Quote Originally Posted by AxelH View Post
So I took it to my factory lapped 220/1000 & 4000/8000 Norton combination stones. ...Little was I to know that after lapping the 4k norton I would find out my Norton flattening stone wasn't flat (either side) and that I had rubbed off the only good material of the 4k.

I later tried to refresh my first shaveready razor (purchased from a member here) on my spyderco ultra-fine hone. The first time I tried to use it. Silly me I didn't "lap" it with a hard flat surface to knock of its "high points" (wasn't mentioned in any reading material it came with). Put some tiny micro-trenches in it.
Your experience does not jibe with mine or that of others I have encountered here. The "factory" lap of the Nortons, especially that of the 4k, is considered to be awful in that it is not flat. More critically, the outer surface tends to have coarse bits of grit that need to be lapped away.

Oddly, you trust the factory lap of the Nortons, which I don't, and you don't trust the factory lap of the Spyderco, which I do. The surface of the Spyderco is not supposed to be lapped and is ready to use out of the box.