NORTON Knife Sharpener Whetstone Japanese Sharpening Stone with 4000/8000 Combination Grit, Wet Stone Sharpening Stone

First off, this stone functions exactly as advertised. I was hesitant to use a waterstone because I had heard they could be a little tricky to get used to. They do require more maintenance than other sharpening systems, and natural stones have a reputation for needing more TLC than I was willing to put in. However, after reading several positive reviews of Norton stones, I decided to give this one a try. I was immediately impressed with the quality of the stone. There are no irregularities in the stone and it is dead flat right out of the box. It has enough heft to keep it in place with a minimum of effort. The combination of grits is exactly what you need to hone and polish a blade that already has an established edge. I used it on a 2" Hock plane iron and got it to a mirror polish in very little time. The instruction booklet packed with the stone is informative without being overwhelming. The plastic case is nice and is sturdy enough to protect the stone from accidental contact. The hinge of the box is solid plastic, so I'm not sure how long it will hold up after repeated use. I would definitely buy other Norton stones in the future.

I purchased this stone to hone my straight razors and keep them shave ready. I have had little experience honing my own razors, however, after spending a week searching forums and watching youtube videos that teach honing techniques, I quickly found that this stone is the one most often used by straight razor enthusiasts. Considering my limited knowledge of honing techniques that I studied from the forums, my razors came out super sharp with a smooth polished edge which gave me a comfortable shave. I owe this to the good advice I researched to some degree, but the lion's share of the credit goes to how well this stone works and how easy it is to use. When removed from the box, the box is designed to be used as a stand and since honing razors requires a gentle touch, its stability was more than adequate. When I first purchased this stone I didn't want to spend $73, but I thought in the long run If it works it will pay for itself. A professional honing usually costs between 25-40 dollars. Now that I see how well it works, I wish I would have purchased the Norton waterstone starter kit which sells on amazon for about $137. At first I thought that was too much money and would not get much use from it. Looking back that was a mistake. Now that I see how easy it was to learn honing (about 2 days of practice before reaching good results) I plan to maintain all my own razors from now on and my results will get even better with practice. The first hard lesson was that I had to use the 1000/4000 grit stone to both set the bevel and polish the edge followed by micro abrasives and stropping. Setting the bevel was slow because the 4000Grit side was too smooth to really bite into the blade. I could have done this in half the time with the kit because it comes with an additional courser 220/1000 grit stone which would be more effective to set the bevel. Then the 4000/8000 stone would be used for honing and polishing saving time and wear and tear on the stone. In addition after honing 4 razors I found that I the 4000 grit side of my stone was starting to curve in the middle from all the use. Most likely because I honed an new out of the box razor to shave ready and this took a lot of strokes putting wear on the stone. The kit comes with a lapping stone to "flatten" your stone should this occur. Since I did not have one I used lapping film on a flat surface and got my stone back to normal, but it would have been easier had I not been so cheap and bought the full set from the get go. Hind sight is 20/20. So if you do a lot of honing, consider getting the full kit its definitely worth the price. However, if you are on a budget or just thrifty you can certainly get the job done with one stone. Just plan on spending a lot more time, using a lot more elbow grease and putting more wear and tear on the stone. Either way I am sure you'll be getting some super sharp edges on your Knives, Razors, chisels, or what ever other tools you choose to hone. We use Norton abrasives at work all the time and they never disappoint and I would put this product right up there with the best.

