Thread: Ready to purchase

Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

Ok now I feel like I've heard some on how you have to prep new hones before your first time use. It comes with some crap on it you have to scrub away. I can't seem to pull up any information on it, can anyone shed some light on this for me?

Draw a pencil grid on the hone, kind of like when you were a kid and played tic-tac-toe. Take a 325 grit 8x3" diamond plate, like the DMT D8C, or Atoma 400 (better but more $) and under the tap, or in a bucket of water rub the honing surface until the pencil grid is gone.

I like the Norton 4/8 better than the superstones, or whatever, of equivalent grit because they stay flat, and aren't affected by atmospheric changes, temperature, humidity. Only honing necessitates lapping/flattening on the nortons, while the other synthetics are always varying ....... IME ......... YMMV

Jeez, I need to buy a hone in order to use my other hones?! Sounds like it just evens out the surface of the hone you get.

Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

Jeez, I need to buy a hone in order to use my other hones?! Sounds like it just evens out the surface of the hone you get.

You do not have to buy a diamond plate. As long as you have a flat surface you can use w/d sandpaper. The diamond plate simply more convenient, but it really comes down to a matter of how frequently you will be needing to lap or refresh the hones' surfaces.

Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

Jeez, I need to buy a hone in order to use my other hones?! Sounds like it just evens out the surface of the hone you get.

I used 3M professional 320 grit sandpaper for awhile. Works well and lasts a good amount of time. Be sure to go high grit to low if using multiple stones on one sheet. It will lap them fast. EDIT: BE SURE TO RINSE THE STONE AND RUB WITH YOUR HAND UNDER RUNNIN WATER. This will remove any stray grit from the sand paper

Ifor a quick refresh, I use the DMT6C. It is 2" x 6", but works well with a figure 8 pattern. Les surface area or aignificant abuse has worn it fast.

The first lapping accomplishes 2 goals. 1) the stones never come flat. 2) there is a significant amount of excess resin on the outer surface. The first lapping gets you down to the usable grit. This is only my experience with the naniwas.

Don't bother with a naniwa ss 1k. I hate it and abuse it like I stole it. I have the 3k and love it, particularly if you are only working out chips 3/4 of the bevel width or less. I have heard good things about the 2k

So you don't have to just do this the first time, doesn't sound like you have to do it every time you start, so how often and how do you know when?

I usually do a few laps withe the dmt before honing. This has kept them very flat for the better part of a year. I checked my 3k a few weeks ago, and I have used it quite a bit.

The higher grit the stone, the less laps you do, which will allow longer stretches between full lapping

Originally Posted by Lumberjack55

So you don't have to just do this the first time, doesn't sound like you have to do it every time you start, so how often and how do you know when?

IME with norton 4/8 you don't have to do it every time. Only when you've honed enough to begin dishing. With every other synthetic hone I've used I have to start with lapping if I'm going to have a flat hone. That is Shapton, Naniwa superstone and Chosera, the Suehiro 20k. All of them.

You can use a straight edge, hold it up to a light source, or just draw a pencil grid and hit it a couple of licks on the diamond plate, or whatever. If it is flat the grid will come right off.

Eventually you'll know your hones, and know whether you have to start the process with lapping or not. Just part of the trip.

First lapping is probably the worst. If you get the Norton stones your 4k will come feeling like a concrete brick. You basically have to lap that flat, then get down to the good ceramic feeling material about 1/16 to 1/8 inch below the surface.

You can use wet/dry. It's not something you need to do every single use, I haven't lapped mine but once since I got them, and that was mostly to get Naniwa rubbing stone contaminate off my 4k from an experiment.

Some folks give em a quick 3 to 10 passes every time they pull them out. Some do it when they notice the hone isn't cutting as fast as it should. I tend to do it once the surface starts to turn black from swarf. As with most things you can sort of tailor it to your liking and how you want your stones to perform.