Thread: lap a swaty? and if so, with what?

Hi folks, I recently acquired a very good condition SRD branded swaty (see below) no chips, the surface looks real smooth. Do I need to lap it or not? And if needed, what to lap it with? I have at hand either flat surface and 2000 grit sandpaper, DMT 1200, or prelapped chinese 12K. Lacking other input, if I had to lap I would probably choose the chinese 12K because a very hard stone, and the grit probably would not rough up the surface of the swaty like the sandpaper or the DMT would. But I would like to consult the collective wisdom here on this issue. Thanks in advance for your advice, everyone, Pete

Nice rock Pete. This is just my opinion so FWIW, most of the barbers back in the day didn't lap their barber hones. They used the x stroke to compensate for anomalies in the blade and/or the hone. I have lapped a couple using the DMT D8C 325 or much quicker the DMT DXX 120. Now I take and use Comet and a scrub brush and use them as is. Works well in my case. I would say clean it up and use it and give it a try. If it works fine and if not you can always lap it. If you don't have the plates sandpaper on a flat surface and plenty of water will do it.

thanks Jimmy for putting it in perspective. The practice of generations of barbers definitely holds a lot of weight. No lapping it is then, but I will try the Comet scrubbing, just to get rid of any debris.

Like Jimmy said. I have not lapped my barber hones and have not seen a need to, use the X stroke.

I agree with the above 2 guys. Just clean it up and keep it clean.

thanks for your collective advice!