Thread: The King 1k Lapping Stone

This weekend I picked up some stones at an Antique Flea Market, 2 translucents, 3X2X1/2 in and a 6X2X1/2 in. Two, three line, Austrian Swaty’s, a Lakeside barber hones and a King 1K, on a plastic base. Also picked up some nice razors, but that is another story. I have been using a small Translucent slips as slurry stone on slates, and this 3X2 stone should work well for that, I paid $5 for it and the 1k King. I pick up 1k’s if I can buy them cheap for teaching new guys to hone.

I gridded & lapped the Lakeside Barber Hone with a 140, 400 and 1K grit diamond plates and just because I had the King in the sink, (I had just lapped it). I finished lapped the Lakeside with the King.

Right away I noticed that it did not stick to the barber hone and quickly and easily removed the new grid marks, rounded the corners and left a smooth finish.

So I lapped a 4k Nubatama and 12k Super Stone that were soaking in the sink and just had honing swarf on them. I was going to use them with the Lakeside, to hone one of the new to me, razors a, “For Professional Use”, 7/8 Ern, Master.

The king, because they are muddy stones that easily self-slurry and break down quickly, did not stick to the hones. It also quickly removed swarf load-up (common to Super Stones), with just 5-6 laps and did not raising lot of 12k’s pink slurry, (It’s an old 12k, they were Pink, before they were White).

I have been using my Norton 4k to lap and remove swarf on my Suehiro Gokumyo 20k and the Super Stones for some time now, with good results but they do stick to the stones. The King1k was quicker and easier to use, because of the Auto Slurry. The King works well on all the stones I tested even a blue green Thüringen and leaves a smooth, flat surface.

So if you have a King 1k sitting in the back of a drawer, break it out and use it to lap your stone, I think you’ll like it, a lot less wear on your super stones, if your just removing swarf. Or if you’re a new guy looking to buy, maybe a King 1k and a 3, 8,12k Super Stone progression will work nice for you. The king is a quick bevel setter, and I think they are about $20 new, for this size. (2X7).

I use an 'unmounted' King 1200 (2.5"X8")for most bevel setting, it's a thirsty SOB so I keep it in a covered water bath of distilled water with a tablespoon of bleach per gallon.

I'd love to try it for lapping but since I use the slurry left from my DMT 325 I'd need to rinse the 'combo slurry' off.

Glad that you've found a useful but inexpensive hone to use.

I thank you for the very useful post! :

They definitely are thirsty, I have used my King 1k to lap all sorts as long as they are not too bad to start with. Good value for money.

Nice! Multi porposing I know, spelling.

Now how about a review on that 4k Nubatama, hmm ?

Will do, it is a very nice stone, hard, fast & very shallow cutting. It is what got me thinking about the Transition Stone.

Will take some pics and write up a review.