Thread: Lapping hones on counters?

I've looked for this for a while and it might be a terrible idea but... I've ordered a couple DMT plates for lapping but they aren't here yet and I looked at the granite countertops in my kitchen thinking that if I got some sandpaper, it could be smooth enough to lap a hone. Has anybody done this? Does it do a good job? It looks flat to me but I could imagine people would be against it. Any help would be appreciated.

WIVES are against it!

It works fine as long as you keep adding water and wiping up the mess. Rinse off the hone and the sandpaper frequently to speed up the cutting. Make sure that you use wet/dry sandpaper. Realize that this method involves more build-up of slurry so if you draw gridlines on the hone, they can be removed by the slurry before the hone is completely flat. You can overcome this by redrawing the gridlines and again rinsing off the hone and the sandpaper.

I actually lap on a 12 by 12 piece of marble I picked up at Lowes or home depot. I forgot. I also have a smaller piece 6 x 3 or so. I think I spent like 6 dollars total. I can do all my dirty work on these with no problems. Bring the marble an hones to your utility sink and all is good.

Pick up a piece of tile at the Home Depot/Lowe's and save yourself the trouble and aggravation.

Frank

I also have a marble food prep slab and a 8x10 320 paper works great.

As Utopian has pointed out, SHMBO don't like it!! Also Please Be Sure to keep swapping the ends as you will tend to apply more pressure to one end than the other! Glen pointed that out in his video on lapping stones. I wish I'd have thought of that when I lapped my 4/k on the counter top so that my Norton's 4K side didn't look like it is doing a 'wheelie'!

Originally Posted by Lakebound

Pick up a piece of tile at the Home Depot/Lowe's and save yourself the trouble and aggravation.

Frank

Check to make sure the piece of tile is flat. In my limited experience, not all are even close to flat.

Here is what I hone in at the kitchen sink - Watercolor Palettes « Bohan Art - These are usually available relatively cheap at art supply stores. I use a couple of rubber hone holders stacked up with the hone on top for clearance. You could lap at the counter, on a tile, and the water is contained. SWMBO would live with that I think.

I lap on diamond plates in the kitchen sink with a trickle of water coming out of the tap to clear the swarf. Once you get your plates give it a try.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

As Utopian has pointed out, SHMBO don't like it!! Also Please Be Sure to keep swapping the ends as you will tend to apply more pressure to one end than the other! Glen pointed that out in his video on lapping stones. I wish I'd have thought of that when I lapped my 4/k on the counter top so that my Norton's 4K side didn't look like it is doing a 'wheelie'!

I sell granite tops. Forget the significant other won't like it. YOU won't like it if you screw up and damage the top. It could easily cost more than a significant collection of SR's to replace the tops.

If you use another piece of stone on top of the top, use some padding between...

Wow! Thanks for all the responses and great input!! I tried it on my PHIG as a test and it seemed to work well. I never thought about messing up the granite but i was really careful and will probably get a small granite tile like others have said just to be safe. Would it be worth it to progressively increase the grit of sandpaper to "finish" the stone, or is that a waste of time?