Hone Lapping

I've been hearing that some hones will work better or worse depending on what grit you use to lap them. Could I perhaps call on the plethora of knowledge and get opinions on what grit hones should be lapped to one grit or another? For example; an 8k stone should be lapped to a 320 grit level...

Thanks

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Originally Posted by bmilesmiles

I've been hearing that some hones will work better or worse depending on what grit you use to lap them. Could I perhaps call on the plethora of knowledge and get opinions on what grit hones should be lapped to one grit or another? For example; an 8k stone should be lapped to a 320 grit level...

Thanks

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Mostly not an issue with softer water stones.
Arkansas stones and the ceramic Spyderco products pay attention.

If you are concerned find a bar of steel
and rub the surface of the hone after lapping it
flat. That and a rinse in a bucket should knock the
tops off and you should be fine.

There has been more and more of this talk of late and I honestly believed the same in the past, I was lapping with higher and higher grits to get a smoother surface..
Then I bought the Shaptons, and the hugely expensive DGLP lapping plate, and I learned that it was a 325 grit and since that I figured if a 325 was good enough for the highest grit stone known, it was good enough for everything else :)

The only ones I go higher on now is like Nifty just mentioned My Arkansas stone and My Charnley Forest both of which are oil stones and they do seem to make a differerence above the 325 mark

it is a YMMV thing, so you need to test it for yourself

Thanks guys. I'll mess around with it.

I lap all my stones with 1200 grit ( at the end of lapping process ) independently of what kind of stone is, but I use only natural stones.

There's someone which don't believe in this, they think 325 grit is enough,but not for me.:nono:

Regards

A rough surface will act slightly faster and act slightly coarser. Whether that's better or worse is personal preference. Hard stones will keep a rough surface longer so it makes more sense to lap them finer. Soft stones wear in pretty fast. If you're going to use slurry on the stone you can pass on lapping it finer.

I like to finish my finer natural stones on 1500 or 2000 grit, some like to finish lapping with another stone for an ultimate smooth surface. Coarse stones like Washitas I lap till 120 grit. Other stones depend on the mood I'm in :)

Hey I use a dmt 8c on my 1k chosera all the way up to 12k super stone and for me it's spot on have used a finer grit but I can't tell the difference