Thread: Lapping a Barber Hone

Originally Posted by johnny_angel

This tends to embed grit on the surface of my Norton 4k/8k, do you run into this at all?

I water it while lapping and scrub under running water with fine steel wool when i'm done, but there are always a couple embedded pieces of grit that I have to carve out of the stone with an x-acto knife. Do you have any ideas how I can prevent / fix this problem?

Try using a high quality wet/dry such as 3M brand. That should reduce the problem. Diamond hones also work well.

Since the title of this thread is 'Lapping a Barber Hone' I'll post my question here.

I've got a reddish 3-line Swaty - both sides of the hone are extremely smooth - such that, when I put some lather on it, the razor just slides like it's on a piece of glass - no evidence of any cutting action.

I was wading around in the archives (ah-ah-ah-CHEW!!!)(excuse me - dusty in there!) and I found this:



down in the lower right corner, it makes reference to

"5. Should the rougher side with long use get too smooth, rub it when dry with rough emery paper or with a flat piece of pumice stone and plenty of water.

6. Should the finer surface with long use get too smooth rub gently with fine emery paper."

My question is the reference to a 'rough side' and a 'fine side'. My Swaty seems to be made of the same, reddish-brown material throughout, and both sides look and feel the same, i.e. smooth as glass. The only difference is that one side has the makers mark, and the other side is smooth (I use the back side for honing - the makers mark takes up too much real estate.)

So-o-o-o-o, my questions are:

A) Did Swaty make a 3-line, 2-grit hone, or are all 3-line Swaty's the same?
B) Does my reddish-brown 3-line Swaty in fact have 2 different grits, and I'm just too ignorant to tell the difference (entirely within the realm of possibility)?
C) Is my Swaty too smooth?

awaiting your replies with bated breath, I remain, as always.....



....here to serve.


-whatever

-Lou

Your stone is glazed. Scrub it with 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper or fine emery paper.

IIRC the back side is the coarse side and the front side is the fine side, but I can double check when I get home. The material looks the same but it definitely doesn't feel the same when you're honing. I don't think there's a huge difference though.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

Try using a high quality wet/dry such as 3M brand. That should reduce the problem. Diamond hones also work well.

Sandpaper grit has ceased to be a problem for me since I started using Keith's stuff from Handamerican. I think it's even higher quality than 3M.

I would use a DMT Course Diamond Stone. Mine leaves my hones feeling like silk.

Originally Posted by mparker762

Your stone is glazed. Scrub it with 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper or fine emery paper.

IIRC the back side is the coarse side and the front side is the fine side, but I can double check when I get home. The material looks the same but it definitely doesn't feel the same when you're honing. I don't think there's a huge difference though.

Thanks - I've been using mine for a couple months, now, and had no idea that there were two different grits! duhhhhh!

(...if my village calls, you guys haven't seen me, OK?.....OK??....)

-whatever

-Lou

Yes you can lap silicon carbide with silicon carbide (shorthand is SiC). You could even rub two stones together and get them flat... eventually. My daily practice is to lap on a DMT continuous diamond Coarse stone under running water in the kitchen sink. The DMTs are very flat and will flatten your stone quick quick. I do 20 or so stones a week like that.