needed.

I don't know if I just got a really bad stone or if the problem is more prevalent. I suspect with the threads I've read that there is more widespread QA issue going on here with the Nortons. I have abandoned the 4/8 and now use diamond plates. They produce a harsher edge but that can be quickly mitigated with a pasted green hanging strop with a little slack left in it while stropping. With that the edge is extremely keen and comfortable.

Now all that said, from just looking at the pictures the op posted, it seems these are prime candidates for being poor quality blades so no stone or strop of the highest quality will mitigate that. The Amazon write-up is hilarious - "titanium"? I think not.

The generous offer from Proinsias is what you need as a reference point. That should allow you to determine if this is for you or not.

Hope that helps.

Chris

 

[cb91710]

I can't see the pics in your post. But others seem to believe that these are more or less what we call "RSO", or Razor Shaped Objects that are not made by straight shavers or real razorsmiths, and are not knowledgeably designed to function as razors at all. This is sadly very common these days. The makers can't be bothered even if you tell them what they need to do to make the razors functional, because they still manage to sell every RSO that they can churn out. IOW they are not made for shaving. They are made for selling. Pay your money and shut up. Sad sad sad but sadly true.

Amazon describes it as Titanium.

 

[Attila]

:-(

 

[Slash McCoy]

Somehow I doubt that titanium would make a very good razor. Though it might. Somehow I doubt that the RSO is made from titanium, though it might be coated or plated with it. Well anyway the only thing for it is to hone it up and see, huh?

 

[cb91710]

Somehow I doubt that titanium would make a very good razor. Though it might. Somehow I doubt that the RSO is made from titanium, though it might be coated or plated with it. Well anyway the only thing for it is to hone it up and see, huh?

I have had Ti scuba knives.
They are very hard (brittle) and do take a nice edge.

They don't look like that though, and the brittleness of the edge does create issues.
My favorite dive knive is the good old Dremel'd Victorinox that I made my own sheath for. I probably own a dozen dive knives... I am currently in possession of maybe 3. The rest are somewhere scattered around Catalina anywhere from 30 to 120ft down.
I've never lost one of these homebrew jobs, but I've given a few away...

 

[m00se]

All good advice here but I will throw a bit of a monkey wrench in this. I recently bought another Norton 4/8 k stone to replace my old worn out one of a decade ago. The quality of the 4k side is abysmal compared with the old stuff. It's very crumbly and will not produce that straight unchipped edge that the old one did. I am aware of the need to lap the daylights out of these due to more recent threads about this problem. I have done that and taken off quite a bit of stone and it still will not perform the same as my old stone. There will be nothing left if I keep lapping to get to the "good stuff". And honestly no one should *have* to do that, they should be darn near good to go right out of the box with maybe only a minor flattening needed.

I don't know if I just got a really bad stone or if the problem is more prevalent. I suspect with the threads I've read that there is more widespread QA issue going on here with the Nortons. I have abandoned the 4/8 and now use diamond plates. They produce a harsher edge but that can be quickly mitigated with a pasted green hanging strop with a little slack left in it while stropping. With that the edge is extremely keen and comfortable.

Now all that said, from just looking at the pictures the op posted, it seems these are prime candidates for being poor quality blades so no stone or strop of the highest quality will mitigate that. The Amazon write-up is hilarious - "titanium"? I think not.

The generous offer from Proinsias is what you need as a reference point. That should allow you to determine if this is for you or not.

Hope that helps.

Chris

Thanks for that!

I'm not really sure how good my 4k/8k is, I still need to lap it properly. But from what I have been able to do with these razors, it seems they really are pretty poor build quality. With all the different honing and stropping i've tried, I never even noticed any difference in the performance of the blade, leading me to think it really just did sweet FA.

I will update when the blade arrives from Proinsias, hopefully the strop that came with this set is up to scratch, otherwise that may be my first investment. If I get on with this one then I will likely invest some more money into other good kit.

I saw some rigid "Paddle strops", are they similar to the bendy leather ones? I only ask because I don't really have a suitable place in the bathroom to hang the strop (I have been sliding the end ring onto the handle on the toilet flush )

Amazon describes it as Titanium.

I know, but somehow I don't think they are...

Though it might explain why I can't get an edge on them!

 

[Seraphim]

I believe the rainbow color is a deposited coating of titanium.

Titanium isn't cheap, and isn't easy to work with, so I don't think they used it for the blade itself.

The razor itself looks to be a Pakistani job, which may be able to be honed up, but it takes alot of effort.

 

[m00se]

I believe the rainbow color is a deposited coating of titanium.

Titanium isn't cheap, and isn't easy to work with, so I don't think they used it for the blade itself.

The razor itself looks to be a Pakistani job, which may be able to be honed up, but it takes alot of effort.

Maybe when I get better at honing I can take on the task. The box came with two razors, so I guess I can always use one to practice on.

Any idea with regards to my strop vs. paddle question?

 

[Proinsias]

The format of the leather strop is personal preference. I've used bench strops, loom strops, paddle strops & hanging strops - my preference at the moment is for hanging strops but I could get by with any, decent leather is the main thing.

 

[m00se]

The format of the leather strop is personal preference. I've used bench strops, loom strops, paddle strops & hanging strops - my preference at the moment is for hanging strops but I could get by with any, decent leather is the main thing.

Yeah the only issue for me is I have nowhere to really attach the hanging strop, so rather than putting another hole in the wall of my rented house, I thought I might just get a paddle strop.

 

[Attila]

I put mine in the bathroom. The middle hinge pin on the door is raised up just a little (using a flathead screwdriver and hammer) and a leather thong tied around the exposed pin and the metal hook for the strap is attached there. Worked like a charm. Oh, I also got a small towel and put the thong through the middle of the label on the towel so that the towel can be easily draped around the strops hanging there and no water gets splashed on them even accidentally.

 

[EL Alamein]

Yeah the only issue for me is I have nowhere to really attach the hanging strop, so rather than putting another hole in the wall of my rented house, I thought I might just get a paddle strop.

Hey, paddle strop is good! FWIW I don't hang my everyday strop in the bathroom, I actually hang it on an eye (from an "hook & eye" set up) in the bedroom. I like it better that way as I apply talc daily and find that a fine dust lays on everything by the end of the week - not something I want on my strop though by all indications it's probably not a bad thing. So chalk that up to me just being particular.

When I was a teen I did hang my (one and only) strop in the bathroom (on the same type eye) and it never was an issue.

Confusing, I know, but take it for what it's worth.

Chris