Thread: Does a Naniwa 12K Super stone need lapping

kcarlisle,

+1 to the above sage advice.

The Naniwa SSs use 'grit' dipsersed in IIRC a resin matrix; such stones, like nautural waterstones, work best with a clean surface; as has been said above, this exposes fresh 'grit' to do the cutting. (I don't know if the 'grits' used by Naniwa are frangible or not)

If my Naniwas are anything to go by, the initial lapping takes a bit of time, as my Naniwas were far from flat; subsequent lappings take very little time at all - if you look at the excellent videos from GSSixgun, it really is a matter of a few tens of seconds !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

To keep the metal filings from building up you should be sure to use water on the hone while honing. Not a lot, just a spritz and whenever you see that metal residue, called "swarf", starting to appear while honing just rinse it with water and your fingers. Do not allow it to build up on the hone. The general procedure is to lightly refresh ( clean, lap) the surface of the hone just before a honing session. I use a scrub brush/nylon dish pad under running water when possible or a light lapping on 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper (use it wet).
This gives you the best honing surface.

Hope this helps,