Thread: prep for frist use for The Natural Finishing Stone - 12,000 Grit is quarried in China

yes what that guy said ^

so, I've been working on my honing skills and getting less than stellar results and it could have been b/c i didnt lap them right out of the box? I'd have thought this was done at the factory. They're new.

no its not the norton look like a cinder block when you get then once you lapp then you'll be amazed of how much smoother they get

Originally Posted by weirdbob

so, I've been working on my honing skills and getting less than stellar results and it could have been b/c i didnt lap them right out of the box? I'd have thought this was done at the factory. They're new.

When lapping a hone, either a Norton or a Chinese 12K, both of them should feel smooth in order for them to be lapped good. When I lap my hones for the first time, I feel the different parts of the hone as I am lapping. If I feel a little rough patch, I go back and lap it until it is smooth. Your less than stellar results could be from a hone that needs more lapping, or it could be from honing too little.

and since your new at hone i would tape the spine on the razor so you dont destory it with spine ware

A Norton isn't even usable when new an unlapped, it certainly needs it.

Ok, so after reading the lapping section in the wiki, I know I can do my nortons myself. However, I'm worried it will cost more to buy the stuff to do my chineese stone and my Swaty or spend hours doing them. Is there an alternative? Should I just buy a better finisher or does someone lapps these things? or does the lapping stones speed up the process? thanks.

For the Chineese you can start with some 160-180 grit paper and work up to ~400, it will take some time, but when you're done it will be a long time til you need to lap it again.

The Swaty isn't closa as hard as the Chineese to lap, you should do fine with 320 or 400 grit paper.