Thread: Lapping Kit

Has anyone tried something like this for lapping hones?

http://www.powertooldirect.co.uk/lap...i-p-78147.html

Found it while looking for a glass lapping plate (for use with sandpaper).

Steven

Basically this is just grit to be poured on a plastic sheet and used sandpaper style. I think using this or sandpaper would just be a matter of preference. My personal opinion is that wet sandpaper is easier to find and more than likely cleaner if you're going to use a replaceable lapping system.

Yes, I've used that system and the stuff to look for is "float glass". There's all kinds of stuff you can put on it like water-based diamond paste, oil-based diamond paste, etc. and there are folks who swear by the system. Personally, I dislike the mess and haven't found a significant difference in the shave with a stone lapped on DMTs as opposed to the glass/sandpaper/paste method. In my shop I have tool and die makers lapping plates which are very flat and heavy steel plates with hatching marks machined into them. They're always covered with a cover often made of wood. Lapping is done in a figure 8 which is why you see those swirls in that picture you have of the float glass.

These days I lap a stone on a DMT325 and then start to sharpen. DMTs are flat to + or - .001 inch. Shaptons are even flatter but you'll pay lots more and I don't believe you'll see a difference in the final shave. Flatness is just a question of money.

Howard, not meaning to take a contrary point here, but aren't tool and die lapping plates cast iron? I know mine is, and I have never seen a steel plate in the larger, traditional style.