Honing Advice Needed

Hi all SRPers

I have finally decided to hone my own razors so have invested in a Naniwa 12000 speciality stone with holder and Nagura stone. I know there is a lot of information out there about honing most of which I have read about, videos and how to's all watched. At this moment in time my primary interest is to master just keeping my razors sharp using this stone, I don't intend to start any renovation of poor edges yet. I have noticed that there are a few minor imperfections on the surface of the 12000 stone and wanted to know the exact process of ensuring the surface is flat using the nagura stone. The Nagura stone has rough corners to it also. Will it be okay to use the Nagura with these slightly rough edges and should I use it wet or dry? I have seen the Nagura stones being used both wet and dry and to be completely honest I think Iv'e seen that much now that I'm still non the wiser. Can someone put it in really simple terms exactly what I should be doing to get this stone into a condition for my first attempt at honing. Thanks.

Hello, with any stone you intend to use you should lap it to ensure flatness and uniformity of its surface.

There are a few ways to do this depending on your financial state.

The quick way is to buy some silicone carbide sandpaper in 100 and 220 grit and lay it on a truly flat surface such as a marble tile that you have checked with a straight edge.

Or buy silicone carbide in loose grit and a flat marble tile and place a thin layer of 3 to 400 grit sic (silicon carbide grit) on it with water and do light figure eights switching ends often . Mark the surface you are desiring to lap all over with a #2 pencil and then lap until the marks are gone,then re mark it and repeat the figure eights and you are likely done.

Or if you have the money you can buy a DMT 8c online and use this diamond covered stone to lap your stones very flat quickly also. The dmt should cost around 55 to 70 dollars delivered. Cheers !

The "nagura" is used to dress or clean the hone surface of accumulated swarf, not really to flatten it though careful use of it after honing may help the hone stay flatter longer. Sharp edges on any nagura are NOT OK. Sharp edges can release large particles and if the nagura tips even the slightest, it can gouge the hone. Round those corners and edges with sandpaper.

Flatten your stone using w/d sandpaper on flat tempered plate glass or a ground flat marble tile. Or a DMT or Atoma plate. Putting a pencil grid on the hone and lapping them off is a good start, but the hone swarf can erase pencil marks even when the stone is not flat. A true straight edge, like a machinist's straight edge works, and what I do is just sight down the hone at a bright light source (open window, light bulb) and ensure that the reflection is mirror-like, no or very little distortion in the reflection.

Cheers, Steve

A diamond plate with a 325-400 grit rating will be your best bet. When you get more comfortable with edge restoration the diamond plate will be very useful. If you do get a diamond plate clean up some of your kitchen knives or chisels as the there tends to be some high spots on most new diamond plates.

Those of us who use diamond plates use either dmt or atoma.

You could always search the Community/Members list for someone living near you that might be willing to lap your hone on their diamond plate, should they have one. It's a one time job really, and once done, you're only cleaning when necessary and cleaning can be done with a light touch and a nagura. I would do it for you, but I think Canada is a bit out of your way! :D

Wet/Dry paper on a flat surface works fine, as does the loose grit on a flat surface. In NA it appears to be popular to use a cheap cookie sheet placed on a very flat surface if using loose grit. The cookie sheet keeps the mess from escaping and the steel will actually be soft enough to allow the grit to grab, making it more effective, though it is by no means required... you can use a piece of flat glass or a marble tile which is cut and polished flat, not the ceramic kind which are fired clay and can be very wonky, even if they look flat.

I flattened my new 12K Naniwa a month or so ago, and it's getting coloured by the swarf, but it is no where near time to clean it yet. As I have a couple of diamond plates, I use one of those to do the cleaning. Gssixgun has some videos on youtube and you would see time and again how he cleans his with a diamond plate and raises a light slurry at the same time.

Regards

Christian

Thanks for the advice, I have decided to go with the DMT 8C, stay tuned because I'm sure I'll have more questions. I will have to check out Gssixgun again, he does some good how-to videos. Thanks for the advice on the nagura stone, I will sand off those rough edges.

You WILL need to prep your DMT plate. Though it is "flat," not all of the peaks of its diamonds are the same height. IF they were, then you would get a relatively uniform surfacing of the hone by the diamond plate. Because a few diamonds will be a little bit higher, you will find that when you lap the hone you will find a lot of scratches in the hone.

The way to remove those aberrantly high diamonds is to rub a chisel or the shaft of a screwdriver over the diamond plate. The high diamonds will catch the brunt of the force of the steel passing over them and will be removed more likely than worn down. Regardless of how it works, prepping the plate this way will make it work much better with less scratching.

Yes I had noted that it's advisable to prep the plate. When you say to use the shaft of a screwdriver do you mean to lay the screwdriver across the width of the plate in the same manner as you would a razor and perform a number of laps with the screwdriver. If that is the case how many laps and what kind of pressure if any? Thanks.

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Originally Posted by 337edy

Yes I had noted that it's advisable to prep the plate. When you say to use the shaft of a screwdriver do you mean to lay the screwdriver across the width of the plate in the same manner as you would a razor and perform a number of laps with the screwdriver. If that is the case how many laps and what kind of pressure if any? Thanks.

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Yes regarding the screwdriver. However, unlike with honing, you need to go ALL THE WAY to the end of the plate.

I don't think there is a proper lap number. I guess I'd start with about 3-5 minutes and relatively light pressure. I don't think you need to bear down on it very hard to get it done. You can do this by trial and error. That is, prep it for a while and then rinse it off and lightly lap your hone and see if you are getting any scratches. Proceed according to your result from that.

That's great thanks. Should get my DMT in the next couple of days so I think that's the way I will go with it. Screwdriver and some gentle trial and error and keep an eye out for any scratches. Thanks again, I should be of to a good start with that.