Thread: Lapping a barber hone on the cheap?

I was wondering about lapping a barber hone on the cheap.

I'll receive two barber hones (American Swaty & Itsapeech) in the mail soon from a member of another forum. The barber hones are supposed to be lapped, so no real worries.

But just in case...

I read most people lap barber hones on a DMT 8C. And that's good, but I don't have an extra $55 for a DMT 8C. (I spent all my money on barber hones.)

Can I simply lap the two barber hones against each other?

Or does anyone at the SRP offer barber hone lapping services?

Thanx,
Christopher

Originally Posted by CJBianco

Or does anyone at the SRP offer barber hone lapping services?

IIRC, Josh Earl used to offer that in his signature line. You may want to check with him.

You can lap with wet&dry sandpaper. I've been doing that and actually prefer it over the DMT.

Steven

What's a good grit to finish a barber hone with? I've gone up to 1200 but the hone still feels coarser on the lapped side than the unlapped. I can't seem to get that "gloss" back.

1200 should be fine (though perhaps someone else will give advice to say otherwise).

However, 1200 should be used after some lower grit. Start with something like 240 and work your way up to the 1200.

Steven

Originally Posted by nerobot

1200 should be fine (though perhaps someone else will give advice to say otherwise).

However, 1200 should be used after some lower grit. Start with something like 240 and work your way up to the 1200.

Steven

Thanks for the quick response!

I started with 400, jumped to 1000 and then 1200. I must say, the hone was fairly flat to begin with, I was mostly polishing out some pitting. I have the surface flat and smooth, I just want to make sure it's performing at a "barber hone" level.

Is there any harm in flattening the hone w/ wet dry sand paper, say around 320 and then going to other hones like 1000k and progress up to finish the lapping. I am thinking the finer hones used as a lap would give a better finish and eliminate the cost of sand paper.

I have used 600 grit wet dry paper on a flat surface with success

I keep reading how barber hones are way too hard for sandpaper. (Meaning it uses up way too much sandpaper to be cost-effective.)

I'll give it a try this weekend, tho.

Thanx.
Me

I received the American "The Swaty Three Line Razor Hone" and the Itsapeech as well as a nice 5.25x1.25 natural combo today. (The coticule side has a crack at each end, so the usability is limited to 4.5x1.25 trapezoid. I only bought it for the BBW anyway.)

The sandpaper worked fine. No problems. I used a sheet of 100G or 220G per side of the barber hones. (Lapped twice on each sheet using pencil mark method.) I did the same for the combo too. (The combo lapped MUCH easier.) Afterward I lapped them all on 1000G. (Twice again.) The combo used what was left of the second sheet of 1000G.

I thought it would eat thru way more paper than that. I was wrong. For the occasional lapping, I'll stick with the sandpaper. But if I were lapping a bunch of stones, I'd buy the 6x2" DMT C,D,E set for $55. (I still may.)

Thank you all for the replies. =)

Me