Thread: Advice on lapping plates

Season's greetings, I trust everyone had a good Christmas!

I am looking at lapping plates, and though I know the DMT plates are standard, they are also pricy. I guess others could work, right? Has anyone tried this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JMIP...v_ov_lig_dp_it

It isn't the cheapest, so I would expect decent quality. I'm thinking that the 400 shouldn't be too far off the DMT 325, and that the 1000 side is not only useful for stones, but maybe also if I need to do any spine work on a razor.

I currently have King/Ice Bear 1k, 4k, 6k and 10k, plus five (5!) unlapped PHIGs. So a subsidiary question would be, is a plate like this man enough to lap five (5!) PHIGs, or should I be looking at another method?

Many thanks,

Ed

Do some research. It needs to be flat, some of the cheaper ones I’ve seen have warps. For razors or chisels or plane blades a flat hone is a necessity, imo. Your hones can only be as flat as your lapping plate.

The trend diamond plate is also 2 sided 400/1000 grit they’re a little more but they’re flat. I have a 325 dmt and a 1k dmt. The 1k I use to do repair and corrective work on damaged blades.

DONT USE A DIAMOND PLATE TO INITIALLY FLATTEN A PHIG!

I killed a 325 dmt doing that. Use loose sic and a piece of glass to flatten. You can find loose sic on ebay or amazon in small quantities.

Sic works great. Just do it over a bucket. It can collect in your sink trap. Ask me how I know.

Originally Posted by Montgomery

Season's greetings, I trust everyone had a good Christmas!

I am looking at lapping plates, and though I know the DMT plates are standard, they are also pricy. I guess others could work, right? Has anyone tried this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015JMIP...v_ov_lig_dp_it

It isn't the cheapest, so I would expect decent quality. I'm thinking that the 400 shouldn't be too far off the DMT 325, and that the 1000 side is not only useful for stones, but maybe also if I need to do any spine work on a razor.

I currently have King/Ice Bear 1k, 4k, 6k and 10k, plus five (5!) unlapped PHIGs. So a subsidiary question would be, is a plate like this man enough to lap five (5!) PHIGs, or should I be looking at another method?

Many thanks,

Ed

I've heard counsels not to use the diamond plate as linked for lapping, but rather for sharpening. As for lapping the Kings, a DMT coarse should do the trick, as will 320x wet/dry sandpaper used wet on a thick sheet of glass. As for the PHIGs, coarser wet/dry sandpaper on glass should do the trick as well, on up to around 400x-600x.

The DMT plates are pricey and I regretted buying one at first, but once I started using it I never regretted it since. I lapped my PHIG with who knows how many sheets of wet/dry sandpaper for about 95% of it and then I used my new DMT to finish it. I actually bought the DMT because of the PHIG. The DMT started off kind of rough at first, but by the time I was done with the PHIG it was well broken in and smoothed itself out. Makes short work on the rest of my stones. Not sure if I would want to lap another PHIG from the start let alone 5. I'm not sure what it would do to the plate afterwards. I know mine was well broken in after only a little bit of lapping. I also use it for repairing stubborn chisels, plane blades and knives.

I bought this one awhile back. I like that it is a bit larger than a DMT plate.
It works fine on Naniwa stones, but the manufacturer cautions against using
it on Arkansas stones.

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/D...P1545C111.aspx

CKTG has some inexpensive plates the last time i checked. They arent made to the tolerances of dmts but for grunt work theyre pretty good. I would still not use them or any diamond plate for heavy lapping of a hard stone. The atomas are made different and last a lot longer. DIamonds are forever but they end up getting broken off and end up running down the drain. For synthetics sure. But for a phig? SIC or wet dry. Its your plate and money, so the call of course is yours.

There are a lot of lapping options. Most people are looking to maintain the flatness of their hone. For that just about any diamond hone will work just fine. The very fine grit hones of course will likely not clear easily and get sticky. 325 is a good one that I use a lot.

I have been using a grit progression of sic powders and a granite floor tile for as long as I can remember. I just clean it up with a few paper towels and water. I agree that rinsing it down the sink might be problematic.

I have been curious about a double sided diamond plate that CKTG has for a very reasonable price.

Pete <:-}