Chinese Natural

I lapped my Chinese Natural awhile back using Norton 220 Wet/Dry Sandpaper. Afterwards the performance dropped and I did not use it for a bit. I was feeling a bit impetuous last night and used my Norton 4k/8k to smooth it up a bit.

I am guessing I did not screw it up because I shaved with a razor finished on the Chinese this morning with good results.

Anyway, are there any side effects lapping a Natural stone with a synthetic?

Secondly, should one even lap a natural right out of the box?

Thanks for looking.

Good question. I have one too. I did not lap out of the box and it seems to do fine, but I am a beginner. My razors shave great coming off it though.

bump, ditty, bump, bump

Lapping is another one of those topics that gets a ton of airplay...because there are many different opinions

There was a time when I lapped into the Stratosphere, going way up in the grit range to achieve really smooth stones...
Then I bought the Shaptons, if a proved 30k stone should be lapped with a 325 grit plate then I figured heck with it a 325 is good enough, haven't had any issues since..

Exceptions to that rule, Any stone that uses oil or an oil substitute get lapped to a very fine finish first...

As to your exact question, I doubt the the very soft Norton did to much of anything to the very hard Chinese stone, there are also a few different types of the Chinese naturals one of those types is pretty soft, so if there was a ton of Grey slurry while lapping with the Norton I would guess yours is one of the softer stones, which is actually not a bad thing as the softer ones give pretty good edges :)

ps: I lap every new stone I get for flatness first right out of the "box"

Thanks for the reply Glen, I definitely do not want to start a long drawn out post. I am trying to figure out why the degradation occurred in the stone after lapping. I would use the Natural after the Norton 8k and the edge would go way down hill. That is why I stopped using it. Maybe some of the grits from the sandpaper got lodged into it. Btw, it does produce a near milky white slurry.

Are you sure it was lapped flat. Maybe some unevenness in the stone?

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Originally Posted by thebigspendur

Are you sure it was lapped flat. Maybe some unevenness in the stone?

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Fairly sure, I did a 'tight' grid pattern and lapped it until the grid was gone. I put the sandpaper on top of a piece of glass as well.

I saw that you had found the one thread I did on the Chinese stones before I started testing them, in that thread is a link to the "After" testing conclusions..

Basically without going into a ton of detail here (It is all in those threads) there are basically 4 types of Chinese stones that have crossed my path from super soft to super hard and scratchy. Some can be used to improve the edge after a Norton 8k (My definnition of a finsher) and some can't... These are Natural stones and every single one is different.. I have said this over and over "Synthetics are an exact science, Naturals are a romance".. Make sure you want to get involved with her :p
Natural stones really can be as frustrating as any woman, you hear people talk about this "Awesome" edges yet you have to understand what their stone is doing even if it is the same kind of stone you have, might not relate to what your stone is doing :(
It really can be the same as saying all Redheaded women act the same, we all know that just isn't true, and let's not even talk about Blondes :rofl2:

So they are hard to understand and sometimes you wonder if they are worth the trouble. What have I done to myself.

Naturals can be really frustrating sometimes, I know. I lap all of them with my 400 Atoma, and have no problems with them. I mainly finish on naturals, but I confess that sometimes it just doesn't happen like I want it to, than I go back to synths, and it usually solves my poblem :)

I ordered one of these. Hard to turn down for $23 for an 8x2. Hopefully one of the good ones, if not, it's going back.

The stone is great. Pretty hard and makes no slurry off the blade, but not skritchy feeling. I feel like it might be closer to 10K than 12.

Seen alot of threads with the chinese lately. I think if you are going to take that leap get one from woodcraft or rockler woodworking...as in get in your vehicle go there take it out of the box and run your hand across it. Even if it is over an hour drive there, which I will be doing here shortly, better than wasting money on shipping until you find the right one.

I got one of the softer ones here off our classifieds for $15. Great stone. I lap mine before every use with an old Smith diamond hone. I need to get the DMT!