Thread: Lapping Progression-Am I Crazy?

Originally Posted by onimaru55

Mine don't. I think it might depend on some other factors,maybe the type of stone.

Neither do mine,,,I manage the pressure & water flow with my DMT 1200 during lapping.
Stones 1000k & below, get the 325 ,,, all above the 1000K get the 1200.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

I have pretty much followed the school of Glen. Something I noticed in his style of teaching is that what ever works for you is the best way. ...

Cool, the "Way of No Way" ala Bruce Lee's Jeet Kun Do!

Originally Posted by 10Pups

NO, I flip my razors the proper direction :<0)

Says you.

Originally Posted by 10Pups

If it works for you, your doing it right !

make notes...just sayin'.

Except Hard Oil Stones I have just not found a difference, but that isn't saying it doesn't work, basically like 10 pups said my belief is that if you seriously believe in your process it means you will practice it more and more, and the really simple rule is that the more you hone the better you get...

Waterstones are designed to work by exposing new grit continually, so it never really made much sense to me to limit that,,but if it makes you lighten up on the pressure or it makes you achieve a smoother stroke, then it works for you

It does make a marked difference in the speed that the stone cuts and in the stiction of some stones but the effect only lasts until the binder of the stone let's go of some of the abrasive. So for most waterstones like Shaptons for instance it's a matter of the effect lasting long enough to do a finishing step but not much more. Harder stones will hang in a little longer, but even harder to lap stones like my SG20k show the same effect after about the time it takes to finish 3 - 4 razors or so. I normally lap my softer stones every time I use them and the harder ones every other or every third use. Each time I remove a few thousandths of an inch at maximum (I have measured) so it's not going to hurt the life of the stone for me, since I'm only sharpening my own tools/edges. If I were sharpening for others I think I might concentrate harder on working the entire surface of the stones (I do this now but could certainly do better) more evenly so as to avoid so much lapping. The surface finish/scratch depth on the steel being abraded is NOT affected by the coarse scratches left behind by even the XXC diamond plate when using a fine stone. For instance lapping my Suehiro 20k to a mirror finish produces the exact same edge/finish as when I lap it with the XXC. The coarser finish cuts a little faster and tends to suck the steel to the stone much less.

Working in a machine shop I noticed this same type of behavior when using a surface grinder to grind steel parts. A coarse (much coarser than even the XXC's 120'ish grit) wheel dress (with diamond wheel dresser) would cut much freer and faster but leave a coarser finish, while a very fine wheel dressing (again with a diamond dresser) would leave a very fine finish but cut much slower - taking to much depth would even tend to burn the surface steel and turn it straw/brown or even blue.

Thanks for all the perspectives, guys!