So, I started to lap my Chinese 12K with sandpaper... well, the paper quality wasn't very good, the finer grits kept falling apart/wearing through! But the courser grits were a little better. Anyways, now I don't know if my stone is lapped (I ran out of paper) and there are very shallow (hardly noticeable) semi-circular scratches. Looks like I'll have to try to find some better quality paper (the stuff I used was the best the store had) or even bite the bullet and pick up a lapping plate (DMT).