Thread: Why is this lapping taking sooo long???

Originally Posted by sproosemoose

If I have some areas which are just not going down I try to apply more pressure on those areas.

But doesn't that defeat the purpose of overall perfect flatness? I mean, if I apply pressure to an area that is already sloping downward just to erase the pencil marks, wouldn't that increase the slope rather than decrease it?

Originally Posted by pstrjp

But doesn't that defeat the purpose of overall perfect flatness? I mean, if I apply pressure to an area that is already sloping downward just to erase the pencil marks, wouldn't that increase the slope rather than decrease it?

Well yes but I am not saying that. If your pencil grid shows that most of the stone is flat but the corners are sloped out towards the end of the stone it may not be necessary to continue until all is on the same plane.

We are just trying to get a flat honing surface. If I've got plenty of stone to hone on that is flat I won't bother seeking perfection in going beyond what I've already removed for the sake of absolute flatness. Here is a pic of 4 Eschers. The stone at the top and the stone at the bottom are sloping in the corners but I don't hone there so I'm not worried about it. If I needed to use that part of the stone I would keep on until it was flat.