Thread: Lapping my 8k????

I always lap my 1k and 4k norton stones. I use the lapping stone that came with my Norton 220/1k, 4/8k set I got from SRD. Should I be lapping my 8k stone as well? It's the last stone I finish with until I go to hard felt loaded up with chromium oxide......thnx.

The 8k needs way less "lapping" / "cleaning" as it is much harder, much more fine, and doesn't get the use the lower stones do...
But yes it does need lapping/cleaning on occasion...

I have drifted away from grid lapping myself on every stone.. I do about 5 light figure 8's before each razor and start with a clean fresh surface all the time.. Of course I hone a lot of razors so this works for me, try it it might work for you YMMV naturally...

I've always lapped the 8K using 1,500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I developed the variety of lapping grits from reading about it from Arthur Boon. Arthur recommend higher grit paper for higher grit stones.

Some guys have told me the 1,500 grit wet/dry paper is hard to find, and I usually recommend at least 1,000 in that case.

I drop lower for 4K, since it really doesn't matter.

But, having had really good luck on 8K I've always worried that it was because of potential glazing that I might be doing using 1,500 grit paper.

Either way, if it has been suggested by Mr. Boon, I usually consider it as well.

Originally Posted by dtrain17

I always lap my 1k and 4k norton stones. I use the lapping stone that came with my Norton 220/1k, 4/8k set I got from SRD. Should I be lapping my 8k stone as well? It's the last stone I finish with until I go to hard felt loaded up with chromium oxide......thnx.

All stones need lapping, more often or less. The only thing is that lapping stone will not be enough. I use thick glass with sandpaper fixed on it by scotch. It gives very even quality surface for lapping of any stone. As for the sandpaper, I use progression of 600-800-1200. Result is perfect from 1K grit to 15K grit.

From the replies above it seems like I need to start using some high-grit sandpaper after using my lapping stone. Thanks gents, much appreciated!

One more thing about the lapping...you need to make sure your lapper is flat. Over time the relatively soft Norton lapping hone will become unevenly worn due to its contact with the non-flat surface of your hones. You can lap it with wet/dry sandpaper and water on a flat surface like a countertop.

Or you can rub it against the 1k after both are lapped just do light reversing circles under running water and rinse both very well after .....

I lap my norton with a 325 DMT, is it really necessary to go finer? If I remember right, a lot of people said that they only use the DMT and it is fine that way.

Yes, it is perfectly fine that way. Don't worry.

Originally Posted by jeness

I lap my norton with a 325 DMT, is it really necessary to go finer?

Not at all; the DMT is all you need for the synthetics. For hard naturals (Jnats & probably others also), you do want to go finer, but for synthetics, you're just wasting your time/money. Shapton's expensive DGLP is only 325 grit & they recommend using it on their superfine 30K (my guess is you really don't need it even then, but the point is, even then, you don't need to go finer.)

A lot of us are big fans of the DMT 325 (you don't have to buy it now or anything, but in the future you might want to). It never needs lapping & doesn't have to keep being replaced like sandpaper.