Thread: How do you lap your stones?

I've also used a well worn 325 for quite a while, and it works very well. I do want to point out how great Jimmy's idea of rubber and submerging is, I do the same thing and I find it a lot easier.

The most worn 325 is the best tool ever for me, as stated above. JMO

$10 diamond hone from Aldi, seems to be working OK.

Originally Posted by prodigy

I use a well worn dmt 325 grit on all my hones, synthetic and natural. A thing to note is diamonds are the hardest material known to man, so using them to flatten hones is not going to "round" them, ever. What is happening is they are breaking loose from the steel plate they are attached too. I think a lot of people who say they have completely killed a diamond plate really haven't.

You are wrong, in this case. Contact DMT and ask them yourself if you don't believe me. The diamonds certainly do dull and flatten or round over, over time. This is why the diamond plates slow way down with heavy use on hard stones. It is certainly possible to pull diamonds out of the nickel matrix but it is not the reason that the diamond plates slow down very rapidly when lapping hard stones. This "break-in" period is the diamond abrasive particles dulling. Have a chat with any machinist that runs a surface grinder with a diamond wheel dresser and ask if diamond will round over or flatten. Diamond is the hardest substance known to man, sure. But it isn't kryptonite. It definitely wears.

Originally Posted by Crackers

$10 diamond hone from Aldi, seems to be working OK.

This one got my attention. I've also seen something like this at Harbor Freight for around the same price.
Anybody else use these?

Pete <:-}

I have a set and find then too small for any real use IMO. Theyre mounted on plastic and I dont trust that they will not warp in your hand while your using them.

Originally Posted by Crackers

$10 diamond hone from Aldi, seems to be working OK.

Are you still using this Diamond hone as a lapping system? If so, what are your thoughts?

I use most all the methods to lap, have a 16" diamond disk, the light weight diamond hone which looks similar to cracker's pic above, 3 grades were only 19.00 off ebay some years ago, they have been glued to supportive backings, so far, they have held up well, made with Monocrystaline diamonds as DMT does. The wet or dry works well but is getting way too expensive for what it is, I have done paint and body work since high school and have watched the prices get ridiculous for any form of abrasives.

I'll probably be shot for blasphemy or something but it depends on what I'm lapping. I've got a Norton lapping stone to get things roughly flat. Then I'll move to wet or dry paper until the 2k mark, or it's polished where I want it. If I feel the need to go beyond that, like my Guangxi river stone, I'll use my Norton 4k/8k to polish it further. Or if I don't feel like using paper I'll use the Norton stones from 220 up to 8k. I figure I've already got em, as long as I don't find a way to put them too far out of flat I'm not hurting anything by using them.

To lap a stone flat, what you're lapping with has to be flat, that's why so many of us use the DMT 325 or a large piece of flat tile with wet/dry to lap. With a new DMT running the side of a screwdriver shaft or the back edge of a flat kitchen knife over it some will knock off the high diamond particles. Works or me, but I only have synthetic stones (Naniwas).