Ok, guys, a while back I got my hands on a set of hones to begin teaching myself how to use them. I'm living in Montana and wanted to pick up straight razor restoration as a winter time hobby. That being said, I picked up a Norton 1k/4k hone back in late spring of this year. I got a good deal on an 8k Spyderco from a fellow B&B'er, so I opted for the 1k/4k combination since I'm going to be doing some restoration work. Now that the weather has cooled back off and I'm not so busy with summer programming for work, I decided to pull out my hones and get them ready to use.
Ok, enough background. Here's my problem. I didn't lap the Norton when I got it; I didn't even inspect it closely until today. There are 3 divots in the surface and and two chips on the edge of one end of the hone, all of which I knew were there when I got it. I just didn't give them much thought. The chips I'm not too worried about. I don't have to use the hone all the way to the very end. The divots, on the other hand, are right in the surface I'll be using. This is all on the 4k side, by the way. The 1k side looks great.
Now my question: How should I handle this? I'm lapping it with 320 grit sand paper on a piece of glass. Can I just lap it down past the bottom of the divots? Or, should I try to contact the seller, woodcraft.com, if I remember correctly, and try to have them replace it for me? I have already begun lapping it, so that could affect whether or not they'll take it back.
Has anyone else run into this? I'm brand new to honing, so I don't really know what to expect new hones to look like.
Ok, enough background. Here's my problem. I didn't lap the Norton when I got it; I didn't even inspect it closely until today. There are 3 divots in the surface and and two chips on the edge of one end of the hone, all of which I knew were there when I got it. I just didn't give them much thought. The chips I'm not too worried about. I don't have to use the hone all the way to the very end. The divots, on the other hand, are right in the surface I'll be using. This is all on the 4k side, by the way. The 1k side looks great.
Now my question: How should I handle this? I'm lapping it with 320 grit sand paper on a piece of glass. Can I just lap it down past the bottom of the divots? Or, should I try to contact the seller, woodcraft.com, if I remember correctly, and try to have them replace it for me? I have already begun lapping it, so that could affect whether or not they'll take it back.
Has anyone else run into this? I'm brand new to honing, so I don't really know what to expect new hones to look like.
