Thread: Can I use the "Perforated" DMT Duo-sharp for lapping Norton 4k/8k, and Naniwa 12K?

I just found this old photo I took a few months ago after starting to lap a Naniwa 10K with a DMT duo-sharp 220/325. The groove patterns are very faint.

I've lapped a few Swaty's in my day. That's one of the reasons I bought a D8XX, I thought it'd make quick work of those chips. It still took forever. Swaty has got to be one of the hardest hones I've come across. Once the hone dried, even after the D8C, it looked faded and scratched. I had to use wet sandpaper, up to 1000grit, then they looked like new....

On finer hones, I think finishing up with some higher grit wet sandpaper is a good way to go...

+1 Zib
First off I can't understand how the 220 scratches went away with razor passes... I mean I lapped my Swaty's with 220 wet/dry and they all had scratches that never went away, so I lapped them up to 1000 wet/dry. Now they're(/it's- sold a few) smooth again. I think anyone who has lapped a swaty will find it hard to believe it was lapped in "a few seconds" or that honing a razor had any impact on the surface whatsoever.

As for texture- I think sometimes it matters sometimes it doesn't. The diamond hone I used (once lol) to create slurry on my jnat had pokey-outey diamonds that scratched it and gave it a texture and I can say with absolute certainty the jnat DID NOT perform correctly(/well as a finisher) until it was smooth again. Instead of finishing at/around par with my Thury, it dulled the edge down to about a 5k level. And no this isn't from fresh slurry I spent 6 hours experimenting with everything from water only, to honing with the same slurry for 300 passes (to let it break down) to watering down the slurry- the texture definitely made something wrong.

On the other hand on the naniwas scratches have almost no impact.

I think this is because on very hard hones, the texture makes its own kinda grit (like a file) whereas on soft/man made hones the particle size determines grit. Thus soft hones wear and expose cutting grits, where as hard hones, while still wearing, are more likely to also scratch the blade.

So +1 on Zib, I think the finer hones are impacted more by texture, but I think even more important with fine/rough, is the soft/hard factor.

I've experimented with not lapping a Swaty. I have a long one that I bought NOS in the box. It is visibly not flat to the naked eye. I thought about the barbers I knew well twenty five years ago and as much as they told me about their honing they never mentioned lapping of flattening stones. So I began to use this Swaty with x strokes on a few razors and it worked fine. Not saying it isn't a good idea to lap stones ... and I do ... but the x stroke seems to work even with hones that are not ideally flat.