Thread: Shutting my mouth and listening

I recently posted about planning on lapping my Naniwa 12k (that so many of you were so influential in convincing me to get) with my norton lapping plate. I saw a negative reply, and it got me pondering. My bull-headedness left me in a sour mood and I was basically planning to say to hell with you nit-pickers and lap it with the norton anyway.

Then I remembered what brought me here in the first place. I tried to learn this gig on my own, and sliced my face and spent hours with a blade on the wrong hone before realizing that the experience of others is a much better way to learn this than butching my own expensive blades and slightly less expensive face.

So, A DMT D8C is in the mail. I have a few blades I REALLY want to touch up on the 12k, but I will wait until the lapping plate gets here (A quick hit with some WD sandpaper showed conclusively that it is not flat). If the USPS has sorted it's issues, this time next week, I'll have the 325, and a day or two after that I'll get back to the bench and start working on making some wicked edges again!

I think you have made a good choice. Those norton lapping stones are known for not being flat themselves.

You could continue to lap with the W/D paper. I flattened a norton 1000 with paper. It did take a great deal of time and energy and am also getting a DMT for this purpose.

It is all in gaining experience from others and from doing ones self.

Good luck

Good choice on the diamond plate, just make sure you break it in once you get it before using it on your stone.

Mathis, I'm smiling - remembering I felt the same - with the same result. It took me a while to appreciate what I was told. That doesn't mean there won't be a time for you to experiment w/ things other's have yet to try - but early on is not the time.

I thought I could see ulterior motives for the counsel I got at first. To put it mildly - I was wrong. Whether or not the input is exactly right - the guys here have every motivation to help a new guy learn to *LOVE* his shaves. 'Makes me look back with alot of gratitude for those that helped me - especially when my excitement got the best of my listening skills.

I think you'll like that Nani 12/DMT combination. You'll be really glad you got the DMT. If the Nani is very far out of flatness - you might want to start out w/ some wet/dry sandpaper to do alot of the work. As you'll find, the DMT will want to stick to the surface of the stone, making it hard to move or remove. Initial lapping should prob. be done either under running water - or underwater in a bucket or similar.

Expect the DMT to load up w/ slurry, so rinse/clean it alot. It'll turn a much darker gray color. The only thing that degrades is the color, unless it gets loaded up w/ metal swarf or stone slurry. I've used a chlorinated, mildly abrasive scouring powder for cleaning the kitchen sink to remove the gunk. It always performs better afterwards.

'Best of luck & thanks for posting this.

For sure search out the threads on here about the DMTs possibly having high diamonds that may need to be knocked down and how to do that first before using them to lap your Naniwa. If there are high diamonds they will scratch the surface of the Naniwa. Just ask me how I know.

Bob

Originally Posted by BobH

For sure search out the threads on here about the DMTs possibly having high diamonds that may need to be knocked down and how to do that first before using them to lap your Naniwa. If there are high diamonds they will scratch the surface of the Naniwa. Just ask me how I know.

Bob

I got a pretty good idea how you know. The real question is how do you fix it?

I found that I had to lap the 12K stone two different ways before using it the first time.

The first lapping, as pinklather suggests, was done submerged in a small tub. I lapped it
until the pencil grid lines disappeared.

Lynn suggested that it is not necessary to soak the 12K, but to just wet the surface until
water pools. Since the stone got quite a soaking initially, I let the stone dry out overnight
and re-lapped it a second time after merely wetting the surface.

I found that the stone did indeed require some touch-up lapping the second time.
Apparently, a full soaking does change the flatness somewhat. Thereafter, before using
the stone, it is only necessary to wet the surface and 2 or 3 figure-eights on the DMT
restores perfect flatness.

Don't forget to chamfer the long edges of the stone as needed. And remember that the
stone material is quite soft, so don't apply undue pressure when lapping.

You made a good choice. Good luck.

Originally Posted by vmathis12019

I got a pretty good idea how you know. The real question is how do you fix it?

General forum search "DMT scratching hone" yields http://straightrazorpalace.com/honin...-ss-1k-3k.html as one example. A lot of info is already here you just have to dig for it sometimes.

Bob

Originally Posted by vmathis12019

I got a pretty good idea how you know. The real question is how do you fix it?

I say: lap the Norton lapping stone. It's coarse, spare, won't hurt to break in your DMT with it, and it will be flat afterwards, should you decide to use it.

If you get a consensus on any one subject, you can bet it will save you time and money… in the long run. That advice usually comes from experience, often having done the opposite first and learning the hard way.

On the DMT sharpen your kitchen knives, a couple of knives will knock off any high diamond grit and make the face even for lapping stones.

Once lapped, the 12k will just need a touch up occasionally to refresh the face. A squirt bottle with a tablespoon of dish soap will help keep swarf from loading up. When you do refresh round the corners of the sides each time, one lap across a ragged corner can undo your hard work.