I just purchased a norton waterston 4000/8000 and was wondering if I need to lap the stone. If so how should i do it?
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I just purchased a norton waterston 4000/8000 and was wondering if I need to lap the stone. If so how should i do it?
Hone Lapping 101 - Straight Razor Place WikiQuote:
Originally Posted by jds627
Iv got a 12000 grit DMT. Can I use this for lapping my other stones or is the grit too high, guess it would take ages? My other hones that will require lapping are a norton 1/4k combo and a yellow coti.
You can lap the Norton hone on abrasive paper but there's a potential problem that I personally experienced. The Norton hone is porous and there is a high probability of grit from the sandpaper getting embedded in the surface, making the hone unusable until it is lapped on something else. I ended up buying the Norton flattening stone to do this because I had no other use for a lapping plate. If you are going to become a serious honemeister you should probably invvest in a DMT 8C.
If i was doing it over again, i would get the D8C instead of the norton flattening stone.
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Agreed! I don't have the norton flattening stone, but I have a little norton 325 grit diamond plate. It's not very big, and I got it because it was cheaper than the DMT's. But I wish I got the DMT plate now....It would make lapping SO much easier.Quote:
Originally Posted by Slartibartfast
I'll weigh in and say that I wish I just skipped right to the DMT D8C or similar. I tried to flatten my norton and chinese 12k stones for the first time with sandpaper on my counter, and it was taking FOREVER. The stones wear out the sandpaper really fast. In about 2 hours, I went through 5 sheets of 320 grit and 5 sheets of 600 grit wet/dry norton sandpaper I had and still didn't have them completely flattened, plus I had a really sore arm, lol. Rather than spending another $15-20 on sand paper to finish the job, I decided to just get the D8C.
Maybe my norton and chinese 12k were a little worse to start than others? I think it would be reasonable to maintain them with sandpaper once you get them flat the first time, but that first time is a real bear. The D8C is much faster and easier! Plus it is good for razor restores if you are going to be doing that.
if you end up going the paper route (as i did) soak the paper for about 10 mins before using it. this seems to make the paper last a little bit longer. i would have probably bought a DMT by now if i could find somewhere in Canada that carries them. i have used my Norton 1k/220 to lap the norton 4/8k (the 1k side obviously) which seemed to work fine, but this was just a touch up lapping so it didn't take much. i think it is important to take a coarse bristled brush to the hones after you lap them also. they are very porous and will hold grit in them.
good luck
Wes
Aside from that problem, you can do the lapping a lot quicker with paper. I dug out some wet and dry paper last night in grits of 120 and smoother. It worked great for lapping my hard Dragon's Tongue, and I used my D8C to finish off.Quote:
Originally Posted by Chimensch
But I'd probably avoid using paper on a Norton 4/8K unless it was really uneven to start with.
I'd still like a D8XX, but I can't justify the cost now all my hones are pretty much flat!
+1000 to that! I just about broke my F***ing back on a Chinese 12K.Quote:
Originally Posted by pjrage