Thread: Hone lapping 101

Place the hone face down on the sandpaper and start swirling it around. Don't use a lot of pressure--just lay your hand on top and move the hone. Some guys like to do figure 8 patterns on the paper. I usually just do small circles. You can try both and see which you like better.

Check the pencil grid on the surface frequently to see how you're progressing. On a new or badly worn vintage hone, it might take 10 or 15 minutes or more to get it completely flat. If you have an old barber hone, it could take several hours.

You can see the slurry start to build up in the water. My coticule wasn't too far from flat. It only took about 20 or 30 circles to get all the pencil marks to disappear.