just when i thought i had everything figured out :gaah:
good to know though.
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Indeed, I've both heard of and seen other, less coarse DMT's be stripped from lapping. But I do think that if you don't do a whole ton of lapping, keep the pressure very light, and always lap under running water, you can get away with lapping on a DMT C. I lapped 2 coticules, 3 BBWs, a 1K synthetic, 2 Swaty's, and a C12K with my D6C and it seemed just fine.
Again, not saying that you can lap with a DMT C or X, just saying that you may be able to get away with it.
I finally bit the bullet and went for the D8XX. I was going by the recommendations of Utopian and Chris L. I have to say it will eat a Swaty for breakfast. I have a long and a standard Swaty. I had used a D8C on the standard and it took a long time and a lot of elbow grease.
When I got a long Swaty I drew my pencil grid and went to work on it with the D8C. It was one of those deals where I went far enough to have a honing surface and I wasn't going to fight it anymore to get the pencil grid off of the last half inch on the ends.
When my D8XX came in I threw on a new grid and it wiped that grid off of that Swaty in short order. No sweat no strain. Than I grabbed an 8X3 Norton 4K and drew a grid on that. It was flat in a pair of seconds. I did some honing on it and it has a lot more feedback than it does when lapped with the D8C but I went with it and it did a good job on whichever razor it was. (can't remember).
My intention is to lap with the XX and than do another grid on the C to smooth it out. I've only had two razors with a chip or frown bad enough to go to the C. On most bevel setting/chip removal the 1200 is plenty good IME.
Granted the DMT8XX is more expensive, but it will definitely put a smile on your face. If your lapping needs are minimal, and if you are gentle with it and use a lot of water, then a finer grit DMT is likely to be acceptable . On the other hand, if you plan on lapping very many hones, the DMT8XX is a good buy. Keep in mind that DMTs don't last forever and the XX is going to be serviceable for lapping much longer than the finer plates.