Thread: the best synthetic finnishing stone

Loric,

Could you please post some details on how you flattened/lapped your Spyderco UF ? I was thinking about doing one side of mine.

Many thanks !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Originally Posted by PhatMan

Loric,

Could you please post some details on how you flattened/lapped your Spyderco UF ? I was thinking about doing one side of mine.

Many thanks !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

I'd be happy too. This was all flying by the seat of my pants as it was honestly the first stone I ever flattened. What works best for me was to draw your pencil marks on the Spyderco UF and wetting down the SUF and a DMT XXC and rubbing the XXC over the SUF. Slurry builds up fast, and clogs up the XXC so rinse this away as soon as you notice it. It wont look like much, but the more often you wash it off the faster the whole posses will go. The slurry will eventually wear the pencil marks off before the stone is flat, so assume you will have to re apply them at least once. It should be easy to tell what areas are being lapped off and what areas are just fading from the friction, but its an important thing to note.

After the XXC I could see and feel scratch marks so I did a touch up with my DMT XC and then C and it feels smooth and flat now. Though I'm not an expert and it could take a bit more to really polish it up. However the edges I get off of it are much much better now than before I lapped it. My particular SUF had these awful ridges from the factory lapping posses. Even as a novice I could feel the razor moving as it passed over them.

Both sides were similarly un-flat on my Spyderco and on the first I attempted to do as others suggested with the stones in a sink with water running over them. For me this went much much slower (3 hours as apposed to 75 min) as I dont think the slurry was washed away nearly as efficiently. I still made sure that both stones were always wet, and in fact washing the slurry away so often really prevented anything from drying out.

I hope that helps, let me know if I can clear anything else up. Just remember that even with good tools this will take ALOT of time.

Originally Posted by Loric

I'd be happy too. This was all flying by the seat of my pants as it was honestly the first stone I ever flattened. What works best for me was to draw your pencil marks on the Spyderco UF and wetting down the SUF and a DMT XXC and rubbing the XXC over the SUF. Slurry builds up fast, and clogs up the XXC so rinse this away as soon as you notice it. It wont look like much, but the more often you wash it off the faster the whole posses will go. The slurry will eventually wear the pencil marks off before the stone is flat, so assume you will have to re apply them at least once. It should be easy to tell what areas are being lapped off and what areas are just fading from the friction, but its an important thing to note.

After the XXC I could see and feel scratch marks so I did a touch up with my DMT XC and then C and it feels smooth and flat now. Though I'm not an expert and it could take a bit more to really polish it up. However the edges I get off of it are much much better now.

Both sides were similarly un-flat on my Spyderco and on the first I attempted to do as others suggested with the stones in a sink with water running over them. For me this went much much slower (3 hours as apposed to 75 min) as I dont think the slurry was washed away nearly as efficiently. I still made sure that both stones were always wet, and in fact washing the slurry away so often really prevented anything from drying out.

I hope that helps, let me know if I can clear anything else up. Just remember that even with good tools this will take ALOT of time.

A Spyderco is a great way to ruin a DMT. Just sayin'.

Loric,

Many thanks for the gen

Luckily, my Spyderco UF is reasonably flat. I was looking to remove the 'grooving' on one side as I have heard some good things about lapped UFs.

Benjamin - many thanks for the warning !

Have fun !

Best regards

Russ

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

A Spyderco is a great way to ruin a DMT. Just sayin'.

If you do things right, than no. You should be fine if you only use minimal pressure and much water.

If you flatten your Spyderco hone, you RUIN your Spydero hone. The hone is guaranteed to be flat. If you find that it is not, then exchange it for one that is. Never lap a Spyderco hone.

If by flat, you mean smooth, then that is another issue and it cannot be corrected by lapping. The Spyderco hone achieves its cutting capacity by those swirl marks that the factory has lapped into the hones. This is why the Spyderco F and UF are made of exactly the same material. Their only difference is created by the factory lapping.

Originally Posted by Utopian

If you flatten your Spyderco hone, you RUIN your Spydero hone. The hone is guaranteed to be flat. If you find that it is not, then exchange it for one that is. Never lap a Spyderco hone.

If by flat, you mean smooth, then that is another issue and it cannot be corrected by lapping. The Spyderco hone achieves its cutting capacity by those swirl marks that the factory has lapped into the hones. This is why the Spyderco F and UF are made of exactly the same material. Their only difference is created by the factory lapping.

I dont think its ruined, it still removes some metal, and does a nice job polishing. Did it remove more metal before I smoothed it, yes. However, I guess I was looking for a final polishing hone rather than something to go to right after my DMT EE. I'm still figuring things out, but for me the edge feels keener after the UF than it does straight off my Coticule, YMMV.

Signed the (apparently) reckless honer.

Spyderco UFs are great, but I think its best to think of them as polishers, that they improve the edges from other hones. They do sharpen, but they're really slow.

I lapped mine on a DMT 225. Both hones survived and recovered fine, though they still have problems looking each other in the eye. I prefer the surface of the lapped UF, I think it puts a smoother finish on.