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Is there a big or important difference in the end product when lapping a hone using sandpaper as opposed to the use of a flattening stone like Norton sells? Is there any BIG difference found if one would use professional flattening service where they use a plate? I'm also interested in knowing if the use of a slurry stone is important. Does it keep your hone clean?
I finish hones on a DMT 1200 grit after I use a professional lapping plate. It doesn't make a difference, but I do this to help wash out the residual lapping grit. Getting it flat is what is important, though things look and feel nicer if you end up using a higher grit sandpaper at the end (in the sandpaper method.)
I agree with Shot. In my own experience/opinion there is no real difference. The finish with a higher grit will probably be a little nicer, but I only now use a DMT D8C (325) and love the surface I get. A lot has to do with how often you will be lapping. i.e. if lapping all the time, sandpaper will become a pain (I think so at least).
Lapping might be different for every stone.
There is a wide variation in hardness of stones. The finish of a soft stone will change significantly as you hone on it, so the final grit of sandpaper used isn't that important.
Hard stones will retain whatever grit you lapped it with for some time, so you should lap progressively higher grits and finish with a very fine grit.
I have found the best way to finish lapping some very hard barber stones is with the exact same stone, i.e., rub two identical stones together to get the finest finish possible for those stones.
By the way, the Norton Lapping Stone will NOT BE FLAT after you have used it a few times. IT needs to be lapped frequently or you will not have flat stones.
The trade-off in using DMT stones for lapping is that they are expensive, and using them for lapping will wear them out, and it doesn't take that long. Even though they are diamond, they are not indestructable at all.
I have also found that if your bevels are not too wide, flat stones are less important.
I can't agree with this at all actually. I have lapped everything from very hard arkansas down to Japanese water stones on my plate without messing with a surface finish. Making the stone flat (IMHO) is what matters. Having a "coarse" finish on the stone can't matter, because it is the embedded grit that does the cutting. That being said, I like finer finishes on my coticules since they get used to make slurry against each other. Again, this probably doesn't matter, but it makes me feel a little better about it.
I wouldn't know if there's a difference on the hone, but I use a 325grit diamond cos it's not much more than a flattening stone and keeps my kitchen knives slicing sweetly too.
All roads lead to Rome. As long as the stone is flat the method does not matter. Some use flattening plates, some use sandpaper and some have their own methods. I use a Shapton flattening plate and you use grit on it and I like it.
Slurry stones have nothing to do with flattening. It creates a liquid- stone suspension which changes the sharpening characteristics of the stone you are using. Sometimes very markedly. If you use a slurry stone alot you will wear down the stone faster since you are rubbing stone against stone.