Thread: DMT 8C Break-in

Originally Posted by Basset

These posts make me question a little how I lap. I draw the pencil grids on the Naniwas and then lap under running water until the pencil lines are gone. I might do it a second time. Then I call it done. With my DMT 8c, this takes maybe 30 seconds. Am I doing it wrong?

Sounds good, the very first time might take longer, but after that it should be about 30 seconds to clean and flatten them

Originally Posted by mrsell63

Has anyone had a bad experience lapping a Swaty on a DMT 325?????
My 3 Line Swaty left a nasty brown stain on the 325. Since then, I lap the Swaty on a Carborundum stone.

Again, am I the only one with this experience?

Swaty's are really hard. I have a D8XX I've used with good results. If your swaty has chips or anything like that, it'll get them out. The XX will leave it badly scratched too. You need to regress down to the finer grits. I'll go to the d8c, then wet sandpaper, up to 1000grit.

I just use a dmt xx on everything those scratches really don't have a negative effect that I can point out and it saves you a lot of time.

@ mrsell63:

I lapped a Swaty (and a couple of Spydercos) once on a 325; took much longer than I liked. They are the main reasons I now use a DMT XX for lapping the harder hones.

I got rid of the brown residue by rubbing some Comet or Zud on the hone with my finger. It worked much better than using a brush or Scotch-Brite pad.

Originally Posted by Basset

These posts make me question a little how I lap. I draw the pencil grids on the Naniwas and then lap under running water until the pencil lines are gone. I might do it a second time. Then I call it done. With my DMT 8c, this takes maybe 30 seconds. Am I doing it wrong?

As long as the end result is a flat hone I don't see how you are doing it wrong. The Naniwa I was lapping was high in the center, by quite a bit I might add, so it took a while to flatten. You might have lucked out and bought stones that were basically flat already.

I've said this elsewhere, but for those of you frustrated with the lapping speeds of the D8C, one of the bets investments I've made in recent months was upgrading from the D8C to the W250CXNB, which has the *interrupted* surface coarse/extra-coarse. The interrupted surface makes a huge difference in lapping efficiency - as does the step up from coarse to extra coarse. I have heard good things about the XX (extra extra coarse) though, which only comes in continuous surface.