Quote Originally Posted by eKretz View Post
I disagree on that quite thoroughly. The chisel burnish is what will give you the smooth edge you want on a straight razor. This stone is novaculite, just like an Arkansas, and that step is an important one for smoothness of your razor edge. If you only want to use it for woodworking tools then it isn't really necessary.

The chisel will not scratch the stone as long as you keep the bevel aligned. I have a specific chisel set aside just for this that I put a convex bevel on to make it easier not to scratch the stone by getting out of alignment. I use oil exclusively on stones that are this hard - oil will let the stone do more cutting, where water will do more burnishing or polishing than cutting. The coticule lapping will be unnecessary - if you want to do it, do it before the chisel burnishing.

As far as lapping goes, the best (fastest) way to do it on a stone of this hardness is to use loose grit SiC for lapping on granite, glass or a cast iron lapping plate, but if you don't do a lot of lapping just go with the abrasive sheet.
Just wondering is this method (the chisel lapping) works on all hard stones (chineese, jap. nats, coticules etc...)?