Quote Originally Posted by Utopian View Post
While I can appreciate the desire to avoid wasting a hone, in my experience a properly lapped hone always performs better than one that is not lapped. It doesn't matter whether the hone is synthetic or natural, a perfectly flat hone is going to perform much better. If you bought a Nakayama hone to look at the pretty kanji, fine. Put it on a shelf and admire how pretty it is. If you bought it to hone razors, you're better off ensuring that it is flat.
Hi Ron, Good see you back. It's been a while. I appreciate what your saying, but with these Nakayama's, The Kanji not only looks nice, but adds value and proves authenticity, so lapping can come at a cost, literally, and is only done, or should I say, should only be done under extreme circumstances. Since these hones are used as a finisher, it hardly dishes. Sometimes, it glazes, or has some small imperfection in the surface which requires lapping. The Kanji is very beautiful and adds to the overall aesthetics of the hone, so it's a difficult thing. Anyway, welcome back....

Rich