Thread: Barber hone lapping.

Received an old pike swaty in the mail today. Tried lapping it with two different grits. Medium and fine , and it does produce a hone with a different front and back texture. Used it tonite on a Larkin that I have, will see how it worked tomorrow AM.

Boy was this a mistake!!! Used the swaty last nite, went over the Larkin this AM before the shave and...(:-( ! Not Good! Had to stop after the 1st pass and redo the razor with my usual Crown Barber hone. Few Crown passes and I was able to finish the shave. Not sure what went wrong but the 2x lapping of the Swaty didn't seem to work.(:-(

Hey there

Have you sanded the hone with fine grit sandpaper? Your hone with change in performance depending on the finish you leave on the surface. Can you see any scratches on the surface?

Carl

Hi used dual hone to do with. I did one side with a ~300 the other ~600. No scratches but surface is not that glossy feel that it initially had. Will try sand paper and see what happens.

Hey yeah now that you have it flat finish it with sand paper from around 600 moving up to at least 1000 grit paper

Carl

Hmmmm

I guess I've been doing it wrong all these years...

First never lap them at all unless there is actual damage that the razors can find

When I do lap them I use a DMT 120 first to remove the damage, then move to my DMT 525 yes that was not an error my 325 is much closer to a 525 now after 100's of Babrber's hones...

I kinda figured that if a 325 grit was good enough for a Shapton 30k it was probably good enough for a ~8k Barber's hone

If you want to replicate the old "Fine" finish try a buffer and a CrOx wheel, also running an old razor over then a few times smooths them right up

The sarcasm made me smile <3

That is just how I get my best results, If I lap a barber hone I finish them with at least 1k abrasive paper until I can see no scratches.
Can you see scratches from your 525 after you are done with it? Just curious. I suppose it would be a personal preference too.
You have honed more razors than me though!!!

I have seen a ton of people go too really high lapping on more than just the B-hones in fact I used to do it myself and lap out to the 1k.. Then I brought the Shaptons, that made me re-think the whole thing,, Their DGLP is actually 325 grit also, when I realized that they have the highest grit stone (30k proved) right now, and they recommend lapping it on a 325 grit I never looked back after that... I have tried the Nagura/Slurry/High Grit Lapping on just about every Natural and Synthetic you can imagine and in the end I just honestly don't think it makes a bit of difference...

I can tell you the easiest and fastest way to lap most any stone slick is to lap with a Arkansas stone they are so hard that they smooth out anything but the hardest of the hard plus they are dirt cheap to get... I still try slicking up a stone every now and then just to make sure I don't feel I am missing something,,, but so far I just don't think there is... YMMV though

I have yet to own a shapton 30k ... thank's for that information Glen, I am sure the OP will be more than grateful too. I like the Arkansas idea too, I consider myself corrected, I will give it a try ... maybe I am just a gear junkie lol

No no not corrected just a different point of view ain't nothing wrong with going higher, just might not be better either


Here is a Shumate B-Hone I just finished doing on the DMT's 120 to get rid of the deep scratches that were on it, then the 325 to smooth it up, I looked at it across the hone and into a light, and even tried looking at the window, to see scratches just like you would do on a blade, and my old eyes can't see anything.. I do finish the lapping with very light figure 8's and I lap these under running water ...