Thread: Lapping Ceramics

I use the ceramic toolbox stones carried by Lee Valley Ceramic Sharpening Stones - Lee Valley Tools
I've been told that to keep then working well they need to lapped every once and a while to refresh the surface, as the abrasive wears smooth instead of breaking and revealing a new edge, like water stones do.

My question is this, to those who use ceramic stones, what do you use to lap/ refresh them?

I'm tempted to try a low grit diamond paste. I have a couple of old Lansky system diamond stones, but they wear quite quickly and I'd rather not use them if they are going to get lapped more than the ceramic. I'm assuming that this rate of wear is not typical of DMT hones.
for what its worth, I have restored four razors ranging from one very rusted to an uncared for NOS, and feel that they have done an outstanding job.

Thanks for the help!

I use a GDLP for my ceramic Shapton Glass Stones:
Glass Stone ™ Sharpening System : Shapton® Stones, Shapton® Sharpening Systems

Pricey, but it works great. I highly recommend it.

Originally Posted by GadgetGeek

I'm assuming that this rate of wear is not typical of DMT hones.

DMT only recommends X or XX grits for lapping waterstones. The C grit can be used with care (keep water running over it, don't allow slurry to build up.) The E grit is EASILY ruined if you use it to lap waterstones, but if you use extreme caution might be usable for light lapping.

Those seem to be good ideas, but I'm going for cheap here. Cheap is good, multi purpose and cheap is better.
I tried the lanksy a bit, and it seemed to work more or less, got the cutting ability back. some visible scratches on the hone surface, but they didn't seem to affect the performance.
any other ideas?
thanks though!

Wet sandpaper on a flat granite or glass plate will work but might take a while. In the long run it'll probably cost more if you lap a lot.

Which grit is the best grit to use to flatten my Japanese water stones?

We recommend a DMT® coarse grit (45 micron, 325 mesh) or extra coarse (60micron, 220 mesh) 8" or 250 mm DuoSharp¨ bench stone for flattening Japanese water stones. It’s fast and easy. Make sure there is plenty of water to flood the surfaces of the stones when flattening to wash away the slurry made by the flattening process.

This is straight from the DMT FAQ linked on their homepage.

not to be picky, but ceramics and Japanese water stones are two very different animals, and lapping has a slightly different goal.
But I appreciate the help.

I've got limited eexperience in lapping ceramics, as the only ceramic hone I've ever lapped was a Spyderco UF, I started out trying to lap it with sandpaper, but I soon gave up and moved to the DMT as the sandpaper would have taken too much time, I don't know if the Lee Vally hones are as hard as the Spyderco, but if they are, you should consider getting a DMT to lap them, even if it costs some money. The size of the stones you linked to makes them possible to lap on the DMT6C.

I just picked up some diamond bench hones from Princess Auto, $14 for three grits. I don't expect much, but they are cheap and big, so lots of area to wear out. gotta love those Power Fist tools, cheap enough for jobs you only do once. I had to hold back from the dremel buffing kit. another day.

For lapping ceramic hones has anyone thought of using an old barbers hone? It is a ceramic. I cut up a few damaged barber hones to use as slurry/rubbing/cleaning stones and gave one to Harrisonfan to use on Spyderco hones when they needed cleaning. When I tried it they did clean up the Spyderco.
Old damaged barber hones are available on Ebay for cheap $.

Just some ideas,