I have several Naniwa superstones, in 3k/5k/8k/12k grits. I also have the Naniwa jumbo 220 grit lapping plate. On my first honing attempt (a few months back) I skipped the lapping step, partially because I was excited to hone, and partially because I was thinking "how far off from flat could they be, fresh from the factory?". Well the honing job didn't turn out so good, so I sent my two razors for professional sharpening (preferring at that time to focus on shaving rather than honing technique).

Today I ventured forth to hone one of my razors again, and this time I didn't skip the lapping step. Wow - every stone needed 15-20 minutes of constant lapping to get all of the the pencil marks off (I did it in the bottom of a sink, under running water as per the wiki. No wonder my first honing job turned out like crap (in addition to my overall noob-ness, of course).

Now the problem is that the hones were left with a lot of small black spots on the surface - I assume (but am not sure) this is embedded material from the lapping plate? I was careful (or think I was) to "let the stone do the work" during lapping. Is this black stuff normal?

When I put the hones under running water and try to clean off the black stff with my fingers, the surface felt quite smooth and not much comes off. Rubbing the hone surfaces with my fingers when dry does start to rub this stuff off, and it also starts to scrape up during honing itself. I went ahead and honed my razor anyway - will find out tomorrow morning how I did .

Anyway: has anyone else seen this stuff on a hone after lapping? Is there a good way to get it off? I have seen some references to something called a "dressing stone", but am not sure exactly what that is.

thx,
Jay