Thread: Hey Greenhorns !! -- Lap that Hone

After buying my 4k/8k slipstones, I lapped my hones with about 300 grit sandpaper -- not bad I thought and would suffice . Well I did get ok results but thought maybe I should lap again with a higher grit . So I got some 1000 grit wet/dry paper and lapped it again. Boy did it make a difference --- I immediately got that "shhhhhhlllllllllllliiikkkkk" sound I was looking for as the blade matched the hone well (getting a suction on the blade) and bit ever so slightly into the hone. The results were amazing on the blade ------ popped hairs crazy off the hone and after some paste and stropping work produced a beautiful shave. So greenhorns --- lapping is important ---choose a high grit and save you some time.

Justin

Indeed, Dear Watson. Your observations are most correct

See, I made the dumb mistake of hoping/assuming for the best and was honing with my Norton as-is, because I felt the suction of the wet stone take to a flat surface, but it was definitely not flat, because honing was rough.
I wasn't able to get the trouble blades shaving well till I took the sandpaper to them.
Then after a few strokes, I started getting that perfect feel of the increased surface area of the edge on the stone, much more "airitght."
Honing is not tough at all if you factor in this extremely important piece of advice.

Oh, and round off the corners, in case you let the tang drop a bit, you don't have to worry about running the edge on a corner.

That's exactly where I'm at with my Norton. Since my last lapping with something around 300k I get a good edge, but not a great one. I've decided to up the ante.

X

Originally Posted by Friggin Joe

Oh, and round off the corners, in case you let the tang drop a bit, you don't have to worry about running the edge on a corner.

Yeah round off them corners too ---- I think I was bumming up my edge with a rough corner



Justin

Oh and the wet/dry paper I was using was of pretty high quality ---- I don't think all sand papers are built alike ---- get you some good paper.


Justin

(and a nice flat lapping surface is important too --- of course --- but don't make light of it's importance)


now -- if I could only figure out women.

Lap women with 300-400 grit.
Ow, damn, if you think about it.

Originally Posted by Friggin Joe

See, I made the dumb mistake of hoping/assuming for the best and was honing with my Norton as-is, because I felt the suction of the wet stone take to a flat surface, but it was definitely not flat, because honing was rough.
I wasn't able to get the trouble blades shaving well till I took the sandpaper to them.
Then after a few strokes, I started getting that perfect feel of the increased surface area of the edge on the stone, much more "airitght."
Honing is not tough at all if you factor in this extremely important piece of advice.

Oh, and round off the corners, in case you let the tang drop a bit, you don't have to worry about running the edge on a corner.

Even though this is slightly counter-productive, I've got to say that my Norton would have been hone-ready out of the box on both sides (I lapped it, but it didn't need it, although the edges needed a good rounding). So it's not necessarily a dumb assumption to think your new Norton is ready to go. Of course, erring on the side of caution is probably best in these situations.

James.

Originally Posted by jaegerhund

...
now -- if I could only figure out women.

Most women are ready to go out of the box, although it depends on where you pick them up from. I tend to keep my women either in the kitchen or the bedroom, depending on what I'm using them for at the time. Women tend to react better to diamond than any other polishing/smoothing medium.

James.

PS drawing comparisons between women and hones is fraught with danger - paticularly when the title of the thread is "lap that hone"...

Well, my japanese stone came pretty darned flat, too. don't think I got anywhere on lapping that, maybe more often than not Norton stones come perfectly ready for honing use. I think the best bet is starting with "definitely flat enough" instead of "possibly flat enough" before taking a stone to the things. Especially if one is new and cannot gauge how successful honing progress is.