First of all let me state that I have limited experience with sharpening stones.. I had a norton sharpening stone prior to this just for pocket knives with a coarse side and a fine side. The previous stone was amazing and put a great edge on not only my knives but also my axe, machete, and even my snowboard. I recently purchased a straight razor and read that the 4000/8000 grits are the bare minimum needed for honing. So I found this stone and chose it: 1. because it was also a Norton 2. because it was the cheapest stone I could find for the 4000/8000 on Amazon Upon receiving the stone I anxiously unwrapped it and got her out of the box and laid her in a nice bath of warm water, I then pulled her out after about 20 minutes and began to stroke her soft, smooth, moiste surface... PERVES... Well after all of my fondling I notice that the stone doesn't lay quite as flat as I'd like on either side. I laid my razor across it and sure enough it is not flat on either side... I can use about 3/4ths of the length on the stone so I just stop before it gets to the uneven part. Aside from that little detail which can easily be fixed with a tabletop and some sand paper, this stone did an amazing job on my straight... First time honing a razor and this stone made it easy... This stone is soft and isn't made for grinding out more of a blunt edge on machete or axe... This stone is made for soft accurate strokes that gradually eat away the metal. For this however I had to dock a star even though I didn't really want to ;)... Bottom line this is a great final cut/polishing stone... if you just need a stone for sharpening tools I'd go with something like the IB45 india stone from Norton.. Hope this helps xoxo :)

I have been using a piece of smooth face antique tile (grit ~8000-10,000) to sharpen my straight razors, knives & so on for years. It seemed to be made out of powder it was so fine. But it had developed a slight "dip" in the surface from years of use so I decided to replace it. I didn't expect to find anything commercial to match it but, this 8000 grit is pretty close....not quite as fine but close. This double face stone really works great. If you do let the edge go a little more than you should, the 4000 grit will prep the edge just fine. Using it along with the Smith 6" tri-stone & the DIAMOND SHARPENING STONE - hone block - 2" x 6" double sided FINE + MEDIUM, you can put a straight razors edge on any knife. Recently I purchased the Higo no Kami Aogami-Honwarikomi Tokudai (sizeXL), Nagaokoma, Import from JAPAN knife which came with a razors edge & with the 8000 grit stone I can get the edge back in just 3-4 passes on the stone. I'm really happy with this setup. Now I can take the chance & try to correct & level out the surface on my piece of antique tile.......it was a piece I found on the ground at a demolition site. An old home/mansion was being torn down & I picked it up because it looked like glass but it was a piece floor, counter or some type tile. Wished now I'd loaded my trunk full of it. One tile salesman said it looked like a piece of extremely fine & expensive Italian tile used around & in fireplaces. This double sided stone is pretty close to being as good as that piece of tile.

A high grit waterstone is important for the periodic honing of your straight razor. This stone gets the job done and is what I use to maintain my straight razor in a shave-ready condition. But there are a few caveats you should know before you buy. As other reviewers have noted, the stone does not come flat. I personally do not subscribe to the school of thought that a stone must possess molecular flatness in order to be useful. If you use a good X-stroke on a reasonably flat stone, with the right amount of pressure (i.e., just about none), you can get a shave-ready razor off of it. I would therefore not recommend you spend the extra money on Norton's flattening stone, which seems like a bit of a racket. For me, it is sufficient to periodically flatten the stone on some medium grit sandpaper on my countertop (soak it first). This stone needs to be soaked in water before use for about 15 minutes -- that's why it's a "water stone"! The water helps to mediate contact between the blade and the stone and to channel away the swarf from the edge. It comes with a plastic case that doubles as a stand, with non-slip pads on the bottom and notches on the top to secure the stone. This works quite well and I have not experienced any problems with the stone/case slipping. This is particularly unlikely given that, at this fineness, you really should not be applying any pressure to your edge as you sharpen. The stone has 4k and 8k sides. I have only had to use the 4k side in repairing damaged edges. For typical maintenance of your edge, the 8k side is more than sufficient. You can definitely get a shave-ready edge off of it. Many people also use higher grit stones to finish an edge to an even higher fineness. You will have to see what is sufficient for your beard, but know that the vast majority of people should be able to get a good shave off an 8k hone and a good stropping. If you are having trouble getting a good shave, a higher grit stone might be helpful, but I'd recommend you first try to eliminate challenges you can fix for free -- your shaving angle, amount of pressure (use the lightest touch you can), beard prep routine, and stropping technique.

