A while ago I was reading a small page of the Science of Sharp website where he put a barber hone under an electron microscope to show that the abrasive particles were not particularly fine, something like 600 grit. The fine cutting action of the hones was primarily achieved by some type of conditioning/lapping of the surface that knocked the peaks off of the abrasive in the stones.

About the same time I came across this video of a guy making some toolroom stones for deburring various machined parts.



By surface grinding the stones he basically reduced their ability to cut so much that the abrasive would not initiate any type of scratching at all.

I have always wondered whether anyone has experimented with lapping something like a fine india stone to some very fine level, enough that the stone acts way way finer than its nominal grit rating, maybe even good enough to finish a razor on?

I have a 6 inch india stone going unused since I have a larger one which I use now and I have thought about lapping it using some SiC and lapidary diamond but before I try I was wondering if anyone had ventured into these waters before and whether I'd be wasting my time.

Many thanks.