Norton Bench Stones

Norton makes a number of different versions, waterstones, diamond plates and india hones.

I have used the india hones and prefer japanese waterstones, faster cutting speed mainly, plus water is a cleaner lubricant.

I have not used Norton's diamond plates or waterstones, though the latter are usually spoke of highly.

-Cliff
 
I have used a few Norton stones. I like the slicing performance of edges finished with a Norton India stone. I have used them dry and with oil. If you use them dry you need to clean them often with sink cleanser. I own a large combination stone with medium-coarse grit on one side and medium-fine India stone on the other. I don't really use it very often. I now do most of my coarse work with a belt sander or diamond hone and my finer work with a fine diamond hone and ceramic rods. I use the India stone if I am experimenting with finding the "perfect" edge on a particular knife.
 
Diamond hones are very convenient. If you are not reprofiling a blade you can typically get by with just a fine or extra-fine grit hone. These cut reasonably fast and provide a fine edge with a little microserration for better slicing. You can use them dry and only need to wipe them every so often with a dry rag. If you have one in a handy drawer it does a nice job quickly and cleanly.

If you want to reprofile blades very often you need to be a little careful not to press excessively hard when you use a diamond hone. The coarse ones might not cut as much faster as you would expect since you will degrade the hone if you really lean on it. It is best if you have an extra-long hone and use length of stroke in place of high force when honing. The trouble is that extra-long diamond hones cost a lot of money. When hones get up to the $75.00 vicinity I start looking for alternatives. While I own an 8" DMT coarse bench hone I usually use a cheap belt sander that I got for about the same money at Home Depot. That works a lot faster than the diamond hone and it is pretty cheap to replace the belts as they wear.

So the diamond hone that I use the most is a 12" long extra-fine Eze-Lap bench hone. I prefer the Eze-Lap in this grit since it does not have the little holes in the surface that DMT likes to use. I use the hone for smoothing out the results from my rougher steps. I like the smooth surface of the Eze-Lap and I like the 12" length. I use it dry or under running tap water to suppress debris buildup.

Cliff likes to use coarse water stones for reprofiling. I haven't tried this, but he sharpens a lot of blades. What also works for reprofiling is a long coarse aluminum oxide bench hone or medium-coarse silicon carbide bench hone. For these I use high pressure and often work on the narrow side of the hone or the edge of the hone instead of the flat top surface. This gives more pounds-per-square-inch of pressure and cuts faster. I use to clamp my hone in a padded vice and really go to town if I needed to reprofile. Now I just use the belt sander.
 
Cool! I have been on a quest to find a stone that will fit in the pouch of my sheath for a good field sharpening and the Norton and DMT 4" are the ones I have narrowed it down to. I may just get the DMT...but the price on the Norton I want is excellent.
 
For field use I have a DMT diafold. This is double-sided and folds into a handle. It really has a lot of bite and I would prefer the finest grit on this design. With a short hone there is some handling difficulty. This gets worse if the hone digs in too agressively. It is easy to marr the side of your blade under these circumstances. Look for fine grit in a small diamond hone unless you will only be using it for emergencies.
 
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