Thread: ceramic hone

This neat "old" dude Jerry at my archery league tonight brought me this. 6"x 2" x 2" piece of ceramic. He said it is just like a knife rod and it should be lapped. It seems very flat to me but he is a machinist!

I haven't touched it yet, any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

Tim

I don't know the best way to approach it, as far as lapping,,,, I've never lapped ceramic.

Diamond paste is about the only way to lap ceramic by hand and it is not a fast process. A CNC mill can do it faster.
Luckily, it doesn't go out of flat very easily either.

this guy is really cool! Sorta like myself

He forwarded it to me hoping I will play with it>

Not sure how a CNC milling machine could do anything at all with that, nor why it has to be CNC?! If it's very far out of flat, the best way to flatten it would be to use a diamond grinding wheel on a surface grinder.

If it's not too bad, it can be lapped with loose grit SiC and a lapping plate (granite tile selected with a straight edge at the local Home Depot will do the trick). You'd want to refresh the loose grit often because it will break down finer than what it started as pretty rapidly. You could use loose grit diamond too, but it's pretty expensive and will rapidly put the lapping plate out of true also.

Signed, a 20-year machinist and toolmaker.

Looks to me like the ceramic anti-wear tile we use to line chutes for mines. Usually not that thick but otherwise the same. I know some guys in the shop use them for sharpening knives on. I have wondered about their use as a razor hone but wasn't sure it was a good idea. Maybe it is!

The new Spyderco ultra fine uuuuh ultra Fat i mean
It will be exelent base for sluryes and honing , on my opinion

No easy access to machines but an Atoma 400.

Chose the side that by eye looked the worst. Took about 45 minutes. Light pressure mostly the weight of the piece which is relatively heavy.

That will do it too, I didn't care for the considerable amount my diamond plate got slowed down when I tried to use it on my Spyderco UF though. There are always many ways to skin a cat, as they say! Let us know how it works, maybe Jerry has access to more!

If you lapp it sideway you will have a bigger space - just sayng