I use the Japanese style stones to sharpen all my knives, as well as straight razors I shave with. They are a little different than the standard stones, but if you want a truely 'razor sharp' blade, this is the only way to get it. Many people say, "my knife will shave hairs." Yes, but can it do it without razor burn? My kitchen knife will shave hairs off my arm, but that doesnt mean Id be willing to shave my face with that blade. These stones need to be soaked in water prior to use. Only about 20 minutes. More than that can cause problems, they are not meant to be STORED in water. Too much soaking can lead to the stone degrading or the glue splitting the two sides apart as other reviewers mentioned. This stone is meant to hone more than sharpen. That means you should ALREADY have a sharp knife before you use this stone. If your knife is dull, sharpen it by whatever method you would usually use, I personally use another Japanese water stone Steelex D1067 800-Grit Japanese Waterstone . The 8000 grit side of this stone will polish the side of a blade to a true mirror finish if you wish. The edge gets the same, but obviously its harder to see. This level of finish causes the blade to be significantly sharper than a 'regular' sharp knife, plus it stays sharp longer and cuts smoother as well. The only drawback to this type of stone is that they are softer and wear faster than other types. Thankfully, it can be made flat again by using 600-1000 grit sandpaper and a flat surface to rub the stone on. So I find it more useful as I can ensure my stone is always flat that way. It is not nearly as easy to re-flatten a traditional whetstone. The price for this stone seemed fairly typical of what I have seen at other sellers. I have Amazon Prime membership so when I figured in the free shipping, it made Amazon.com the best place to purchase by a long shot.

This is a great product that does exactly what is designed to do. I use it for keeping a super sharp edge on my kitchen knives. My brother owns this combination stone to maintain his straight (cut throat) razor and kitchen knives. Everyone knows how devilishly sharp one of those old fashioned razor blades are. You will have to lap the surface with a wet/dry sanpaper as other reviewers have noted. (The factory doesn't send the stones out perfectly flat and is not ready to use out of box.) It is not a hard task, but just takes some time. I started with 220 grit, then went to 400 then to 600 grit. Did that on both sides to get the stone perfectly smooth. Ater the lapping was done, I was amazed at the difference in the stone's surface. I don't know why people are so upset about this step. You will have to do this lapping time to time as you wear the surface down from normal use anyways! The protective box is very sturdy and will last for years. (My brother's box has.) The box also has some notches in the lid to secure the stone while sharpening. The bottom of box has 5 rubber feet to hold the case in place while you are working. There are vent holes in the bottom of box to allow moisture to excape. A great system, a great product. If you don't know how to use a wetstone, be sure to watch some videos and read up on how to do it. Then get ths product to keep your sharp knives sharp.

I have used the norton 4000/8000 for the 8000 grit side on my straight razors and while it is good it takes a while to get some decent removal of metal. My yoshihiro 10k leaves a line of metal shavings within 2 min of using it while sometimes i will be honing my razors on the norton for 10 minutes and there are no visible metal shavings. Its almost as if once the norton stone gets a certain level of polish on the edge it just gives up. Edit: i just found out what is going wrong with the 8000 side of my norton. It is glazing horribly and it completely stops cutting/abrading as it self-clogs the surface with its own binder. You have to roughen up the nortons surface again with a nagura stone otherwise the surface will just polish itself flat and completely stop removing metal from the blade. The 4000 side of my norton is good but if you want a quality 8000-10000 grit soaking stone i would get a suehiro/cerax 8000 or a yoshihiro 10000 bc they never glaze over.

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a very good japanese sharpening stone that requires soaking in water for 15 minutes. I was able to sharpen my straight razor to a cutting edge I cut a piece of newspaper hanging free and I knew then it's sharp to shave with

È una pietra perfetta per affilare i rasoi a lama fissa. Assolutamente consigliata.

Perfection. Does not compare with the cheap stones, and justifies its price point. I have both this one now and a cheap set, they do not compare. Using it for a straight razor, that went from barely nicking my finger to sharp enough to pass the hair test. A 10min soak works best, case is fairly stable on wood and does not move during grinding.

Does it's job well.